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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTC Minutes 2013-10-02Mayor O'Donnell called the regular meeting of the Tiburon Town Council to order at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 2013, in Town Council Chambers, 1505 Tiburon Boulevard, Tiburon, California. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: EX OFFICIO: Doyle, Fraser, Fredericks, O'Donnell Slavitz Town Manager Curran, Town Attorney Danforth, Director of Administrative Services Bigall, Director of Community Development Anderson, Director of Public Works /Town Engineer Nguyen, Town Clerk Crane Iacopi _ ► • ► t i X "k 117 CiM 01111M &: 3If]i# �I:1►►T1 Mayor O'Donnell said there had been no closed session. A gentleman (could not hear his name) asked whether the Town of Fairfax had ever repaid the Town the $1M loan [for the TRAM — Tax Revenue Anticipation Note]. The Town Manager said yes, and that it had been repaid, with interest. Town Council Minutes — Adopt minutes of September 4, 2013 regular meeting (Town Clerk Crane Iacopi) 2. Town Council Minutes — Adopt minutes of September 18, 2013 regular meeting (Town Clerk Crane Iacopi) 3. Commendation — Adopt resolution commending David DeTomasi for his service to the Town of Tiburon upon his retirement from the Public Works Department (Director of Public Works /Town Engineer Nguyen) Toi-Aw Council Minutes #15 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page I 4. Notice of Completion — Adopt resolution authorizing filing of Notice of Completion for the 2012 Streets Improvement Project (Director of Public Works /Town Engineer Nguyen) Mayor O'Donnell asked to remove Item No. 3 from the Consent calendar. MOTION: To adopt Consent Calendar Item No. 1, 2 and 4, as written. Moved: Fredericks, seconded by Doyle Vote: AYES: Unanimous ABSENT: Slavitz Mayor O'Donnell read and presented the resolution commending David DeTomasi for his 16 years of service to the Town, upon his retirement from the Tiburon Public Works Department. Director of Public Works /Town Engineer Nguyen also commended Mr. DeTomasi and shared some personal stories of their time together. David DeTomasi thanked everyone and said of the things he had done in his life (including serving in the military as a U.S. Anny Ranger), this job had been the most fulfilling to him. He said his family had lived here for several generations and he looked forward to continuing to live in the community in his retirement. MOTION: To adopt Consent Calendar Item No. 3, as written. Moved: Fraser, seconded by Fredericks Vote: AYES: Unanimous ABSENT: Slavitz Next item was taken out of order. ® Councilmember Fraser report on pending Marin Telecommunications Agency (MTA) vote regarding request for franchise fee support of Community Media Center of Marin (CMCM) Referencing the presentation by MTA at the last Council meeting, Councilmember Fraser shared his thinking about the upcoming MTA vote and possible options to fund the $660,000 CMCM shortfall projected to last through FY 2016 -17. Fraser stated his willingmess to support a straightforward pro -rata sharing of this cost among the member cities. He went on to state, however, that if the MTA board of directors was in favor of the proposed "hybrid" approach where each city first contributes $10,000 with the balance being pro - rated, he believes the $10,000 per municipality ($100,000 total) should come out of CMCM reserves rather than from each city. He also proposed asking CMCM to create a sustainable fundraising program. Vice Mayor Fredericks said that it sounded like a good proposal. Totivn Council Minutes #15 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page 2 Mayor O'Donnell asked whether the proposal would require a unanimous vote, and if the other cities were likely to vote in favor of the hybrid proposal. Councilmember Fraser said that it would be a weighted vote, based upon the amount of franchise fee dollars each city receives. He said that no MTA vote would be valid unless there is an aggregate 75% approval. ACTION ITEMS The Action Items were taken in reverse order. 2. Flagpole — Consider acceptance of flagpole proposed for donation to Town, including style of flagpole and possible locations (Town Manager Curran) After hearing the staff report and considering three different locations and two types of flagpole, a majority of the Council members (Doyle, Fraser, O'Donnell) stated their preference for a monopole on the "grassy knoll" adjacent to Ferry Plaza. The other locations analyzed in the report were: 1) the center of the Ferry Plaza paved area; 2) the grassy knoll adjacent to Ferry Plaza; 3) the center of the Turning Circle at the terminus of Tiburon Boulevard; and 4) the Lyford Drive Multi -Modal Parking Lot Entryway area. Vice Mayor Fredericks said she would vote against the placement of a flagpole on Shoreline Park, citing the impacts on unobstructed views from the waterfront that so distinguish Tiburon and make it such a unique coastal community. She referenced the staff report that noted there were already multiple flagpoles in the downtown area. She also said that while everyone loved and admired Councilmember Collins (in whose memory the flagpole would be erected), it did not seem relevant or acceptable to place one at that location. She thought that placing the flagpole at the Lyford Drive Parking Lot, a project that Councilmember Collins' had supported, might be more appropriate and consistent with Town policy and practice regarding memorials. During public comment, Ed Lynch, representing the Tiburon Peninsula Foundation, funders of the proposed project, said that while the Foundation supported the idea in concept, staff had done a good job making the different proposals. He said the TPF would defer to the final decision and recommendation made by the Council. Annelies Atchley recalled that there had been some opposition from uphill neighbors concerning night sky pollution when the fountain was installed downtown (in Fountain Plaza). She wondered if installing a flag that would need to be lit would raise similar concerns. Town Manager Curran informed the Council that proper flag etiquette required either lighting the American flag at night, or raising it and lowering it at dawn and dusk. Town Council Minutes #I5 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page 3 Director of Community Development Anderson said that staff will bring back an actual proposal on style, location and lighting to the Council at a future meeting. 1. Martha Property MOO — Consider extension of Memorandum of Understanding for Martha Property Application (Town Attorney Danforth) Mayor O'Donnell said that he owned property within 500 feet of Martha and therefore would recuse himself from the discussion. He left the dais and turned the meeting over to Vice Mayor Fredericks. Town Attorney Danforth presented the staff report which gave a summary of the litigation surrounding the property and the settlement agreement that had been entered into between the parties to settle the Town's litigation (Martha "MOU "). Council asked a few questions. Specifically, Vice mayor Fredericks asked if the Town would be liable for any safety issues [raised in the EIR] if it agreed to the requested MOU extension. Town Attorney Danforth said no; signing the extension would not make the Town liable for any safety problems with the project. Vice Mayor Fredericks opened the matter to public comment and the following people spoke: 1. Jerry Riessen, Last Chance Committee, provided additional historical and background information on the project and his theory on how the deal for 7,000 square foot homes was struck; questioned whether some of the homes in the current application could even be built due to fire flow issues; 2. Bill Lukens, Las Lomas Lane, 50 -year resident, talked of impacts on construction traffic on the narrow roads leading to project; said that information concerning street width needed to be corrected in the EIR; said that as a litigator, the MOU requirement asking the Town to certify health and safety raised a red flag for him; agreed with previous statements about fire flow and slides, etc.; recommended waiting to see what the Board did on October 22; 3. Barry Wilson, Lyford Cove /Old Tiburon resident, said that the MOU put the Town in an advocacy position for development; pointed out deficiencies in the Development Agreement and the EIR; asked the Council to hold the Martha Co. accountable and ask them to reengineer our roads or repair them; 4. Jim Wickett, Mar East, supported other speakers and asked the Council to hold back its approval of the continuation of the MOU at least until after October 22; said he, too, was concerned about the scarring of the roads, the 25% grade, and other issues; 5. Genny Chapman, Paradise Drive, 50 -year resident in the "middle" of the Martha Property agreed that traffic is a problem and there was nothing in the EIR that addressed the numbers of people that would be coming and going [and adding to traffic on Tiburon Boulevard] in order to maintain 7,000 square foot homes; b. Fran Wilson read a letter from George Landau, who could not attend; it stated that the Martha Property'MOU' is one of the most important Town agreements and that he Town Council Minutes #15 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page 4 believes there will be immense negative results for the peninsula if the project is developed; also noted that many residents spoke at a 'workshop' held by the by the Marin County Planning Commission on the FEIR, raising points about its inadequacy regarding health and safety issues, particularly landslides; finally, Landau's letter urged the Council to not take any action to "sign off' on the MOU until after the October 22 Board of Supervisors' meeting; 7. Charley Scorner, Lagoon View Drive, talked about the impact on Hillhaven roads, the near accidents every day, and no provision for improving the roads; 8. Annelies Atchley, 60 -year resident, Esperanza/Mar West, said all the sewer lines in the area are terra cotta and that recently, a truck had broken a pipe which had cost the city a lot of money to repair; said there would be more of this if trucks were allowed over these roads; 9. David Barker, reiterated the issues raised about a) difficulty or lack of emergency ingress and egress; b) a lack of discussion in the EIR about traffic and what would happen when the construction road was abandoned; c) lack of a traffic analysis based on a "level of service" concept; 10. Paula Little, Ridge Road, said there were many here who would not speak but agreed with ideas expressed; [Vice Mayor Fredericks asked for a show of hands and it appeared to be unanimous]; 11. Cheryl Woodford, President of Hillhaven HOA, gave personal examples of jumping out of the way of trucks on her daily walks in the neighborhoods; cited the number of construction workers who already park in that area which will only increase; said that the roads cannot accommodate all these vehicles and remain safe; 12. John Arbeson, Centro East, 15 years, talked about the devastation caused by fire in a similar neighborhood when he lived in Colorado; drew the comparison between the dry brush in this project area and how a wildfire could take off; asked the Council to keep this in mind if it "assumed responsibility'' for the project; 13. Randy Greenberg, Norman Way, said the Town was already covered by the MOU extension and did not need to act yet on the current extension; said that the MOU required the Town to assert and then certify various promises; said the Town could profit by utilizing the County process to continue to review the project rather than paying for its own studies; said that the public did not know when the responses to the EIR would be published so that it could review them; and she asked the Council to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors restating the concerns over health and safety and the time to respond, and ask them to defer certification of the EIR if the responses were not adequate; also to let the Town Council to hold public hearings on health and safety and assess these responses; 14. Lynn Fox, Sugarloaf, asked the Council to "protect us" fiom fire, slides and noise from construction. Vice Mayor Fredericks closed the public hearing at 9:08 p.m. The Vice Mayor asked staff if there was a downside to waiting until after the October 22 Board of Supervisors' hearing on the matter for the Council to take action on the MOU. Town Council Minutes #15-2013 October 2, 2013 Page 5 Town Attorney Danforth said that there really wasn't any, but if the Council thought they had enough information now to move forward with a decision on the MOU while waiting for the County to take the next step pertaining to the EIR process. She said these two actions were independent of each other. Councilmember Fraser thanked the attendees for their input and applauded the work they had done which had great relevance to our community. He said he thought it may be helpful to continue to have public hearings going forward to the October 22 Supervisor's meeting, and beyond. He said he, too, believed some of the information in the EIR was flawed or misstated. He said it was beholden for the Town to bring this forward and he recommended that staff send another memorandum to the Supervisors regarding these facts. Fraser went on to describe the recent study the Town had commissioned regarding traffic and said this information was available and reflected a "real world" scenario that was somewhat different from the data in the Martha EIR. He said the proposed 25% grade construction road was not acceptable and that the Tiburon Fire Protection District had said they would not use it; he said that more information was needed regarding the presence or impacts of landslides in the project area; and he asked Director Anderson for more information pertaining to the fire flow issues, stating that asking a homeowner to sign a "low pressure agreement" did not seem satisfactory. Councilmember Doyle agreed with these remarks. He, too, applauded the community members for advancing the greater good; he said he had not heard the issue of adverse impacts to property values raised even once. He also applauded the County Planning Commission for raising the issue of "significant deficiencies" in the EIR. Doyle suggested deferring a decision on the MOU while putting the onus back on the County to address these issues. Vice Mayor Fredericks concurred with the recommendations of her colleagues. She agreed that traffic impacts were of real concern and that traffic was also a safety issue because during peak construction hours, as there were over 1,580 local school children on the move and that this was not addressed in the EIR. She said that the Town's traffic studies showed that Tiburon Boulevard has already exceeded capacity with 1,800 cars an hour [during peak traffic times]. And the Vice Mayor said that even if you put proper mitigations (like "No Parking" signs) in the affected neighborhood, it would push parking onto streets elsewhere and would force people to walk on the already - narrow streets. Vice Mayor Fredericks also agreed with the infeasibility of the proposed construction road. She pointed out that a 25% grade was steeper than a very steep hill in San Francisco (Jones Street between Pine and California Streets). MOTION: To continue consideration of the MOU extension to a later meeting; to send a letter to the County Board of Supervisors bringing the stated discrepancies in Town Council Minutes #15 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page 6 information in the EIR to their attention; to request the Board to allow time to respond to the next round of responses to the EIR; to ask the Board to delay certification of the EIR if there was not enough time to respond; and to continue to hold public hearings in Tiburon to allow for community input. Moved: Fraser, seconded by Fredericks Vote: AYES: Doyle, Fraser, Fredericks ABSENT: Slavitz RECUSED: O'Donnell 1. 510 Ridge Road — Appeal of Design Review Board approval of a site plan and architectural review of a new single- family dwelling, with variances for reduced front yard setback and excess lot coverage (Planning Manager Watrous) — continued without hearing f om September 4, 2013 Appellant: Bruce Breitman, 600 Ridge Road Address: 510 Ridge Road Owners: Paul Wong and Julie Huh AP No.: 059 - 091 -24 Town Manager Curran said that the parties had settled the matter between themselves and the appeal had been withdrawn. TOWN COUNCIL REPORTS — heard above i4 lkfflfjv� WEEKLY DIGESTS ® Town Council Weekly Digest September 20 & 27, 2013 "Moilj.�►�►TI ► it There being no further business before the Town Council of the Town of Tiburon, Mayor O'Donnell adjourned the meeting at 9:25 p.m. 1 EMMETT O'DONNELL, MAYOR ATTE ,T DIANE CRANE IA.C"OPI, TOWN CLERK Town Council Minutes #15 -2013 October 2, 2013 Page 7