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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - CC - 1992.03.16BURI,INGAUE, CAI,IFORNTA l{arch 16, 1992 CALL TO ORDER A dul-y noticed regular meeting of the Burlingane City Council washeld on the above date in the City IIaII Council Chambers. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.n. by I'layor Frank Pagliaro. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FI.,AG Pledge was 1ed by TSP Commissioner Ed O'Donne11. ROLL CALL COI,NCII., PRESENT : HARRISON, KNIGHT, LEI,IBI , O I MAHONY , PAGLIARO COTNCIL ABSENT: NONE }IINUTES The minutes of the Regular Meeting of March 2, L992 were unani- mously approved on rnotion of councilwoman orMahony, second by Councilrnan Lenbi after a change on page 3 to show there are fivecities and two districts receiving airport noise mitigationfunds. Councilman Harrison abstained from vote because he wasabsent from that neeting. T AND PARKING VARIAN TAURANT AT 124 City Planner reviewed her nemo of I"Iarch 6 which recommendedcouncil hold a public hearing and take action. The applicant, Steve Webb, and the property o$/ner, Kr,/ok L,eung and Chui Fong wong, are requesting a speciat permit for an eating estabLish-nent, the chanqe in use from a shoe store and real estate officeto an eating establishment represents an intensification of useso a three space parklng variance is required. The proposedcoffee shop wj-1l have 36 - 40 seats; there is no on-site parking. The previous use required four parking spaces, the eating estab-lishment requires seven. There would be a maximum of 10 employ- ees on site at one time, including the owner. The busj-ness wouldsell- coffee beans and coffee rnaking equ j-pment, foods related tocoffee, coffee in cups and light breakfast and lunch items. Thefacility would be handicap accessible. The Planning comrnissionvoted 3-3 for denial of the request; under rules of the commis-sion a tie vote is a denial of a request. In addition to thestaff report, there was a packet of material frorn the appticant'sattorney with a parking study and photographs of a similarrestaurant; a petition in opposition signed by over 350 people; apetition in favor signed by 53 people and a l-etter fron theproperty owner in favor of the project. Councihr/onan Knight questioned the nuIlber of signatures onpetitionsr' Councilman Harrison mentioned one petition received athis horne; Councilhronan Otl"lahony asked if the supplenental ques-tionnaire by the applicant was availabl,e to the public; MayorPagliaro stated he had represented Steven Webb some tirne ago and had discussed this with the City Attorney v/ho deterrnined therei/as no confLict of interests. Mayor Pagliaro opened the public hearing. Speaking in favor of the application was Richard Pierce, attorneyfor the applicant, who presented a petition s/ith el-even noresignatures in favor and a list of the circul-ators for the peti-tions in support; one person who signed petition in opposition had sent letter asking her name be removed from that petition because it was represented that the restaurant would exceed. the 2 1 a l lowed restaurants on Broadr,,ray ; he did not knov, who circula-ted the petition in opposj,tion and noted a number of the siqners 345 were not Burl-ingame residents. This restaurant would be withinthe 21 allowed by the ordinance liniting the number of restau-rantsl the ordinance does not refer to the types of food estab- Iishrnents al1owed, the narket should control thatl there were numerous references to parking problems but he believed theirparking study addressed this problern; some of the benefits ofallowing this project would be that a vacant building woul-d beoccupied, this building has been ernpty for over a year; theywould employ up to ten people, but it was not 1ikely they would have 10 employees on site at any one timel it would increase tax revenue; r^roul-d have a positive irnpact and drav/ business to thearea to shop on Broad$/ay. Merchants fear the economic pie would be divided further, but instead the applicant intends to increasethe size of the pie. There $/ould be an on-site o$rner who would have a vested interesti the project would be fu1ly handicapaccessible; it would be the only handicap shop open before 11:OOa.m. on Broadway. This coffee shop woul-d not conflict with afulI service restaurant. He urged approval . Ed l"lansf ie1d,traffic consul-tant, reviewed his parking survey with council; he found the parking lots generaLly $rere not all fulf; there arethree parking lots within 75 yards of this site. IIe observed thearea for three days and never saw a bus del-iver patrons to anadjacent restaurant which several people rnentioned as a problem; Councilnan Harrison rnentioned that particular restaurant wasclosing; he knew the merchants on Broad$/ay were concerned withparking. Council-woman O'Mahony pointed out some discrepancies infigures fron the report. Mansfield described the group of young nen investing in the proposed restaurant. Steve Webb, applicant,said he was surprised to see the nunber of people here; they areinvesting over $120,000 in this projecti $rou1d fike to work withthe merchants and are looking for sone support from them. Also speaking in favor: Mary Ann Titus, owner of wild Irisr. MikeGenile, 1117 Palona, an investor in the project; Jackie SLade, 1,L17 Dufferin; Kin Marsha11, 1704 Barroilhet; a personal- friendof the applicant from Half Moon Bayi they questioned the impacton parking this project would have since any project groing intothe site would require parking; there are many apartments in thearea and those residents will walk to Broad$ray to visit thiscoffee shop; project will provj.de employment,. relaxing pl-ace togather, a good atrnosphere; they urged approval. Speaking in opposition3 Dave Armanino, 740 Laguna; dontt deny acoffee shop might enhance Broadway, but it would severely impact morning comnute; showed photographs of the area in rnorning withtraffic backed up and there is never parking available on street; owner of Feast Your Beast, 1205 Broadway, she was responsible forgetting nost signatures on petition; she has loading zone whichher customers canrt use because it is always abused by parkers; Dolores Manning, 1210 Paloma resident, canrt park in front of herhonei the Caltrain l-ots are not available to the general public; asked for definition of restaurant; Peter Canpanile of TowerDeli, 1184 Broadway, had been on Broadr^/ay for over 30 years, concerned about rnoving a sna11 ice cream shoprs restaurant perrnitto this larger type businessi Broadway merchants are working for rnore parking; to grant a parking variance would only impactparking problemi not against a new business but people don't walkto Broadway, they drive and need parkingi Alan Horn, 1325 PaLoma,did not sign petltion in opposition, but would have; thoughtIimit for restaurant nurnber should be 10 instead of 21; he urgedthe Mayor to abstain frorn vote because of appearance of conflict; Ross Bruce, realtor, 1159 Broadway, he, his parents and hisgrandparents had been in business on Broade/ay and have always experienced parking and traffic problens; he wished there !,rasparking available for thj.s nice restaurant; noted there was aclosed sessj-on at end of this meeting to consider cityts possible purchase of a lot for parking; council asked why the Rhinette Iot r^/as not used, Bruce thought it was not very accessible; DavidConstantino, Town & Country Realty, said the Rhinette lot wasalso bad because of the money box payment machine would not allowpeople to leave and come back during the day; would be better to have meters or windshield receipts; Ednamae canpanj-le, 1184 346 347 Broadway, said Rhinette l-ot is too dark and isolated for use atnight; Gene Nelson noted it was too hard to get in and out ofRhinette 1ot; Charles Rothenbuecher, Broadway Stationers, lL7 4 Broadhray, Rhinette lot not pleasing, needs to be made moreattractive for shopperst use; street parking nonexistent, withconnuters trying to make quick stops it would be irnpossibLe withanother coffee shop r' he does not Live in Burlingarne but has abusiness in city. Mayor Pagliaro closed the public hearing. Pierce and Mansfield rebutted I rnerchants complain about parking and traffic but any business at this vacant site will causetraffic and parkingr' he believed there was a lack of merchantnarketing of the parking lots,. the property owner has rights, heis having difficult time renting this site; at the ptanning Conmission meeti,ng, merchants said Broadway is dying; here theysay it is healthy; generally speaking the parking lots are full,but you are alhrays able to find a space in one of the three lots;apologized that sone figures are r^rrong in his parking study. City Planner reviewed parking requirements for council;site the previous retail use required 1:4o0 for retailparking space for each 400 square feet of retail area)for office use and the proposed restaurant use requires(restaurant is the more intensive use). at this ( one and 1:300 L/2OO Councilr^roman Knight said this application is the rnost difficult she has faced since corninq on council; she $ras particularly concerned about the morning comrnute traffic; she had observed theillegal use of loading and handicap zonesi compared retai-L use tomorning and Lunch restaurant customersl thought 2l- restaurantsrnight be too nany f or Broadri'/ay; she could f ind no extraordinarycircumstances to grant a variance or special pernit; she moved touphold the Planning Cornrnission denial. Councilman Harrison said there was a need to bring some newvitality to Broadway i he agreed parking was a concern, butcouncil will be talking about increasing parking in its closed session tonight; he wondered if council could deny withoutprejudice until property negotiations for a ner^/ parking Lot are f inj.shed. City Attorney suggested council- continue this item. Councilrnan Lenbi could not second the motion to deny; he fistenedto both sides of this issue and agreed there are traffic andparking problemsi he visited the site of a sinilar restaurant in San Mateo and talked to patrons and neighboring businesses whoall agreed the restaurant lrould enhance the area and increasebusiness. He agreed council should continue the itern. Councihronan OtMahony noted important issues to Broadrray are onthis agenda, parking and the BID are being discussed tonight; the nerchants need to educate their ernployees about parking in thelots; need rnore traffic supervision in the areai she hoped theapplicant would also educate ernployees and customers aboutparking in Lots if his project hrere approved; perhaps councilshould consider getting rid of the Rhinette lot; she woutd liketo delay a decision until council decides about parking. Mayor Pagl-iaro said the applicant's tj.ming was unfortunate;council, is consj.dering buying a lot to j.ncrease parking; theparking probLerns make it difficult for the merchants to acceptthe project but he felt the project has to stand on its own. Councilman Lenbi fel,t this project woul,d be a positive additionto Broadway. Councilman Harrison agreed the project is very good,but council must also listen to nerchants about parking. Coun- cil-wornan Knight agreed the project is beautiful and complimentedthe applicant but she requested a second on her rnotion to deny. The rnotion died for lack of a second. 348 councilman Harrison moved to continue this item until the next meeting. seconded by Councilwonan orMahony, carried 4-1 on ro11 cal-} vote, council-woman Knight voting no. council noted thepublic hearing was closed, at the next meeting council would discuss and vote on issue. Mayor Pagliaro ca11ed for a recess at 9:35 p.n. The meeting' reconvened with a1l- council nembers present at 9:50 p.m. SECOND READING - ORDTNANCE 1456 - ESTABLISHING NO PARKING FROM 4:OO A.M. TO 6:OO A.M. ON BURLTNGAME AVENUE (BUSINESS AREA) city Manager reviewed his rnemo of February 25 which recommendedcouncil adopt an ordinance limiting parking on Burlingane Avenue from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through saturday for street sweepingpurposes. Attached was a survey of parking on Burlingame Avenue during the proposed sweeping hours which was taken over four consecutive days. Mayor Pagliaro opened the public hearing. Ton Bowen, 956 Laguna and busj.ness owner, had spoken to councilearlier about the streets needing cleaning but the parking Iots need to be s$/ept at least once a week also. Pub1lc Works Direc-tor said the lots are cleaned with leaf bl-owers every two orthree weeks; those lots are used by apartnent dwel1ers duringnight hours. Mayor Pagl-iaro said perhaps the lots need to be cleaned more frequently; he asked for a report frorn Public Works. Stan Clark, business owner, asked how often the streets are swept; staff replied daily in business area. Marilyn Shick, l-100 Burl-ingame Avenue business ovrner, wondered hrho was responsiblefor cleaning sidewalks; she conplained about the sidewalk struc-ture at the site of the fire on Burlingane Avenue. Mayor Pagliaro closed the public hearing. Councilnan Harrison moved adoption of ORDINANCE 1456. Secondedby Councilnan Lembi, carried unanirnously by voice vote. RESOLUTION 23-92 . INTENTION TO FORM THE BROADWAY AREA BUSINESS IMPROVE},IENT DISTRICT RESOLUTION 24-92 - INTENTTON TO FORM THE BURLINGAME AVENUE AREA USINESS IMPRO N City Attorney reviewed his merno of March 9 which recommendedcouncil review the proposals from the Broadway and Burlingame Avenue merchants and adopt resolutions of intention to form two Business fmprovement Districts (BID) for the Broadway Area andfor the Burlingane Avenue Area. These resolutions set forth the proposal-s and give notice of a public hearing to be held on April-6, 1-992. The purpose of the April 6 hearing is to hear protests to the forrnation of the districts. The city council- has thediscretion as to whether or not it will establish a district; theonly limitation to their discretion being that a district cannot be forned if there is a protest by a majority of the value of theassessments. The resolutions set forth the content of theprotest so they can be properly counted. At the protest hearing,council can revise the assessment and the proposed purposes and may reduce the area of the proposed district. Staff will calcu- Late the percentage of protests received in writing prior to thepublic hearing; if additional protests are received at the public hearing vrhich approach a majority protest, he recomnended council continue the hearing. One issue raised with regard to protests is the number of letters council has already received objectingto the BID; it was his opinion that those lrere not formal pro- tests because the resolutions of intention has not yet been adopted $/ith the description of actual boundaries and assess-ments. The only protests that can be counted are those dated and signed after the resolutions of intention are adopted. In response to council questions, City Attorney said notices will be mailed to every busj-ness in the proposed districts. Council 349 asked that materials for the April 6 neeting be sent to council earlier than usuaL delivery date of agenda rnaterial to affow more time for study; it is possible counciL wil"I hold hearing and continue issue to next meeting for action; expressed concern about some business os/ners that rnight have difficulty with English language; staff will put a notice in l-etter that assis- tance is available at city Ha11 for people speaking a foreign languaqei wanted business owners to clearly understand that theletters in opposition already received will not be counted; expressed concern about businesses that oppose this proposal. Uayor Pagliaro inforned the audience that on April 6 council will- conduct a hearing, then council may change, revise or reject the formation of these districts. Councilman Harrison moved adoption of REsoL,UTfoN 23-92 Intentionto form the Broadway Area BID. seconded by Councilwoman orMa- hony, carried unanimously by voice vote. councj,l,man Harrison moved adoption of RESoLUTIoN 24-92 Intentlonto forn the Burlingame Avenue Area BID. seconded by councilman Lembi, carried unanimously by voice vote. COMI{I S S ION APPOINT},IENTS lilayor Pagliaro noted that Councilwomen OtMahony and Knight had recently interviewed candidates for three positions on theTraffic, Safety and Parking Commission. council-woman otMahony nominated incurnbents Ed otDonnell and AIdo Simonetti, and David Mayer as new conmissioner. councilh/oman Knight nominated the incumbents and Irlichael cof f ey. city I'Ianaqer distributed bal-l-otsvhich council marked; City Manager read ballots aloud and an- nounced appointnent of otDonnel-l-, Simonetti and Mayer. Councilman Harrison and Councilwoman orMahony had interviewed candidates for two positions on the Beautification Cornmission. Councilman Harrison nomi.nated JiI1 Lauder and David Plyer. Mayor Pagliaro nominated Janelle Becerra. Bal]ots were distributed, narked and read l4rhich resulted in appointrnent of Lauder and Plyer . ABAG INSURANCE PLAN Mayor Pagliaro withdrew from discussion because of a confl,ict. Vice Mayor Harrison asked the City Attorney to report. City Attorney reviewed his memo of February 26 which recommendedcouncil determine whether to approve rnernbership in the ABAG PLAN cornmencing Jul-y 1, L992. In 1985 ABAG forned a self-funded insurance plan; nany cities joined but we were uncertain about this new system and elected to buy liability j.nsurance on our own. There are currently 26 cities in this plan, most san Mateo county cities are nembers. The insurance organizationrs only connection !,rith ABAG is sharing office space in the ABAG facili-ty. Liability coverage under this plan is to $5 million with a deductible or retention of from $25,000 to $250,000; the menber city chooses the retention and the premiurn is caLculated accord- ingly; premiuns are deterrnined annually on the basis of loss experience and include administrative and adjusting costs as well as prograns of safety education and site evaLuation. The prerni- uns are invested and the fund 1s returning an equity distributionto its mernbers, the result is that sorne of the older members are approaching a point \^/here their equity distribution is about equal to their annual prenj-um. He reconnended joining the ABAGplan for a premium of $198,000 for $5 million tiability coverage and a retention leve1 of $250,000. ABAG insurance representative A]bert Fierro was present and responded to council questions; regarding accuracy of reports to insurance about population and other nurnbers, some cities havereported incorrectly which resulted in inpact on future premiums;j-n comparing costs to various cities of sinilar size, Los Gatos had clairns for police brutal-ity which made their losses higher; preniums are calculated on basis of populations, payrolt andlosses; equity aLl-ocations are returned to cities, Last year theyreturned $2.1 million to member cities. Councilman Lembi moved approval of joining the ABAG insurancep1an. seconded by councilwoman o'Mahony, carried unanimously byvoice vote, Mayor Pagliaro abstainingr. DESTGNATTON OF HEARING O FICER FOR AB 939 HEARING City Manager reviewed the Finance Directorrs rnemo of March 10which recornmended council designate a council member, the FinanceDirector or the county hearing officer to represent the city atprelirninary draft hearing for AB 939. AB 939 requires cities todivert 25 percent of its solid waste frorn landf il-l,s by 1995 and 50 percent by 2000. The city joined with the county and othercities to do a joint plan; the preliminary draft is about to bereleased and law requires at least one public hearing be held;this hearing wilt be April 30 in the Board of Supervisors chamberin Redwood City. Councif sri11 eventually hold a hearing on thefinal draft which is tentatively scheduled for Jul-y l-992. Council appointed the cityts Finance Director as hearing officer. CONSENT CALENDAR Regarding (a) Councilman Lenbi was pleased to see the Seniorgroup becorne a fu11 commission as he had suggested; regarding (d) Mayor Pagliaro asked about some pa)ments to young people he was acquainted with, staff sald they are coaches for basketball. a INTRODUCTION O F ORDINANCE 14 57 ESTABLI SH NG THE SENIOR COMMT SSION City Managerrs nemo of March 10 recommended council adopt an ordinance to change the Senior Citizens Coordinating Councilto a full cornnission. The Recreation Departnent will con-tinue to provide staff support to this group. b RESOLUTTON 25-92 - AUTHORI ZTNG AMENDMENT NO 2 FOR JPA AGREE- MENT FORMING C/CAG City Manager recommended council approve an amendnent asexplained in the C/CAG letter dated March 4, 1992 which s/oul-d make three changes: (l-) adding three additional non-voting nembers (a) a menber of the sF Airport comrnission, (b) ) a member of the San Mateo County Transit District, and(c) a nenber of the San Mateo County Transportation Authori-ty, aII to be selected by those boards; (2) change the requirement that final plans be adopted 30 days after intro-duction, to 25 days after introduction; and (3) authorize C/CAG to serve as program manager for vehicle registration funds from increase made by BAAQMD. c COMBTNATION OF TWO PART-T II.{E POSITToNS IN BUTLDING DMSION TO CREATE ONE FULL-TTM TYPIST CLERK POSITION City I'{anagerrs memo of March 5 reconnended council approve cornbining two part-time positions into one fu1l-tine typistclerk position in the Building Oivision as reconmended bythe consultant. The city has received a resignation frorn one of the part-time persons; this will help improve consis-tency of custoner service in the building division; thiswill also result in a savings of over $5,800 j-n salary. d. WARRANTS AND PAYROLL Finance Director recommended payment of Warrants 1-9656- 2OO89, duly audited, in the amount of $1,326,8]-2.01 andPayroll Checks 45147-45153, and 43001-43743, for the monthof February L992 in the amount of $999,534.52. 350 351 ENCROACHMENT PER}.,II T FOR LANDSCAPE ISLANDS AT 1408 CHAPIN Public works meno of March 10 reconmended council approvethis request in accordance with usual conditions for twofive foot by five foot landscape islands in the pubLic right-of-$/ay; neighboring property have landscape islands insinilar positions. Councilman Harrison noved approvaL of the Consent Seconded by Councilrnan Lembi, carried unaninously caLendar. by voice vote. co I'NCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS chamber of conrnerce/ Convention reported on an enjoyable Iunchthe Airport Master P1an. Bureau: counci lwornan Knightat vrhich Lou Turpin spoke about ABAG: Mayor Pagliaro said he and Councilwoman OrMahony wouldattend the annual meeting. OLD BUSINESS Sign ordinance: Mayor Pagliaro and council had received a report frorn the City Attorney regarding promotional signs; Mayor askedthis be reviewed at a future study meeting. SCHEDULE APPEAL HEARING Mayor Pagliaro set an appeal hearing for April 20 for the pro- posed theater al 24L California Drive. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a. Cornrnission Minutes: Planning, Uarch 9; Civil Service, February lL, 1-992. b. Department Reports: Polj.ce, February 1992r. Treasurer, February 29, L992. c. Letter fron EIi Needle requesting a hearing to open a card room for Pan games. Staff will write to Mr. Needle about council rs rejection of card rooms in the city. d. Hillside Construction Permit notice for 24]-2 Va1divia. e. Hillside Construction Permit notice for 1401 HiIlside Cir. f. Letter from Senator Morgan with final draft of SB 797. g, Letter fron Dave Dornlas regarding fonnation of the Burlin- game Avenue BID, its administration and a proposed assess-nent schedule. h. Tto letters in opposition to Burlingane Avenue BID. i. A letter conplimenting the Building Division and Lori Miner. HILLSTDE CONSTRU CTION PERMIT NOTTCES councilr^ronan Knight asked about the procedure for the HillsideConstruction permits, she $ras interested in the 1401 HillsideCircle application; staff will consider it ca11ed up for reviewpending her inspection of plans in Planning Department. Councilman Lenbi suggested the format of these notj,ces beto be more friendly; he thought it was a very threateningnotice, perhaps a letter format would be better. changed look ing 352 CLOSED SESSION Mayor Pagliaro adjourned the neeting at 10:59 to a closed session on (1) property negotiations for 1133 Chula Vista and (2) litiga- tion. ADJOI'RNIVIENT The neeting was regularly adjourned at 11:48 p.m Judith A. Malfcity clerk l- FROM THE FLOOR Dave Dornlas, 2lo California, asked about the process for adop-tion of the BID; he thought the aqreement with the BID adrninis-trator should be part of the resolutions adopted tonight; he questioned the boundaries of the project; he was concerned about the business owners who take a stand in opposition to this proposal; he plans to take this process to the State legislaturefor revisions, felt signatures of 20 percent of the nerchants should be required in order to start this processl expressed concern about short time fron adoption of resolution of intentionto date of hearing. Tirn Auran asked about the Hillside construction review process and having to return to Planning Commission with the project discussed tonight. Mary Ann Titus, regarding the BID; noted the Broadway Merchants association does not represent alf the business owners on thatstreet; there are also nerchants who oppose the BID on Broadway. Stan clark, Burlingarne Drug, said the Burlingame Avenue BID is proposed to irnprove the area; all business would benefit.