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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - CC - 1991.10.212BL Ad heI mee BIJRLTNGAI'IE, CALIFORNIA october 2L, 199]^ CALL ORDER u1y noticed regular neeting of the Burlingame City Council wasd on the above date in the city HalL council chambers. Theting was called to order at 7:31 p.m. by l"Iayor Gloria Barton. PLEDGE OF ALLEG CE TO THE FI,AG Led by Ralph Kirkup, Director of Public Works. ROLL CALL COI,NCIL PRESENT: BARTON, HARRISON, LEXI{BI, O I},IAHONY, PAGLIARO COT,NCIL ABSENT: NONE I.{INI]]TES Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 7, :-99]- were approvedwith an addition to page 3 that rrcounciln onan OrMahony said there would be a rneeting of the AssembJ,y Local covernment Committee in Sacramento on November 7 at which local government leaders couldgive input on the Uaddy Bil.I, sB 255orr and the minutes of theSpecial Meeting of October 15, 1991 were approved on rnotion of Councilnan Harrison, seconded by Councilwoman Otl{ahony. PRESENTATION OF NEW COMMTJNTTY DI RECTORY FROM CHAII{BER OF CO},O{ERCE Karen Key, Executive Director of the chamber presented council members with copies of the Mayor Barton noted this hrelI done book makesbetter than carmel . of conmerce, new directory. Burlingane look PUBLIC HEARING - APPEAL FOR REAR SETBACK VARIANCE FOR DECK OVER CREER AT 433 OCCIDENTAL - RESOLUTION 97-91 APPROVING SAME City Planner reviewed her memo of Septenber 10 $rhich reconmended councj,l hold a public hearing and take action. The applicants, Donal,d and Pamela Asplund, are requesting a variance to build a deck within five feet of the rear property line. The deck r"rould be 280 square feet in size with a wal,kway of 78 square feet to a 28 square foot extension of an existing deck at the rear of theirhouse. Since the house was virtually built to the rear setbackIine, each of the three components encroaches into the rear setback area. The Iarger deck off the living room is the closestto the rear property line; the walkway connects the ne$, deck offthe living room to an existing deck in the side yard with extends frorn one to five feet into the rear setback. An extension to theexisting deck is necessary to connect the walkway. In additionthere is a 46 square foot deck off the second floor; a setback variance was granted previously for the second floor deck. Thecity has reviewed two previous proposals for decks at this site which were denied. The Planning Conmission approved this requestto add 387 square feet of decking on pj,ers over the creek withfive conditions; the variance was appealed by the neighbor to therear of the property, Paul Schumann, 1525 Bellevue, Hillsborough. She noted two letters received after preparation of the staffreport, one from Asplund responding to Schumannts appeal letter and one from Nancy Connolly, 401 Occidenta)-, objecting to theproject for environrnental reasons. Councilman Pagliaro asked about the property line, one referenceis to a property line in the niddle of the creek, anotherreference says the property line is on the opposite bank ofcreek. City Planner said the property line has not moved, it ison opposite bank of creek but the creek has moved through theyears, perhaps at one tine the line was in the niddle of creek. I'Iayor Barton opened the public hearing. 282 Jeff and }laureen Krug, 405 Occidental, urged approval so the Asplunds could enjoy their yard. Ilayor Barton asked how longthey had lived there; replied one year. Speaking in opposition was PauI schumann, appellant, srho said he has lived there for 30 years, he renembers the flood of 1982 v/ith water rushing over Occidental and hoped it never happened again;lrith seven 5 5/8 inch steel posts in the creek for this deck he feared debris would accumulate and increase risk of flooding; hesaid his measurements were accurate; he felt his nej-ghbor was making untrue statements and reviewed the history of Asplund's purchase of the site and previous plans for decks; government needs to be consistent, these requests for decks have been deniedfour tines; setbacks are to protect privacy of neighbors,' the Asplunds are building an outdoor living room; he thought there were other areas on the lot which could be developed for outdoor spacei Colonel Norbergrs children and his own children grew upplaying in the creek; he requested council deny without prejudice so they could revise plans to build something smaller and fu11y cantil,evered over creek. Councilnan Harrison said Schunannrs nain concerns seen to be noise and visual iurpact fron thisproject but with the fence Schunann bui1t, those were no longer viable concerns. IIe inquired hol, many feet from fence to house; schunann said 50-60 feet. Schumann said there was a gate in the fence to a11ow hin access for maintenance and enj oyment of the creek area. Harrj.son said he sas, lrhat appeared to be riprap dunped on Schumannrs creek frontagei schumann said he had some concrete work done and the rubble left there, he intended to use it for protecting bank. Schumann said he could hear noise from the Asplund property. Mayor Barton closed the public hearing. She offered Asplund an opportunity to rebuti Asplund assured council the deck neasurements are correct. Council asked about flood eLevations and height of street deck; asked about city maintenance of creek culverts; DPw and said Donald Asplund, with his wife, explained that schumann cornplains the deck is 387 square feet, but the rnain deck is only 280 square feet with the rernainder catwalk fron the ne!, deck to an existing deck. Ile read his letter dated october 18 into the record, stating that his engineer advised hin the water level from a 100 year flood woutd flow over the sidewalk before it would reach the leve1 of his deck; deck supports might be in ponding water caused by insufficient capacity of the culvert. The total square footage of the project is 358 square feet, not 387 because some existing decking is included. Schumann built a 10 foot solid wood fence at his rear property line in the proposed deck area, so noise and visual inpact could not affect schumann or other neighbors. The deck and supports would intrude very little on the natural setting of the creek. The deck supports would have a negligible effect on the creek flow and rrould not j.ncrease risk of flooding, most pilinq is outside the creekbed area. Mrs. Asplund said they would never do anything to harm their property. charles Kavanaugh, Asplundrs engineer, said he did a drainage study and concluded if anything large cones down the creek it would be stopped at Pepper; if debris accumulates between Pepper and Occidental- it could cause a blockage at occidental, but r^/ater would flow over street; the culvert under occldental j,s too smallfor a 100 year flood flow; if creek reaches the 100 year flood 1eve1, it would sti1l be four feet below the deck. In hisopinion, the deck supports lrould not be a significantobstruction. Mayor Barton confirmed that both sides of the creek would be used to support this deck. Richard Carroll and wj.fe, 407 Occidental, had attended the Planning Conmission neeting; he hoped council would support thisrequest, give Asplund chance to enjoy their outdoor space. MayorBarton asked how long they had lived therei carroll replied threeyears. Mayor Barton said then they did not see the flooding onthis creek in 1982. 283 under-street culverts are cleaned on an as needed basis. llayorBarton confirmed that what council is considerinq is a 10 foot setback variance; that there are seven piers, three on one side and four on other side of creekr. and that the creek ordinance has no effect on this request. She said citizens are very concernedabout setbacks and overcrowding, she did not favor this request. Councilnan Harrison agreed people are concerned but in this casethe adjoining house is still 50 or 70 feet away; he did not feelthe deck would inpact Schumann. Councilnan Lenbi agreed, councilis aware of peoplets concerns about noise and visual inpact, butthis is not a typical Burlingane loti granting this request wouldnot inpact surrounding properties because of the size of Schumannrs lot and the distance from his home and other homes i,nthe area; regarding aesthetics, a redwood deck would be very cornpatible in a creek setting; there appears to be only onesupport near the 30 year flow line of the creek, he thoughtflooding would be avoided. This deck would allow Asplund reasonable use of his property; it is not a huge deck and r^rouldaIlo!, children to use the outside. Councilnan Pagliaro said he lived in this neighborhood and experienced the 1982 floods; council gave Asplund specificdirection on design of a snaller cantilevered deck, he voted infavor of the previous requesti he favored a cantilevered deck,not the present proposal; he had a concern about the trees alongthe creek. His main concern is the pi,ers, they are not just sj-xinch pipes, but have three foot wide concrete footings thatprotrude from the side of creek,' this is unnecessary for thisnatural setting. Mayor Barton was also very concerned about these concrete f ootings,' they would interfere with creek flow. DPW said under normal flow they would cause no problem unless a major tree trunk came down the creek. Ilayor Barton asked ho!, far these concrete footings wouLd protrude from ground; DPW said building inspection could control this; I"layor noted these footings would obstruct creek flow more than the pilings; during water flow soil could be washed away from these footings and expose thern even more. Councilhroman OtMahony was concerned about the water resistancethe concrete bases could create; would like to see a conditionthat they be sunk below ground level. She thought the fence schumann built was uritigation for the noise and visual concerns he had r' she wanted to preserve property olrners I rights ,' she visited the site and noted the visual impact of Schumannr s huge fence on the Asplund property i would like to see some nodification of the piers; she hoped the Asplunds made an effortto create a nice environment and beautify the creek area. Councilman llarrison asked about reducing impact of concrete footings, DPW thought they could be lowered and he agreed theynight reappear if soi.l washed away. Councilman Harrison moved to affirm the Planning Conunissionrs approval with findings and conditions, and additional conditionthat the concrete footings be lowered so that they are placed below grade, by adoption of RESOLUTIoN 97-91 Approving Rear Setback Variance. Seconded by Councilwoman OrMahony. Mayor Barton beLieved counciL must protect the creeks, she believed in personal property rights but did not believe in purchasing a property with the intent of changing it. Councilman Lenbi said if Asplund was building a huge retainingwall in the creek it night have a significant inpact; the Asplunds have come back neeting every requirement the city has asked forr' the concrete footings uill blend in to the creek bed and will not intrude on the serenity of the creeki he believedthis deck v/as a good cornpronise and allowed the applicants to have the quiet enj oynent of their property. The motion to uphol,d the Planning conmission carried 3-2 on ro11call vote, llayor Barton and Councilman Pagliaro voting no. 284 newspapers, magazines, etc., and serve thpublic. We have al-Iowed vrholesaLe travel C-4 districts as an office use; the retairequired to get use perrnits under the codconditional uses for retail services. We SECOND READING - ORDINANCE 1446 - ALLOWING TRAVEL AGENTS AND AGENCIES IN THE M-l AND C-4 ZONES city Planner revieved her meno of october 15 which recornmendedcouncil hold a public hearing and take action. This ordinancerri1I aIlow travel agents as a permitted use in the M-l and C-4 zones; travel agents would no lonqer have to obtain a use perrnj-tto locate in these districts. A gray area of code imptementation has recently come to the attention of councilr. the problernatic use is travel agencies in the M-1 zone. The problern arises because travel agents and agencies have been a pernitted firstfloor use in cornrnercial zones which do not a11ow first flooroffice use. For this reason travel agents and agencies have beencalled a retail service use. over the years in the M-1 district we have distinguished between vholesale traveL agents and retailagents. Wholesale agents are those who exclusi,vely serve asingle corporation or two and do not advertise to the public; these we have viewed as office uses and extensj,ons of corporateoffices. Retail aqents are those who advertise their services ine general traveling agents in the I"1- 1 and 1 agents have beene sect j.on requiringpresently have 22travel, agents/agencies in the M-1 district and five in C-4; somedo not have business Licenses. This proposed ordinance wouldIist travel agents/agencies as pernitted uses in l,!-1 and C-4. llayor Barton opened the public hearing. A travel agent urged approval; he asked how many people go tovisit their travel agents, nost peopte do busi,ness over ihephone; travel aqents should not be considered retail. Mayor Barton closed the public hearing. Councilman Lembi wanted to be sure those agents who do not havebusiness licenses were bi11ed. Councilwoman O rllahony discovered this inequity and felt there wasa need to investigate other uses in these districts sometime nextyear. She noved adoption of ORDINANCE L446. Seconded bycouncilnan Lembi, carried unanimously 5-o by ro11 caLl vote. APPEAL FoR RELIEF FRoI.{ WATER PENALTY AT t 22o EL CAI'{INo REAL City Manager reviewed the Finance Directorts memo of October 4which recornmended council hear this appeal and take action. JackKlein, owner of apartments at 72ZO El Camino ReaI, is requestingreLief of $433.70 in water penalties levied on his .tu1y isstwater biLl. The property contains 15 units $rith 32 residents. Achart with cornparison of water use for the past year wasattached; per capita allocation would be less than his 1987 baseallocation (apartnents are not on per capj.ta, but on go percentof 1987 water use). A field tour of the site revealed twoleaking toilets. His September bill shows 21 percent reductionfrom July vater use but he was still over allocation. llayor Barton invited Jack Klein to speak. Klein said he had changed seven toilets in his apartment building to water savertoilets; there should be considerable reduction in use during hisnext billing period; he has little control over the water use ofhis tenants; a leak may annoy a tenant, but not enough to callfor repairsi he has put individual water heaters in eachapartment because peopl-e tend to let water run to warm up r. he hasinstalled speed pump; he requested a refund of the penalLy. Council discussion ensued: April billing period showed less hrateruse, wondered if some apartments had been empty at that tine.Klein said there nay have been some turnover. Council askedabout size of apartnents i all are large one bedroorn; would tiketo see water saving toilets installed in all units; if there iscontinued abuse there could be fl,ow restrictor installed. City 285 tlanager said there is only one neter for entire building and wedonrt know rrhich tenants are wasting lrater; flow restrictors areonly for gross negligence. Council wondered if Klein has triedto educate his tenants about water rationing; said Klein shouldtell his tenants the rent will go up if water use does not go down; send them notice if they go over allocation and penalizethem; our city is penalized by San Francisco Water Department forthe overuse and we must pass the penalty on to the overuser. Councilman Lenbi said he has the same problen with property heowns, the tenant is over allocation and he has installed watersaving devices r' this is a duplex and he is considering splittingthe water neter so each tenant is billed and penalized directly. He did not favor reducing the penalty. Klein said he has put inconservation measures, he would like to receive a refund.Council said if it allows reduction of penalty then othercitizens are paying the penalty for Klein; that is not right.Staff reviewed that everyone in city was notified about penaltystructure. Councilman Lernbi syrnpathized with K]ein, but he novedto deny the request for reduction of penalty. Seconded bycouncilman Harrison, carried unanimously by voice vote. APPEAL FOR RELIEF OF WATER ENALTY AT 1264 DRAKE AVENUE city Manager reviewed the Finance Directorrs neno of October 10which recommended council consider this appeal and take action.Victoria Diodati is protesting the i774.52 penalty fevied on her September 1991 water bi]l. An attached graph showed they used 42,OOg gallons of water r{rhile 21,6o0 was allocated. Originallythe penalty rras $296.01 but staff deternined that only one person hras shown residing at that home, when there were actually four. The allocation was adjusted and the penalty reduced. On October4 the Diodatis reported to the city that their toil-et had a Leak;adjustments are not given for toilet leaks because they arevisible and easily corrected. A recheck of the meter lras conducted and the reading was determined to be correct. Dino Diodati was present and said his farnily was on vacation and when they returned to their home they found the toilet runninglthey have been conserving water for a long tine and they v/ereonly given allocation for one person; think they should be given break because they were away from honei didnrt think it was fairto have such a large penalty. council discussion determined allthe Diodati nbanktr was used before penalty was calculated; they srere on vacation for one week; did not seeur possible for oneIeaking toilet to use that much r.rater; city is in an emergencysituation with drought i we cantt nake adjustments. councilnan Pagliaro moved to deny the appeal. seconded by Councilman Harrison, carried unanirnously by voice vote. COT'NCIL CALE FOR 1992 City Manager reviewed the proposed calendar for Lgg2 City Council rneetings and events. Mayor Barton thought council shouldwithhold action until after the election in November. City Manager said council has traditionally adopted the calendar inOctober but council. could put it over to another meeting. CounciLman Harrison moved to approve the calendar. Seconded by Councilwoman otllahony. councilman pagliaro asked about severaldates on the calendar, he would prefer to cancel meetings in Julyrather than August for vacations. Ii{ayor Barton sti1l thoughtthis shoul.d be put off until after the election. CouncilnenbersHarrison and OrMahony withdrew the notion and council directedthe calendar be put over to the second neeting in November. CONSENT CALENDAR RESOLUTION 98-91 - AUTHORIZING AGREEI,IENT WITH CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE COMPANY FOR EI,,IERGENCY WATER SERVICE Public Works memo of October 15 recommended councilauthorize an agreement for emergency water supply with the a. 286 b California water Service company; for nany years we have had interconnections at critical points along our common boundary in order to provide energency service; the emergency connection has only been used once. The agreementprovides for reimbursenent to each party for any water used. RESOLUTION 99-91 - AWARDING CONTRACT FOR CALIFORNIA DRIVE DIGOUT AND REPAIRS - CP 118 Public works menothis contract for including Californ amount of $67 ,73o. ofdiia october 15 reconmended council awardgout and repair of several streets Drive to Fisk-Firenze-Mclean in the c Public works memo of october 16 recommended council concur with the Planning Cornmission and grant this one year extension to october 15, 1993. d. WARRANTS AND PAYROLL Finance Director recommended approval of Warrants f723L - 17729, duly audited, in the amount of $1,797,626.80 and Payroll Checks 41257 - 41989 (includes August rnanual checks which were not posted), in the amount of 91,478,706.85. Councilman Harrison rnoved approval of the consent calendar. seconded by Councilwonan Otllahony, carried unanimously. COIJNCIL COI!ffITTEE REPORTS oakland Fire: Iilayor Barton asked the Fire Chief to comment onthe Oakland Firestorrn of October 22. Chief said at 2:30 pm on Sunday, Burlingane sent one engine company and one AssistantChief to Oakland to assist, and at 10:30 pm that evening we sent another engine conpany. Ile said the size of the area involved inthe fire would be comparabl,e in size to the area between Trousdale and Peninsula Avenue. Councilrnan Lernbi said there are areas in our city very sinilar in terrain to the oakland Hil1s; he was glad we had a ner{ water line up there. City Manager notedour city has just gone through rating by the fire insuranceindustry and came out higher than any other city on thePeninsula. llayor Barton asked staff to write a letter of sympathy to the llayor of oakland about this terrible tragedy. C/CAG: CounciLnan Paql,iaro told council they took no vote on therrBest Schoolsrt measure at the Iast meeting; discussion on BayVision 2020 rril1 continue; Iqayor Barton said representatives to any regional agency should be elected officiats. Chamber: Councilnan Harrison said nembers of the chamber board are very gratefuL to council for approving the assessmentdistrict consultant aqreement. TsM: He also reported Traffic system lIanagement approved a draft letter to send to cornpanies rrhich have not responded to required TSM action. NEW BUSINESS View Ordinance: Mayor Barton said it had been brought to herattention that peop).e could make additions and add or changetheir roof line on one story homes and block the view of neighbors in the hiflside areas; the view ordinance only appliesto second story additions; she hrondered if council could amendthe ordinance to cover this problen. council- discussed atlength; staff said this had been rnentioned during discussion ofthe view ordinance but the focus had been on second storyadditions because of other regulations being considered at thattime; council directed staff to bring to the next rneeting sorne reconmendations to address blockage of views by changing the roof EXTENSION OF TENTATIVE CONDOMINII'M MAP FOR EIGHT UNITS AT 518 ALMER ROAD line and the bulk discussed the poss orib mass of single story additi.ons; councilility of adopting an urgency ordinance. Council of Mayors: Council discussed supporting Frank Cannizaroto appointrnenl to SamTrans Board. Counc-ilwoman O rttahony ti11attend the neeting. Appeal Hearing: l,[ayor Barton scheduled an appeal hearing for November 4 for 2A45 Mariposa. Building Department: Mayor Barton congratulated the departmentfor two letters of cornmendation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a Commission Minutes: Board, October 15ioctober 15, L991. Beautification, October 3;civil service, september 10; Library Planning, b c d e f s Departnent Reports; Treasurerrs Report, September 31;Police, Septernber; Fire, septenber 1991. Letter from uillbrae Mayor regarding Millbrae Avenuerailroad overpass project. Letter from John Kleinsorg regarding water rationing. Notice of I.Iinor Modification, 151-6 La Mesa. Notice of l,linor Modification, L632 Lassen. Letter from Assemblyman Polanco requesting support of AB2111, the California desalinization prograrn. Councilman Lembi said he supported this legislation; Council-manPagliaro had concerns about the unknown costs. FROM THE FLOOR - No connents. CLOSED SESSION Mayor Barton adjourned the neeting to a closed session onlitigation at 9:58 p.n. SETTLEMENT AGREE}{ENT ADJOI,RNI',IENT The neeting was adjourned at 10:09 p.m. Council unanimously approved a settlenent agreement regarding theKarp versus Burlingarne Iitigation. This agreement authorizesconstruction of a three story building containing first floor comrnercial and parking plus two stories of hotel residentialaffordable housing of 42 units at 11OO Hosrard Avenue. Judith A.city Clerk Ma l fatti 287