HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - CC - 2016.03.21
Burlingame City Council March 21, 2016
Approved Minutes
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BURLINGAME CITY COUNCIL
Approved Minutes
Regular Meeting on March 21, 2016
1. CALL TO ORDER
A duly noticed regular meeting of the Burlingame City Council was held on the above date in the City Hall
Council Chambers.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
The pledge of allegiance was led by Parks and Recreation Director Margaret Glomstad.
3. ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Beach, Brownrigg, Colson, Keighran, Ortiz
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
4. REPORT OUT FROM CLOSED SESSION
There was no closed session.
5. UPCOMING EVENTS
Mayor Keighran reviewed the upcoming events taking place in the City.
6. PRESENTATIONS
There were no presentations.
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Burlingame resident Adela Meadows requested Council put just cause eviction and rent stabilization on the
agenda.
Burlingame resident Brian Cauley asked that the City consider adopting affordable housing into its current
Economic Strategic Plan.
Mayor Keighran made a few clarifications stating that the Council had study sessions on January 5, 2015 and
July 13, 2015 to discuss rent stabilization and just cause eviction. She added that the County is conducting a
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nexus study on affordable housing and once the study is completed staff will present their recommendations
to the Council.
8. CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Keighran asked the Councilmembers and the public if they wished to remove any items from the
Consent Calendar. No items were removed.
Councilmember Brownrigg made a motion to adopt the Consent Calendar; seconded by Vice Mayor Ortiz.
The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote, 5-0.
a. APPROVAL OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016
CC Hassel-Shearer requested Council approve the City Council Meeting Minutes of March 21, 2016.
b. ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION REJECTING ALL BIDS RECEIVED FOR THE
MISCELLANEOUS RESERVOIR AND PUMP STATION IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT,
CITY PROJECT 84200, AND AUTHORIZING STAFF TO RE-ADVERTISE THE PROJECT
DPW Murtuza requested Council approve Resolution Number 19-2016.
9. PUBLIC HEARINGS
There were no public hearings.
10. STAFF REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
a. CONSIDERATION OF APPOINTMENT TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION
Vice Mayor Ortiz recused himself.
City Manager Goldman asked that the Council make an appointment to fill one expired term on the Planning
Commission. She reminded the Council that they conducted interviews with Richard Sargent and Norman
Torello on March 15th for the four year appointment, ending on April 7, 2020.
The Council unanimously voted to re-appoint Richard Sargent to the Planning Commission, (4-0 with Vice
Mayor Ortiz recused).
b. CONFIRMATION OF PROJECTS TO INCLUDE IN POLL FOR POTENTIAL TAX
MEASURE
City Manager Goldman presented the staff report concerning projects to include in a poll regarding a
potential tax measure. She stated that on February 29th the Council held a study session to discuss placing a
tax measure on a future ballot. At this meeting the City’s Financial Advisor reviewed potential tax
mechanisms such as general taxes and general obligation bonds. The Council reviewed the list of potential
projects and discussed the timing of a future tax measure (November, 2016 or November, 2017). City
Manager Goldman explained that a general obligation bond requires 2/3rds approval for passage while a
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general tax required 50%+1 for passage. However, a general tax can only be placed on a ballot during a
regularly scheduled Burlingame election. The next regularly scheduled election would be November, 2017.
General obligation bond measures can go on any ballot.
City Manager Goldman reviewed the Council’s discussion of the need to rank the list of potential projects so
that a final list of projects could be included in a future poll. After the meeting the Council was asked to
rank in terms of priority the following projects: (1) Burlingame Community Center, (2) Bayfront Trail Long
Option, (3) Railroad Quiet Zones, (4) New Bayview Park, (5) Synthetic Turf at Bayside, (6) Railroad
Automated (Wayside) Horns, (7) Bayfront Trail Short Option, (8) North-South Bicycle Improvements and
(9) Synthetic Turf at Murray Field. City Manager Goldman explained that when reviewing the Council’s
ranking, Councilmember Beach used the blank space to add an additional project concerning Mills Canyon.
As well, Councilmember Brownrigg wrote on his form that he hoped the City continues to look for ways to
use creative financing, such as public/private partnerships to fund projects. City Manager Goldman stated
that this was what staff was hoping to do with an affordable housing/parking garage project on Lots F & N.
City Manager Goldman explained that overall Council ranked the Burlingame Community Center highest
followed by synthetic turf at Murray Field and Bayside, north-south bicycle improvements, improvements to
the full Bayfront Trail and the new Bayview Park. She asked the Council to either approve of these rankings
or reach an agreement on a new ranking. Afterwhich, staff will work with the professional polling company
to develop a survey to test as many of these projects as feasible. As well, the City Manager explained that
she will be hiring an outreach consultant to help craft the questions.
Councilmember Colson asked when there are two similar types of projects, will those projects be polled
individually or together. City Manager Goldman stated that they would be combined. Councilmember
Colson asked specifically about the Bayfront trail. City Manager stated for the Bayfront trail instead of
stating long or short trail, they would just state Bayfront Trail unless the polling company thought a dollar
amount should be attached to the project. If the polling company wanted to attach a dollar amount they
would pick one project over the other for the poll.
Vice Mayor Ortiz stated that he ranked Bayview Park low based on the assumption that the City would not
be able to get a long lease for that piece of land. However, if the City could get a longer lease from the state
then he would rank the Bayview Park higher.
Mayor Keighran asked about the north-south bicycle improvements stated that she was unclear what it
covered. City Manager Goldman stated that this was the least specific of all the projects and so staff would
defer to pollster on whether specificity was necessary.
Councilmember Brownrigg stated that he would not be in favor of putting dollar figures on projects for two
reasons: (1) the price of projects move around depending on if there is a public/private partnership or if the
City uses its own bonding capacity to help buy down the cost of the Community Center; and (2) the idea
behind the potential measure is improving the quality of life and therefore the questions should ask residents
what projects they deem important. He also stated that there were a number of assumptions that went into
how he ranked the projects. And that these assumptions were not necessarily the final outcome.
Accordingly, he stated he wanted to make sure the questions were open ended and concerned what the public
found important.
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City Manager Goldman stated that she would confer with the polling company as to how the questions
should be phrased. Furthermore, she explained that what staff hoped to obtain from the poll was (1) if the
community had an interest in going forward with a general obligation bond for the upcoming election and (2)
what types of projects the community is interested in pursuing.
Councilmember Brownrigg stated that railroad noise should be included in the poll. And if the poll
discovered that it bothered a lot of people then it would be something the City/Council should consider. City
Manager Goldman stated that the two train noise projects ranked low and that they needed to be careful how
many questions they wanted the polling company to ask in order to obtain valuable data from the poll.
Mayor Keighran stated that Council discussed the number of projects at the study session and decided to
rank the projects to prioritize their importance. She explained that limiting the number of projects included
in a future tax measure would assist in improving the likelihood that the measure passes. Accordingly,
because the Council discussed the idea of prioritizing projects, Council should stick with how the projects
were ranked.
Councilmember Beach discussed the estimated cost of $37 million to $47 million to build the new
Community Center. She stated that this is a project that the community is behind and that has been
developed over the years. However, Councilmember Beach advocated for including the cost of the
Community Center and its impact on the taxpayer during the polling to ascertain the public's willingness to
pay for it.
Councilmember Colson stated that once the polls are conducted, Council and staff will have a better
understanding of what projects can be funded from the desired tax mechanism.
Councilmember Brownrigg stated that he agreed with Councilmember Beach that the support of the
community center from a cost perspective should be polled.
Mayor Keighran asked if anyone from the public would like to speak, no one spoke.
City Manager Goldman stated she would move forward with hiring the polling company and consultant.
Mayor Keighran asked about timeline.
City Manager Goldman stated that currently the polling company probably won’t start the poll until May.
Accordingly she is aiming to bring the results back to the Council before their July 5, 2016 meeting.
11. COUNCIL COMMITTEE AND ACTIVITIES REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Council reported on various events and committee meetings they each attended on behalf of the City.
12. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
There were no future items.
13. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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a. FEBRUARY 2016 MONTHLY PERMIT ACTIVITY
b. COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: TRAFFIC, SAFETY AND PARKING COMMISSION
FEBRUARY 11, 2016, LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES, FEBRUARY 23, 2016
Mayor Keighran asked City Librarian McCulley about the circulation increase. City Librarian explained that
the increase is due to the renovation and that the library’s circulation is getting back to its normal rates.
14. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Keighran adjourned the meeting at 7:55 pm in memory of James Lowrie.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/
Meaghan Hassel-Shearer
City Clerk