City of Lafayette Regular and Specia Citl y Council

City of Lafayette Regular and Spec ia l City C o u n c i l Meeting

Circulat ion C o m m i s s i o n and Youti i C o m m i s s i o n

MINUTES

Lafayette L ibrary and Learning Center November 9, 2015 3491 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, California 6:15 p.m.

1. C A L L T O O R D E R

Mayor B. Andersson called regular and special City Counci l meet ing to order at 6:15 p.m.

2. R O L L C A L L

Present: Citv Counci l : Mayor B. Andersson, Vice Mayor Reilly, Counc i lmembers M. Anderson, Mitchell (arrived at 7pm) and Tatzin

Absent: None

Present: Circulation Commiss ion: Commiss ioners Carpenter, Johnson, Hiden, Loudin, Sturm and W o o d ; and BPAC member Sevil la

Youth Commiss ion: Members Zarembinski , R. Pegels, Unni, Terr ien, Rosenthal , W a s h , Goddard, R. Mize, 8 . Mize and Swan, and Associate Member Connor

Staff Present: Steven Falk, City Manager; Tracy Robinson, Administrat ive Services Director; Tony Coe, City Engineer; Greg Wolff, Assistant Planning & Building Director; James Hinkamp, Transportat ion Planner; Michael P. Cass, Senior Planner; Mala Subramanian, City Attorney; Joanne Robbins, City Clerk

3. A D O P T I O N O F A G E N D A

A C T I O N : It was M/S/C (Tatzin/Mitchel l) to adopt the agenda. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell, Tatzin and M. Anderson; Noes: None).

4. P U B L I C C O M M E N T S - None

5. C L O S E D S E S S I O N

The City Counci l adjourned to Closed Session to discuss the fol lowing matter:

A. C o n f e r e n c e with Labor Negotiators (Gov. C o d e 54957.6) A g e n c y Designated Representat ive: Steven Falk and T r a c y R o b i n s o n Unrepresented E m p l o y e e s : All City E m p l o y e e s

O P E N S E S S I O N

The City Counci l reconvened to Open Session at 7:00 p.m. and Mayor B. Andersson announced that no reportable act ion was taken in Closed Session.

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council Meeting IVIinutes Circuiation Commission and Youth Commission 1 November 9, 2015

6. P L E D G E O F A L L E G I A N C E - Youth Commissioners led in the Pledge of Al legiance.

7. P U B L I C C O I V I M E N T S - N o n e

8. P R E S E N T A T I O N S A. Youth C o m m i s s i o n

A n n u a l Update Recommendat ion: Receive and fi le.

Youth Commiss ion Members Zarembinski , R. Pegels, Unni , Terr ien, Rosentha l , Wash , Goddard, R. Mize, S. Mize and Swan, and Associate Member Connor introduced themselves and presented a video of their accompl ishments in 2015:

• Held two Tri-Val ley Dances

• Conducted a survey on teens and alcohol consumpt ion exposure wh ich cont inues to show a j ump in the 7"^ and 8'^ grades

• Open Mic Night with the Waff le Wednesday band and other music ians, comedians and open karaoke

• Supported Communi ty Center Foundat ion Bunny Brunch and Lafayette Recreat ion Father/Daughter Dance

• Joined with the Moraga Youth Involvement Commit tee and the Orinda Teen Advisory Counci l to conduct an invasive species c leanup in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve

• Teamed up with the Lafayette Trails Subcommit tee to restore a long sect ion of the Silver Spr ings Trail

• Held training with the Lamorinda Teen Associat ion and Lamor inda Alcohol Policy Coali t ion and learned how to save lives in situations where alcohol may be involved

• Held the largest Haunted House to date open for two nights

• Part icipated in the Jennifer Russell Building design and opening. The Youth Commiss ion thanked the Lafayette Communi ty Center Foundation, the DRC, the PTR Commiss ion, Lafayette City staff and the design team and construct ion crew for their hard work

• Donated $1,000 of toys to Toys for Tots and for the stage and sound system for the new Jennifer Russell Building

• Cont inue to search and recruit Associate Members to the Youth Commiss ion

Commiss ioners thanked the City Counci l for their support of the Commiss ion and its projects.

Mayor B. Andersson and Counc i lmembers recognized the work of the Youth Commiss ion , and commented that it is one of the City's most product ive commiss ions in Lafayette.

Convene jointly with Circulation Commission

A C T I O N : It was M/S/C (Tatzin/Mitchel l) to convene joint ly wi th the Circulat ion Commiss ion. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes; B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell , Tatzin and M. Anderson; Noes: None) .

B. Downtown Conges t ion Reduct ion Study - P h a s e 1: Ex is t ing Condi t ions A s s e s s m e n t and Overv iew of Study Pr inc ip les and Strategies Recommendat ion : Take public comment ; provide feedback to study consultant, and support launch of web-based public opinion survey tool for this study.

Chair Rachel Carpenter asked Circulat ion Commiss ion members to introduce themselves: Elizabeth Johnson, Lynn Hiden, Bill Loudon, Kristina Sturm and Mary Jane W o o d , and BPAC member Cindy Sevilla were recognized.

City of Lafayette Regular & Speoial City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 2 November 9, 2015

Transportat ion Planner James Hinkamp indicated that Counc i lmember Tatzin will provide background comments prior to the PowerPoint presentat ion which wil l be given by the consultant team of ARUP.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said one of the biggest complaints the Counci l hears is traffic and concerns that more development may mean more traffic. To make a dramat ic increase on what remains a congested situation, a couple of years ago the Circulation Commiss ion began the process of thinking through signif icant opt ions. They were successful in being awarded a grant through CCTA and MTC and created a steering commit tee with Chair Carpenter and Commiss ioner Loudon, Counci lmembers Mitchell and himself, the DRC, representat ives f rom the homeowners counci ls. Chamber of Commerce and School District.

He said what is new about this study is that A R U P has come up with some new sources of data the City has not had before that provides a better understanding of where traff ic comes f rom and where it is go ing. Wi th that, the steering commit tee will be in a better posit ion to understand what they might be able to do about traffic.

The commit tee is also doing using more web-based public interaction methods. Two weeks ago, the C C T A hosted a te lephone town hall for the Danvi l le/San Ramon/Lamor inda area to talk about a new Transportat ion Expenditure Plan and 2,000 people phoned in. They did not stay for the entire hour, but some of the web-based techniques are far more powerful to obtain broad part icipation. One reason for this joint meeting tonight is that while it is a large grant it is still l imited and the Counci l wanted to be able to save resources for this web-based outreach.

Wi th that, a presentat ion will be given by the consultants. The recommendat ion is that the public. Circulat ion Commiss ioners and the City Counci l provide comments and once comfortable, they will launch the web-based study. He said the beta site was up today wi th some very good quest ions and this will assist in their first round of study.

Wil l Baumgardner , Principal, ARUP, introduced Senior Transportat ion Engineer Mike Iswalt and said their intent is to reduce downtown congest ion but also improve the overal l qual i ty of life in downtown and components of safety, economic vitality, local character and envi ronment . They are beginning with a broad overall guiding principle to address critical t ransportat ion concerns that affect quality of life in the communi ty and are work ing on this with the steering commit tee and narrowing down more specif ic guiding principles.

One large theme is enhancing the quality of life which is about livability and character. Another major theme is addressing and improving the exist ing def ic iency such as concerns about safety and congest ion and also looking forward to the future and helping to guide future changes to support the future vision of the communi ty and adapt to future change.

Mr. Baumgardner stated downtown Lafayette is unique in terms of the many activit ies going on and concentrated in the downtown. From the project planning and sett ing goals and principles perspect ive, it made sense for them to think about the different components and dif ferent activit ies going on and come up with more specif ic principles in each of these areas. They have four focus areas:

1. The downtown: Improving access, reducing congest ion in downtown, improving safety in downtown and support ing some of the previous planning work done;

2. The BART Stat ion: is an important piece of this both in terms of looking at mult i modal access at the stat ion, addressing traffic implications for access to the stat ion, improving safety information;

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3. Highway 24 is a big factor on traffic condit ions downtown with peopie accessing to and f rom it, as weii as concerns about traffic divert ing f rom the f reeway when there are incidents causing congestion on the freeway; and

4. Schoois. Start ing with safety around schooi sites in the downtown and iool<ing at stat ion access and piclûp and drop-off operat ions.

IVlr. Baumgardner said they have organized their presentation around a series of key quest ions which wil l be individually addressed. They will talk about why this study is different and what they intend to do that builds and extends on work done in the past, highlight their overall outreach approach and schedule, and then get into the topic of congest ion beginning with its definit ion, w l ia t it is here in this city, when and why it occurs and where things are going in the future. They will then talk about solutions.

They are just starting to make the pivot of understanding the problem into starting to identify and analyze solut ions, and they will introduce how they will do this and talk about the range of things to do that.

Finally, they have a quest ion for everybody as to what they might have missed. They wil l introduce the outreach program and on-l ine websi te which will garner more input on what else they need to know.

Mike Iswalt, Senior Transportat ion Engineer, ARUP, said he will begin discussing why this study is different and will look at what has been done before going back to the 1980's, some of which include the Downtown Street Improvement Plan, studies along the Mt. Diablo corridor, the General Plan, School Bus Study for MORTRAC, traffic calming guidebooks, Lafayette Downtown Strategy, the Bikeways and Wa lkways Plan, some parking analyses looking at the EBMUD Aqueduct Bike Study, and most importantly the Downtown Specif ic Plan (DSP) wh ich laid out v is ion and policies for the change and goals and object ives of what the downtown wants to be and how to guide that change in the future. He added that there has been some downtown parking studies, the MTC signal optimization study, and a Lamor inda Service Plan which is a transit access plan.

Mr. Iswalt said all of these studies have yielded several successful projects wh ich have been implemented and include:

• Signal t iming opt imizat ion along Mt. Diablo Boulevard

• Widening along Mt. Diablo Boulevard

• Reconf igured plazas

• Improved bike and pedestrian facilities

• Crossing enhancements

All of these things have started to address a number of congest ion issues. However, why this study is dif ferent is that they want to build on previous successes and try to identify new ideas; everything f rom incremental ideas up to "moon shots". They quest ion whether there are some big infrastructure moves that have or have not been considered before that they can analyze and see if there is a cost benefit of looking at something signif icant.

As Counc i lmember Tatzin had said, Mr. Iswalt said they are looking to apply new data sources and other tools. In the last couple of years there has been a number of data f rom GPS, navigation systems, te lephone data that is anatomized wh ich they can purchase which can help them to identify travel patterns and behaviors through the downtown. This helps to start unpack and pull apart where some of the traffic is coming and going to so when t l iey start to target strategies, they can be a little smarter about it.

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As they evaluate those strategies, they want to do this comprehensively and holistically so they are loolcing at all of the different benefits, costs, and look at things in packages to understand how each of the different programs work together to hopeful ly achieve the different goals they have outl ined for the study. They want to identify what strategies are doable, feasible and focus on implementat ion and things that are fundable, as wel l .

He displayed the area they will focus on for different strategies and projects, which analyzes part of the DSP, al though much of their data collection goes beyond this but they truly focus on the strategies and implementat ion in this particular study area.

IVlr. Iswalt said they first understand the problem by looking at the policy context, collect data, go through a process of generat ing Ideas and look at a cont inuum of solut ions incremental up to the moon shots. They get a long list of projects and start to narrow down the list so they have a series of projects they take forward into more detai led analysis wh ich looks at travel t ime benefits and impacts on LOS. They do this through traffic model ing and then st ream down those ideas further. They then go back and refine ideas, come up wi th a package work ing wi th the steering commit tee, the Circulation Commiss ion and City Counci l to come fonward with a ser ies of solutions and having the Council and Commiss ion be the decis ion-makers and helping them to then refine that f inal package of projects. They want to cont inue to push fonward and then wrap up the study.

IVlr. Iswalt presented the schedule, stat ing they are in Phase 1 of the project, which is about understanding the problem and generat ing ideas. They will be launching the outreach strategy at the end of tonight 's presentat ion and are still early in the process to understand the different strategies and how they might put them together as they go into more of the detai led analyses.

When thinking about transportat ion strategies, Mr. Iswalt said they of ten break them down by supply and demand. There is a demand for travel and a supply or capacity. He presented the capacity of the roadway on Mt. Diablo Boulevard and on BART. They also think about it by mode. They have auto, transit, bicycle, walk, and another category looking at specif ic school trips, how technology might influence any mode, such as r ide-sharing and other innovations in the next 5-20 years related to autonomous vehicles, and what they might mean for the different strategies when moving fonward.

On the supply side they are talking about the funct ion of the sys tem. On the demand side, they will explore ideas about how they might manage the demand for travel through incentives, enhancing travel opt ions, better access to bike lanes and pricing.

Regarding congest ion, people do not like it and there are two kinds: typical and recurr ing, or the garden variety type of everyday congest ion. This is when there is more demand than supply in the system and this means slower speeds, increased delay and longer queues. Then there are the incidents or non-recurr ing, or the unusual kinds of c i rcumstances or th ings like coll isions on the freeway, weather, down power lines, and this is more o f t h e incident response management .

Mr. Iswalt presented data f rom one of their data sources which picks up the G P S traces and cell phones and anatomizes that data. They can show the change in congest ion throughout the day which is similar to what is seen in Google Maps traffic, which shows typical changes across the day. Mr. Iswalt presented the visual s imulat ion and discussed the individual segments along Hwy 24 and Mt. Diablo Boulevard, or wherever there are enough points where GPS units or cell phones in vehicles can get picked up and get logged.

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council [\;leeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 5 November 9, 2015

He then presented a typical day in Apri l 2015 or an average of a mid-week day. Wha t is seen throughout the day is the change in the congested segment. Congest ion builds on Moraga Road approaching Mt. Diablo Boulevard in the morning, how the f reeway starts to congest traveling westbound in towards Oakland. Throughout the mid-point of the day there is a lot of activity around Mt. Diablo Boulevard as traffic is going to and f rom all of the different retail locations along Mt. Diablo Boulevard, school activity, and then building up towards the end of the af ternoon is traffic coming back f rom freeway, back f rom BART and back into Lafayette and traveling south on Moraga Road. These are things that many people living in the communi ty exper ience every day. As traffic engineers and transportation planners, A R U P can use this information to help zero in on what are the actual segments that are the most congested.

Regarding when traffic occurs, Mr. iswalt pointed to a graph wh ich showed Moraga Road at School Street and explained that these show hourly vo lumes throughout the day. He then presented the BART chart which is the intersection hourly vo lumes for 4 different per iods of the day; the a.m., noon, 2:30 to 3:30, and the p.m. peak.

He said what is unusual about what happens here in Lafayette is that one would usual ly expect an a.m. peak as people are traveling and this peak would tail o f f mid-morning. Usual ly around lunchtime more activity occurs, and then usually things do not peak in most p laces until right around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m.

What happens in Lafayette is that Lafayette's peak hour is the mid-part of the day or 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. This picks up and sustains until 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. So there is a 3 to 4 hour peak in the af ternoon that is relatively constant and this is where pressure on the system starts to build and sustains. The quest ion is why does this occur?

Mr. Iswalt presented data f rom another provider called Streetl ight which takes the G P S and cell phone data and matches up where the origins and dest inat ions of these trips are across the network. He presented northbound traffic on Moraga Road dur ing the a.m. peak, which is roughly a 4 hour peak in the morning wi th traffic traveling up Moraga Road as it is hitting St. Mary's Road. He said about 5% of this traffic is going to the schooi area, another 5 % is actually going to some of the residential areas on either side of Moraga Road, about 12% is going to dest inat ions in the downtown, roughly 5% west and 10% going to the east travel ing on Mt. Diablo Boulevard outside the downtown area. A lmost two-thirds travel on Hwy 24 to the west or east, and then about 5% to BART. He said they can look at these statistics in the a .m. or midday and get a sense of where those trips are going.

In zeroing in on strategies they iook at changes or capacity increases, bike lanes, or strategies that help try to shift people out of their cars or that help improve travel t ime to areas.

When looking at the core of the downtown retail area there are people travel ing on Moraga Road going to and f rom the f reeway primarily. The var ious movements they must make are not straight shots to the f reeway. Several turns need to be made to get to the other side of the f reeway to access it. Vehic les must make many turns so it is not a direct connect ion to the freeway.

There are also 8 traffic s ignals on Mt. Diablo Boulevard in about 8/10 of a mile, wh ich is short spacing. W h e n talking about traff ic signal coordinat ion, green t ime, trying to have vehicles move smoothly, it is chal lenging to do wi th such close signal spacing. There are a number of major traffic generators spread throughout the downtown, a number of dr iveways where vehicles slow down to pull in off of Mt. Diablo Boulevard, all o f which create friction at all points which then slows down traffic, as wel l .

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On Moraga Road traveling sout l ibound there are left turns f rom Moraga Road and no dedicated left turn lanes. Therefore, one person wait ing to make a left turn can actual ly cause traffic to queue back pretty far. He said t l iere was a t ime when he saw queues extend all the way back to Mt. Diablo Boulevard f rom School Street because one person was trying to make a left turn. So how they manage that and these turns is a major issue.

Regarding BART Mr. Iswalt presented general locations of BART parking and access. He said people going to the BART station must travel through var ious segments of the "Y" which is putting pressure on those key segments of Moraga Road, Mt. Diablo and Oak Hill. The pedestr ian access is not as direct or clear as perhaps it could be. The Deer Hil l /Oak Hill pedestr ian crossing at that intersection is a steep grade and there are also people crossing to get to the BART station.

Mr. Iswalt then presented Hwy 24 and said when there is congest ion on Hwy 24 there is also diversion. This occurs quite often when there is an accident or incident and it puts more pressure on Mt. Diablo Boulevard and more pressure on the "Y".

Mr. Iswalt then presented the Lafayette Elementary School and Stanley Middle School area, stating there are a number of things they wil l take a close look at. On School Street there are a number of activities including drop-off, on-street park ing, residential that f ronts the street and many th ings going on that create potential issues. There are some drop-off areas in the parking lot of the elementary school and some kind of informal parking areas along St. Mary 's Road where children are picked up and dropped off. There are a number of signals that are the main crossing points for children walking to school f rom the west side of Moraga Road, and there is the First Street/School Street intersection and issues around visibility. So there are many concentrated issues they want to take a closer look at as part of the study.

Regarding growth, Mr. Iswalt presented housing units in Lafayette and Moraga which are some of the major generators of traffic and travel demands. He presented housing units f rom 2000, 2010 and 2015 in the two communit ies. Between 2000 and 2015 there is about a 3% growth in both communi t ies. Going out to 2040, this yields about a 15% jump. W h e n thinking about this they quest ion the potential for land use change, look at how it affects the vehicle trip generat ions and there are a couple of forecast considerat ions about why they think this number could be higher or lower.

From the DSP there is an increase in retail off ice and a number of units proposed that were considered as part of the DSP EIR. He presented a scenario and said they are trying to look at the change they are trying to accommodate or provide solut ions f o r

W h e n looking at BART there are currently 1,500 spaces but no plans for an increase in parking there. So at that level there is not a greater attraction for vehicle trips to the BART stat ion.

For Hwy 24, growth is t ied to regional growth in the 1-680 corridor and in San Francisco/Oakland. Growth in schools is really t ied to local housing dynamics such as household composi t ion and size. For the vehicle trip generat ion up to 1,900 peak hour trips are shown, but in being conservat ive this came f rom the EIR and there are a number of things that could actually put downward pressure on that number. Also, those tr ips are a lmost city-wide trips. Most of the change looked at the DSP is focused around the Mt. Diablo corr idor but the 1,900 trips are spread out across the City.

W h e n looking at the forecast considerat ions the things that could put a downward pressure on those trips are things related to if a lot of the growth is transit-oriented in downtown that wil l generate fewer car trips.


There are also considerat ions related to the change of behavior of mil lennials and baby-boomers as they are retir ing. Some o f t h e mil lennials are holding off buying cars later. They are r ide-sharing more so there are a number of things that could lead to lower trip generat ion for those segments. If more jobs are accessible to BART In San Francisco and Oak land, these would be more opportunit ies for Lafayette residents riding BART to reach those places of employment . Transit-or iented housing around areas also keeps putting those downward pressures on vehicle tr ips. Around schools, there is the potential for family size and other housing dynamics that could influence school trips going forward.

IVlr. Iswalt said the not so good news is regardless of what the number is they know there will be more traffic which will lead to more congest ion on IVloraga Road and all critical sect ions in the Downtown "Y". Congest ion on Hwy 24 will also Increase In the future. There is future growth planned for the Hwy 24 corridor which will only lead to increased diversion to Mt. Diablo Boulevard In the future.

The good news is that future downtown growth will benefit the proximity to transit and other businesses wh ich should lead to less auto trip generat ion. Also, some of the change in travel behaviors and patterns as well as technology can also provide a lot of opportuni ty to be able to reduce automobi le trips.

Mr. Iswalt then reviewed some of their key f indings:

• The concentrat ion of activity along Moraga Road and Mt. Diablo Boulevard creates a concentrated problem downtown.

• The c loseness of intersections and multiple dr iveways also create Issues.

• There Is a prolonged peak which is a bit unique and creates some unique chal lenges.

• The queuing throughout the day is highly variable. W h e n standing on the corner of Moraga Road and Mt. Diablo Boulevard, people will see some ext reme queues build up and then they go away so there is quite a bit of variabil i ty which makes their j ob more chal lenging.

• These things are also dependent on turns and where people are travel ing to.

• Incidents on Hwy 24 will cont inue to divert traffic to Mt. Diablo Boulevard which is someth ing they will have to address.

Mr. Iswalt then reviewed how they identify and evaluate strategies:

• Their general approach is to first look at how much congest ion they need to reduce or how many cars do they have to take out of the traffic f low or how much capacity do they need to build into that to try to reduce congest ion.

• How they target strategies to those specif ic focus areas so they are really putting the right tools in the right places to try to al leviate some of the congest ion.

• How much all of this will move the needle. They want to look at how much improvement they will get, and they also recognize there is not one strategy or one th ing, because of the range of activit ies and of the focused concentrat ion there is not one solut ion that wil l make everything go away.

• They also need to consider the different trade-offs and be able to clearly communicate those to make informed decisions.

• One example of a strategy is going through each mode. They have plotted them on an X Axis showing costs or the chal lenge of implementat ion. He displayed adapt ive signals in the downtown which the City already has according to signal systems. There are some new upgrades and other things they could look a t

• There are parking strategies or things that can actually help people f ind parking faster so there is less circulation on City streets.

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• Things aii the way up to major configurations of the downtown interchange. These are things more on the infrastructure-heavy side.

• They can iool< at a whoie range of things and try to identify what might work best.

• If they \ook at transit they can lool< at things iil<e increasing the school bus subsidy, look at downtown parking transit circulators, or restructuring of the County Connect ion service. Aga in , there is a cont inuum of solutions they can review.

• For bicycle strategies, there is E-BIke incentives through new bike lanes all the way up to major bike trail recommendat ions along the EBMUD corridor.

• On the pedestr ian side, they can look at changes to some signal lengths around some of the intersections to reduce pedestr ian delays a long Mt. Diablo Boulevard. They can look at addit ional pedestr ian connect ions across major arterials or pedestr ian bridges between BART and parking lots.

• On the school side they can focus in on things like other school drop-off locations, technology solutions such as dynamic ride-share programs, or changes to some of the school layouts or designs, and a number of changes related to autonomous vehicles, targeted information and other incentives.

• If these are all plotted they could look at the cost on the X Axis, but on the Y Axis they look at the benefits. Those benefits can be a wide range of di f ferent things with the object ive to categorize these into a couple of quadrants so they can focus in on things that have a signif icant payoff.

• There are not a lot of no-brainers because there are many th ings the City has already done. Once they have this f ramework they can start to screen down these strategies into packages of projects.

• The three main metrics are looking at the benefits of each of these strategies, the cost of the strategies, and other e lements such as safety. If they were to look af things along the benefit s ide these include th ings to reduce auto demand and tr ips, improve traff ic operat ions, reduce travel t ime and queuing, LOS and diversion, and also improve the quality of life.

• On the cost side they look at capital and operat ing costs. They could conduct a cost benefit analysis to try to help rank some of the projects. They could also look at th ings like constructabil i ty; the t ime to be able to design, build and operate some of these ideas.

• On the safety side, they can look at things like best practices and different ideas to reduce coll isions and injuries for all users of the transportat ion sys tem.

Mr. Iswalt concluded his presentat ion and said the websi te is live and can be found at www. lafavet tecongest ion.com. They wil l put all presentat ions on the site and the two most important parts are to help map the issues and opportunit ies. This is looking at all of the different issues. They have a col iaborat ive map and a transportat ion survey which wil l help them better understand current travel needs and also will hear f rom people about the different t ransportat ion priorities in downtown. He noted that the original websi te URL name was longer and changed to make it simpler. He stated he will set up a link to redirect people visit ing the site listed in the brochure to the current site.

The first panel provides information about the study. The next panel takes people to the issues and opportunit ies map or a col laborat ive map which will launch and al low users to drop pins on the map and enter comments about what they see at the different sites and things they would like to see improved.

The next panel is for people to comment and provide contact information. A R U P will receive an emai l generated that there was a new comment made. They can go through and summar ize the

City of Lafayette Regular & Speciai City Council IVleeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 9 November 9, 2015

different comments and tf iere is no iimit on tf ie pins peopie can drop. Aiso, people can see some of the other comments people have made.

In going back to the first panel on the main page, the transportat ion survey is short and they are interested in f inding out specif ic information and understanding about how people travel and modes, where people work, etc. and they also want to know about the highest priorities and lowest priorities to help segment out what people think they should be focusing on. He explained that the websi te works on tablets and desktop systems but has somewhat l imited functionali ty on cell phones. The pins on the col laborative map cannot be dropped on a smal l phone screen, so people would have to type in the address and take them there and then submit the comment . He noted that the websi te wil l be open for a couple of weeks .

Regarding next steps, they pian to launch the outreach with the hopes of gett ing as much input as possible, be able to obtain and compi le the public feedback, integrate this into their set of strategies, conduct more of the initial assessment of those strategies, develop the short list and start Phase 2 which is test ing the ideas. There will be more interaction with the steering commit tee and another check-in with the City Counci l , as wel l .

Mayor B. Andersson cal led on the Circulation Commiss ion for comments or quest ions.

Lynn Hiden, Circulation Commissioner, referred to peak hour new tr ips around the year 2040 and asked what this assessment was based on, stating she assumes it was the DSP and impacts assessed in the EIR. If this was the case she asked if the consul tants fully understood that the EIR assessed impacts for only 8 0 % of the 3 0 % that Ann Meredith and the consultant conduct ing the EIR felt could be developed dur ing 2012 to 2030. In other words , she said there is another 8 0 % of the DSP buiidout that was never assessed and will require another one or two EIRs to try to get at wha t is the growth and density wri t ten into the DSP EIR approved in 2012. She asked whether A R U P understood that when assessing the numbers.

Mr. Iswalt said those project ions were taken directly from the EIR. The process of where they are now is they are building an analysis tool to be able to assess and evaluate whether they do intersection upgrades, put in a new road, or a tunnel under the f reeway. They are building a traffic model with existing data which is cal ibrated. They take a future growth increment and put that into the model and test it. They are then able to test all dif ferent types of strategies. Therefore, the number of tr ips they will build under the model can be whatever scenario they think is the most realistic.

He said they want to start with something that has been evaluated or considered before. The 1900 tr ips was something used in the EIR to do an EIR-style LOS analysis, and they would like to start at that number. However, he said they can look at a number of dif ferent scenarios related to a different phasing of the DSP, different assumpt ions and what their effect might be on reducing trip generat ion. If there are more transit-oriented strategies or more bike lanes in the plan or small changes to that number they could build these in.

What they are really trying to do is take a future number into that model to evaluate all of the different strategies in the future and that number can be flexible, and the DSP is really the first step of generat ing that number for what they wil l be analyzing.

Commiss ioner Hiden asked for how long that number will improve the carrying capacity. Mr. Iswalt said he believes the EIR analyzed the 2035 condit ion and that number of tr ips represents the increases in square footage and housing units. This could be a 2035 bui idout or a longer buiidout, and the t iming and implementat ion of these things are up to all k inds of different

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 10 Novembers, 2015

factors. Putt ing a t imeframe on tl i is kind of study is common but it could be more of a near-term or long-term scenario as they get into the future analysis.

Commiss ioner Hiden reiterated her statement regarding the numbers evaluated in the DSP EiR, stating only 8 0 % o f t h e 3 0 % o f t h e plan to 2030 was analyzed for impacts.

Mr. Baumgardner thanked Ms. Hiden for bringing this to their attention and said they wil l address this wi th the Commit tee and City staff to understand how it was assumed.

Commiss ioner Hiden referred to the autonomous cars and asked if they assume these wil l reduce congest ion. Mr. Iswalt said they will be taking a very practical, pragmatic approach wi th this as they want to understand the full range in the long-term t imeframe of this study of wha t could happen. They wil l not look at autonomous cars as a near-term solution or strategy. He stated there is a lot of innovative technology that currently exists and they are looking to see how that could inf luence things. They will look at it in the long-term but it will not be a focus of outcome and projects they will be looking to generate out of this study.

Commiss ioner Hiden said as it was explained to her, au tonomous cars would drive people to BART, drive people home and to and f rom errands wh ich wil l cut down on parking and double trips.

Mayor B. Andersson commented that the City does not really know how they wil l be used once they are avai lable. He said a substantial portion of the populat ion might not own a car because they can rent an autonomous car or it may mean people will not park but trips might double. Therefore, he thinks a caut ionary approach is one which will be used.

El izabeth Johnson , Circulat ion Commissioner, referred to the al) strategies graphic and the dots plotted on the graph and understood the dots to represent specif ic ideas. She asked the consultants to provide a sampl ing of what some of the "moon shot" ideas are. She also has been brainstorming in that line of thinking and said it seems like some of the bigger ideas wou ld actually cover many of the City's goals. Therefore, she is wonder ing why there is not more overlap or dots are not closer together.

Mr. Baumgardner responded and said they have yet studied them all and located them on the graphic. Th is is an example of where they are going so they identif ied the long list of things that have already been identif ied in the past with the hopes of generat ing new ideas. Through work in the next phase they wil l be better at placing those on this graph and will know how they compare to each other.

Regarding examples, Mr. Baumgardner said he thinks a "moon shot" would be someth ing like a tunnel or roadway bypass or a signif icant interchange modif icat ion where they are talking about a big impact or cost with a big benefit. They would we lcome other thoughts as well as far as what "moon shots" could be. There are some represented in the earlier sl ides which are the specific strategies identif ied thus far. If Commiss ion members , the public or City Counci l see these he asked that they be identified so as to feed into their analysis.

Rachel Carpenter , Circulation Commiss ion Chair, noted that the next step will be to gather public comment and then integrate that public comment into the data col lected to come up wi th a set of strategies. She asked to elaborate about how this integration will work and also w i ie ther the consultants foresee addit ional data col lect ion based on public input or whether the data collection phase will end .

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Mr. Baumgardner said pubiic input wiii come in severai piaces. First, with the coi iaborat ive issues map they are iooking for people to identify their specif ic concerns and issues and bring things to their attention of those they might not have seen or have not heard. It wil l also be interesting to see if mult iple people tag the same location with the same issues. This will help guide them in looking at strategies and identifying problems that they need to look for solut ions for.

He explained that one of the valuable things with the survey information is the last two quest ions about people's priorities. This will help guide the ult imate decis ion-makers on this to see where the communi ty can value different aspects over another.

Chair Carpenter asked for information about the integration on the map where people drop pins. Mr. Baumgardner said in a perfect world they will not do more data col lection. They want to keep moving and do the study efficiently and get to the solut ions. However, that said they definitely wil l investigate things that pop up and determine whether or not there is a need for addit ional data gather ing.

Vice Mayor Reil ly said she did not hear how the City will go about publicizing the survey and asked for the plan to conduct outreach and a t imetable. She thinks it will be very important that this be broadcasted to as many people as possible.

Mr. Iswalt said they are iooking at using a number of resources that the City currently has to be able to advert ise it, as wel l as putting it on the City's webpage . There are also other avenues related to social media to be able to better advert ise this.

Vice Mayor Reil ly suggested that since many problems stem around schools she would encourage the consultants to reach out to the schools to somehow link it to their weekly newsletters that go out to all schools. This would encourage the capturing of many more famil ies.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said he has spoken to Super intendent Zinn and she has agreed to do that. Mr. iswalt conf i rmed, stating they had also met with the school district a couple of weeks ago to better understand some of the issues around the schools, and Super intendent Zinn had brought this up, as wel l .

Vice Mayor Reil ly asked about the t imetable. Mr. Iswalt said they anticipate keeping the websi te up for 4 to 6 weeks to be able to compile information. He would hope that after 2 to 3 weeks they would start to have some interesting feedback but they can adjust the w indow to garner more response.

Vice Mayor Reil ly voiced concern about its start around the holiday season and said she wants to be sure people are given enough t ime to hear about it and be able to part icipate.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said the steering commit tee d iscussed advert is ing in the Week ly Roundup and quest ioned whether there was t ime to place it in the City's Vistas, but he hoped that the Lamor inda Week ly might be able to provide some publicity on i t

Counc i lmember M. Anderson referred to goals and asked the consultants to make sure that at some point the different ideas get checked back against the vision for the downtown in the DSP which is a walkable exper ience. To him, that has always been at odds wi th the idea of having traffic f low through that same main s t ree t Also, it would seem that at some point a decis ion will need to be made about what is the priority. He guessed that would be a good t ime to talk again about that with the Council to get a better picture of where people want to go.

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He said this decision point couid greatiy affect what now is a budding dest inat ion for people who tal<e their lives into their hands when crossing the street. The Counci l recognizes this as being legit imate while also al lowing traffic to f low at the same t ime, so he is interested in seeing how this quandary is addressed once information is received.

Mr. Baumgardner said this is a good observat ion which gets to the heart of their purpose and chal lenge with this project. This is why they have broad and comprehensive sets of priorities, benefits and metr ics they will use to get to those trade-offs. Their job is to try to f ind the win/win solutions and when there are trade-offs to be made and to provide the City wi th this information to make the decisions.

Counci lmember Mitchell said he was struck by the fact that 5% of the people were going to BART, 5% were going to schools and 6 3 % were going to Hwy 24. He asked if this will impact strategies on how they expect to address some of those issues.

Mr. Iswalt said it is critical and valuable input to understand who would be affected posit ively or negatively by the different strategies. It provides a good sense of how much traffic they need to move to and f rom the f reeway and how much they would need to accommodate when looking at different routes or different pieces of infrastructure.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to the cont inuum lines in the graph and said there is cost and difficulty to implement. He asked if there is also an implication that there is a benefi t associated wi th that or as high a benefit when moving to the right.

Mr. Iswalt said this is what they will investigate; the idea is to understand what the "bang for the buck" is and not to bother with something that has a high cost or is particularly diff icult to implement or that does not do much on the benefit side. A no-brainer would be something easy to implement but has a lot of benefit and they will get there.

Ms. Hiden then asked if there is a way to build into the quest ionnaire a quest ion Counc i lmember Tatzin asked a few years ago. She personal ly feels that the medians are extremely important. She asked if there is a w a y to get to how the communi ty feels about having in the central downtown the medians. The medians take up space that could conceivably be util ized for other purposes such as wider s idewalks, wider bike lanes, or other things. She would personal ly do anything to keep the medians but would like to know how everyone else feels.

Mr. Iswalt said perhaps he did not highlight this earlier in the process but clarif ied there wil l be a second round of outreach. The first outreach does not get as much into specif ic projects per se. As they get through the screening aspect they intend to hold a public outreach meeting in the spring of 2016 and using that to then launch a second round of outreach wh ich would look at specific ideas. They will then try to have people prioritize those projects down to what they might see in a final p lan. The first piece of outreach is more high level about concepts and priorities whereas the second outreach will be more specif ic ideas of wh ich medians and specif ic things about street design and other e lements could be a part of that.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to maintaining the City's small town character. He asked Mr. Iswalt if he perceives this as being a non-starter with perhaps some "moon shot" ideas or tunnels or f ly-overs. In order to maintain small town character he asked if these ideas would be precluded entirely or not.

Mr. Baumgardner said he thinks there will be some things such as i tems which drive a lot of traffic or add more lanes through the downtown which will not get far. He said they wil l look at


the physical feasibil ity of some of the larger infrastructure ideas and this will be the first test as to whether or not something can be built and work and be safe. After that, they will get into understanding what the trade-offs are as somet imes the City might not wan t to reduce traffic in certain areas. He expects there will be a number of ideas large and small that fall out pretty

early.

Mayor B. Andersson said in the study area he noticed it stops short of Pleasant Hill Road and Hwy 24 interchange and the Acalanes Road interchange. He asked for this rat ionale.

Mr. Iswalt said they are primarily trying to keep the strategies and ideas l imited to the area primarily looked at as part of the DSP. But, they are including it in the data col lect ion, especial ly data f rom the GPS and cell phones. They are spreading a wider net and looking at the diversion issue, gett ing Caltrans information on speeds and volumes because they still wan t to be able to look at it in that context understanding that people do divert f rom Hwy 24 to Aca lanes Road. Therefore, the projects and phorities will be focused in that slightly smaller s tudy area.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said the fun part of this will be when the City starts implement ing strategies and programs or projects. He asked if the cost benefit analysis wil l include the l ikelihood of gett ing grant funding for some of these and whether the grant might be included in costs so the Counci l can see how plausible it is to implement the strategies.

Mr. iswalt stated that definitely the availabil ity of funding will be one of their criteria. They roll up many things in that cost and a difficult to implement area. The availabil i ty of funding is important as well as the environmental impact or physical feasibil i ty and bottom line costs.

Mayor B. Andersson opened the public comment per iod.

Public Comments :

DAVID SCHREIG, Principal, Stanley Middle School , said he wanted to speak on behalf of Super intendent Zinn who was unable to be here tonight and read her s ta tements into the reco rd : " / want to emphasize how much we appreciate our partnership with the City and with the Poiice Department. I also understand that we've had the opportunity to talt< with the representatives about the Traffic Congestion Study being shared tonight but I l<now that traffic congestion is a huge and important topic for the City. I want to be sure that in addition to studies about congestion that student and pedestrian safety in and around their schools remains the highest priority for our community. We have had 3 students hit by cars in the last calendar year. By an incredible stroke of good fortune the students that were hit did not incur more serious injuries. Stand on St. Mary's Road for example at the beginning of any school day or at any dismissal time or any time of the day actually and experience for yourself when an incredibly busy and dangerous road it has become.

While I know there is a great deal of research about traffic and safety measures that work and those that do not, I'm asking that we take a serious look at some of the recommendations that have been made in the Safe Routes to School reports and other studies that we worked towards to actual implementation of pedestrian safety measures. While I continue to try to provide for the safety of students and pedestrians by placing crossing guards at crosswalks near our schools, I know it is not the only answer. I am confident there is more that can be done.

When talking about no-brainers, I think this is definitely one of them. While you have my full support for the study taking place, I ask that it not just become another study and added to the list or one that does not really address the needs of our school community. Our schools in our community cannot take the chance that yet another student will get hit by a car. If we were to

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have a student seriously injured or even worse and we could have put some safety measures in place or to have prevented it, I know that the conversation I would be having with you tonight would be much different. Again, I thank you so much for your consideration and for your partnership." Mr. Schreig thanked the commit tee for their heip and agrees that whatever can be done to work in partnership to make students safe, they wiii work hard to do that.

Counci lmember Mitchell commented that the City has been working toward making safety improvements around all of the schools, but as it relates to this particular study the study area map includes St. Mary's Road including Topper. As it relates to the study they will cont inue to look at safety improvements as outl ined in one of the bubbles that talks about the schools, and they are looking at safety issues around all schools.

JULIE SCHMIT said her son Ben was hit by a car whi le walk ing to the Stanley Middle School on October 29^^. He was crossing St. Mary's Road in the crosswalk at Solano Drive. He thought the driver was waiv ing him across. Wha t appears to have happened was that the driver, bl inded by the morning sun, was just lowering his visor. He did not see her son at al l . Ben Is 11 years o ld, apparent ly went under the vehicle, ended up 10 feet away f rom the crosswalk and he and her fami ly were so lucky he was not run over and badly hurt.

Since then, many parents have come up to her and her husband to discuss the incident and lament the heavy traffic around the downtown schools. One mom in particular said something that keeps running through her mind—what are w e wait ing for? She said the City and School District knows they have two big schools and a congested downtown. They know their communi t ies are only going to grow, including Moraga. People know that kids do not a lways look both ways and do not always wait and neither do adults.

She said the consultants noted that 18 studies have been done since 1985. She is sure many good things came out of those studies and conducted a study of her own. One week after her son's incident she went back to the crosswalk at the same t ime he was hit. The sun had changed because of the t ime change so it was not such a hindrance. She walked back and forth across the crosswalk. At least 2 5 % of the t ime drivers did not stop, even though she was clearly wait ing to cross the street.

Even scarier is that she could tell that many of those drivers probably never even saw her at al l . Their eyes were on the road ahead of them and maybe their minds on work or whether or not they were going to make the BART train. She drives around town of ten in the same mindset, 5 minutes behind schedule with too many places to go. None of that is probably going to change. People's traffic, activit ies and all of this movement is a by-product of a prospering communi ty . She asked if there is any real f inancial reason the district or the City does not already have crossing guards at every crosswalk on busy streets around schools. After watch ing drivers that morning she sees some of the easy things probably have not been done. She sees a no-brainer for speed bumps along St. Mary's Road.

She also did not see the study ment ion foot bridges around the schools and she asked if this was a possibil i ty. She said parents want to encourage their kids to walk to school , to walk their town, to feel part of it by experiencing it f rom somewhere other than the back seat of an SUV. Her son is home tonight, but said the next child might not be so lucky. She thanked the Counci l and subcommit tee for their t ime and hard work on the matter.

BOBBIE FREITAS said she agrees with the no-median comment because before there were medians there was not congest ion. She also knows that the City has grown since then, but down at her end of town they do not have medians or congest ion. She said there are so many ways to make the City beautiful on the east side and have the extra space in the middle. To


make use of that is so important and it wouid get rid of a iot of wha t is being d iscussed. It wouid be cheaper in the iong run given maintenance probiems to maintain the medians and said there are many beautifui towns that are buiit iike that which are except ionai- looking. She asked why Lafayette cannot have a smali town feei without having the medians in the middle as the extra

lane could be well used.

QUINLAN T O M referred to the traffic study and thanked the subcommit tee members for donating their t ime to it. In fol lowing up on previous statements of safety, he knows safety is a concern and would stress that when looking into traffic issues that the consultants place this first and foremost in their minds. For the distracted drivers he and his family see every day, it has to start wi th people as a society. They have to make it a priority and must tell people that driving distracted and not taking safety as a priority is unacceptable. He hopes to stress that the study does not assume that people just say safety is needed because of kids around schools. This should be priorit ized and made a message in moving forward with traffic planning. He suggested tel l ing the City it is just not acceptable to have incidents of children gett ing hit.

V ice-Mayor Reil ly commented that the City has been work ing for over two years wi th the school district which has had two representatives, the City with two representat ives, with City staff and police trying to resolve traff ic and safety issues. The first two schools were Happy Val ley and Spring Hill and they are meet ing on November 16*^ at 8:30 a.m. with a discussion around Stanley and Lafayette Elementary Schools. Out of some of those conversat ions, immediate things identif ied as low-hanging fruit were able to be implemented. She encouraged people to attend this and future meet ings to hold a dialogue. Super intendent Z inn, City Manager Falk, and Chief Chr is tensen will be present and they will take suggest ions of things they can do.

ANGELA LANG said ment ioned in the presentat ion was exclusion of Pleasant Hill Road towards Acalanes Road, and she wanted to be sure the Council is aware that there are two routes down the hill so, there is diversion between those two routes. She lives up the hill and one of her children at tends school hal fway in between Pleasant Hill and Moraga Roads. The traffic on Pleasant Hill and getting down Reliez and Olympic is very relevant to the downtown traffic, again because o f t h e choice in route and diversion between those two routes. She wanted to be sure this was something considered because there is considerable traffic going up and down that hill. Quite of ten, it is quicker to go through the downtown than it is to go the other way.

Counc i lmember Mitchell s tated Chuck De Leuw is the City's Traf f ic Engineer and he ment ioned there are three E's to addressing these problems: The engineer ing, enforcement and educat ion. Therefore, there is no single thing that the City should do but three things, and the City is working with the school district on all three.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said his recollection is that data was shown for traffic heading north in the a.m. peak period on Moraga Road, but when looking at other traffic movements such as afternoon traffic, traffic coming down Pleasant Hill Road and where that goes, what was seen today was the traffic analysis illustrative of a lot more work the consultants wil l be do ing, in addit ion, they have a separate study the Counci l has authorized but not begun to look at what they can do about traff ic condit ions on Pleasant Hill Road, particularly Rel iez Val ley Road because they know it is at least as bad as parts of the morning as Moraga Road.

Counc i lmember Tatzin suggested leaving the survey in beta test for a few more days. He sent in comments earl ier this af ternoon and was not as adept as gett ing pins to drop anywhere much less where he wanted them, and he had some other comments on the survey form itself. Others may want to go on while it is in its beta test and comments can be sent to work out the bugs if there are any.

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Mayor B. Andersson thanked the Circulation Commiss ion for their comments and the consultants for their informative presentat ion, and said the Counci l looks fonward to seeing how this progresses.

Adjourn joint session with Circulation Commission

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Tatzin/M. Anderson) to adjourn joint session with the Circulat ion Commiss ion. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell, Tatzin and M. Anderson; Noes: None).

9. C O N S E N T C A L E N D A R

ACTION: It was M/S/C (Tatz in/M. Anderson) to adopt the Consent Calendar Items A.2 , B, C and D. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell, Tatzin and M. Anderson; Noes: None). Item A.1 Vote 4-0-1 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Mitchell, Tatzin and M. Anderson; Noes; None; Absta in: Reilly).

A. City C o u n c i l Minutes 1. October 22, 2015

Recommendat ion : Approve. 2. October 26, 2015

Recommendat ion : Approve.

B. 3725 Mt. Diablo Boulevard - Reques t for Revocat ion of E n c r o a c h m e n t Agreement Recommendat ion: Citv Counci l authorizat ion for the City Manager to s ign and record a Release and Terminat ion of Agreement to revoke the Encroachment Agreement previously granted to and recorded on the subject property.

C . Ord inance 642: Adding Cttapter 3-10 " S o l a r E n e r g y S y s t e m s " to tlie Lafayette Municipal C o d e Recommendat ion: Wa ive second reading of Ordinance 642 and adopt.

D. Budget Ad jus tments for FY2014-2015 Recommendat ion : Increase budget in 11-153 by $60, 11-550 by $130, 11-560 by $15 ,021 , 12-650 by $275 and transfer $275 f rom Fund 11 to Fund 12, 16-640 by $2,298 and transfer f rom Fund 11 to Fund 16.

10. O L D B U S I N E S S A. Michael C a s s ^ Sen ior P lanner

1. Appea l of Planning C o m m i s s i o n ' s denial : Re ference 3545 O 'Connor Drive (Parcel A - northern parcel ) APN 241-210-004 DR25-14 Twelve Wildwood L L C Owner) , R-10 Zoning: Request for: (1) Design Review-to construct a new 3,139-sq. ft. two story single-family residence with a building height of 24 ' -3" and a 636-sq. ft. one-story garage with a building height of 12'-0". Recommendat ion: Adopt Resolut ion 2015-54, grant ing the appeal and approving appl icat ion DR25-14 (Parcel A ) , sub jec t to condit ions.

2. Appea l of Planning C o m m i s s i o n ' s denial: Re fe rence 3545 O ' C o n n o r Drive (Parce l B - southern parcel) A P N 241-210-004 DR26-14 Twelve Wildwood L L C (Owner) , R-10 Zoning: Request for: (1) Design Review and (2) Var iance to construct a new 2,880-sq. ft. two-story single-family residence wi th a building height of 2 3 - 0 " , a 636-sq. ft. one-story garage with a max imum height of 20'-0" that


encroaches 10-feet into the required front yard setbacl< and one of the two required parlcing spaces encroaches in the front yard setbacic, and an 8-foot fence aiong the southern property l ine. Recommendat ion: Adopt Resolut ion 2015-55, grant ing the appeal and approving application DR26-14 {Parcel B), subject to condit ions.

IVlayor B. Andersson and Counci lmember Tatzin both disclosed that they visi ted wi th Amber Golik to view the proposed site from her property. Counci lmember Mitchell d isclosed receiving of a call f rom Mr. Butler who encouraged him to see the site and he saw the property on Friday. Subsequent ly, Counc i lmember Mitchell learned that his wife works at the same company as Mr. Butler does and he asked the City Attorney if he should recuse himself, wh ich he has learned is

not necessary.

Vice Mayor Reilly said she met Mr. Cass at the Golik property today, v iewed the home f rom the Golik 's property and f rom the subject property.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said he received an invitation to visit the Golik house, but decl ined

the offer.

Senior Planner Michael P. Cass said back on October 26, 2015, the City Counci l previously considered the appeal for the two new homes proposed on O'Connor Drive. At that t ime, by a vote of 3-2 the matter w a s cont inued for both applications to this evening and the direction was for staff to prepare an approval resolution for Parcel A with condit ions of approval , and for the appl icant to reduce the height for Parcel B.

In response to the directive for Parcel B the applicant has lowered the height by 1'-4" by modify ing the roof pitch f rom a 7:12 to a 5:12 pitch as suggested by Counc i lmember M. Anderson. Based on that change and directive of the City Counci l , staff has prepared approval resolut ions and condit ions for both projects which are at tached to the staff report for considerat ion.

As a reminder, the Counci l will be taking two separate mot ions for the two projects. The condit ions are very similar to one another and he will highlight dist inctions between the two. In addit ion to the standard condit ions of approval , staff is recommending the fo l lowing:

• First, prior to issuance of any grading or building permit, the appl icant would be responsible for execut ing all of the condit ions associated with the subdiv is ion to ensure there are two legal lots of record.

• Draft Condit ion No. 15 speaks to the project arborist 's recommendat ions being dupl icated as part of the construct ion drawings for the benefit of the contractor.

• Draft Condit ion No. 18 speaks to landscape plan modif icat ions. This is a comment that came f rom when the appl icat ion was referred by the Planning Commiss ion to the Design Review Commiss ion . VVhile the Design Review Commiss ion was previously support ive of the landscaping proposed, given the change and severity of the drought, they recommended some fairly signif icant changes and felt it could be handled as a condit ion of approval with consultat ion wi th Design Review Commiss ioner Cleaver.

• Draft Condit ion No. 19 is just for Parcel A, which is to darken the proposed colors of the residence.

• Draft Condit ion No. 22 is for a pre-construct ion site visit wi th the project arborist and contractor to discuss tree preservat ion recommendat ions.

• Draft Condit ion No. 25 is to submit an address ass ignment appl icat ion so there is an address ass ignment for the new lot that is being created.


• Draft Condit ion No. 30 reiates to prior to reiease of l ioid on f raming whicf i is roughiy m id

point review for construction of the home.

• Draft Condit ion No. 31 is that the arborist to verify they have been involved up to that point and that the contractor adhered to his recommendat ions.

• Draft Condit ion No. 33 is for a surveyor to verify building height.

• Draft Condit ion No. 34 is for aii utilities to be placed underground.

• Draft Condit ion No. 35 is for the arborist to verify compl iance with his recommendat ions.

Vice Mayor Reilly asked Mr. Cass to explain the trees proposed to be removed, stating there is a large redwood tree that will be removed which currently restricts a lot of visibility.

Mr. Cass stated there is an existing redwood tree, which is roughly in the northeastern corner of the property on Parcel A, and is proposed to be removed. The tree currently partially obstructs the views of Lafayette Ridge and when removed views would partially open to the Goliks. There is also another oak tree of interest along the southern property line which was approved to be removed as part o f t h e subdivision process. The applicant subsequent ly modif ied the project so they are no longer proposing to remove that oak tree in an effort to al low more mature landscaping to remain between the proposed home and the Golik 's common property line.

Vice Mayor Reil ly said there was a quest ion as to a buckeye tree to the left of the dr iveway when approaching, adjacent to the complex parking and she asked if this is to be removed or retained. Mr. Cass clarified this is the buckeye tree in the front corner of the property adjacent

to the utility pole. In looking at the site plan, it is proposed to remain.

Counc i lmember Tatzin referred to Parcel B and asked if the current plans are Sheet A.3.1{R) , which states "New homes by 12 Wi ldwood, elevat ions Parcel B, roof pitch revised to 5:12, dated 10/28/15." Mr. Cass clarif ied this was the sheet submit ted subsequent to the last meet ing and is the current appl icat ion for Parcel B.

Counc i lmember Tatzin asked what the roof pitch on the garage is according to those plans. Mr. Cass stated the garage is still a 7:12 pitch. There are also a couple of e lements where a 7:12 roof pitch is proposed, the majority of which has been changed to a 5:12 pitch. As an example , when looking at the entry e lement or east elevat ion, the mud room roof form is still labeled with a 7:12 roof pitch.

The public hear ing was opened.

BETH SOTO, applicant, thanked the Counci l for their extensive review and considerat ion given to the project. She introduced her husband, Bob McClain, and said they live in Lafayette with their 4 chi ldren. She gave a background on their work in building and restoring and adding to historic homes in Marin and Oakland, stating she and her husband both own smal ler homes on Monroe Avenue and Topper Court and knows f irst-hand of the desire to stay in the downtown area and care deeply about Lafayette. She said they want to build qual i ty homes for famil ies to stay for generat ions to come.

Ms. Soto recognized Ken Hertel who has been a great partner with extensive exper ience articulating the City's design review guidel ines and appreciates the simple fa rmhouse vernacular architecture they are trying to achieve. She then introduced Mr. Hertel to d iscuss their revisions.

KEN HERTEL, architect, said in responding to the 7:12 roof pitch on the mud room, this w a s an omission and it can certainly be a 5:12 pitch. They left the 7:12 on the garage for a couple of

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reasons. First, t l iey felt it related well to the massing and design of Parcel A, as these homes are seen together given it is an open edge facing the office bui lding. The other th ing the 7:12 pitch does with the larger mass is to provide screening for the Gol iks f rom the open parking and the dumpster in the corner.

Mr. Hertel revisited their initial design intent and said he likes to start a project wi th a series of concepts. Ms. Soto came with a strong vision which was to take a design queue f rom what was in the neighborhood; post-war farmhouse style buildings that they would repl icate. He would say that at every stage of their process the design of their project has been praised almost apologetical ly in that it has never received a negative response in terms of its overall design.

Mr. Hertel said they began with the project as an infill opportunity. It is downtown, close to schools, and they wanted to design two family homes as they are literally one block f rom the Lafayette School and not much further f rom Stanley School . They wanted to design a house that captured the character of post-war housing in Lafayette which has open porches, a f rontage that invites social izing wi th the neighborhood and this is what they are after. A lso, this is a transit ional parcel and their neighbor has a double wide parking lot or 120-feet of double loaded parking and essentially a three-story off ice bui lding.

They wanted to be careful with the design and orientat ion of this project and used their bui ldings to screen the neighborhood f rom that jarr ing use adjacent to them. The mass and size of these homes and their landscapes will actually protect the remainder of the neighborhood f rom that commercia l development.

He said they also are creat ing these homes almost as a planned unit development in the sense they were des igned together, in designing the two homes together they were able to gather some of the more offensive elements of building together, shar ing a driveway, having only one curb cut into the street, organizing that dr iveway so it was cars upon cars and using buildings to screen the neighbors, taking their rear yards and stacking them together to create an expansive rear yard that connects Lots A and B together.

He said there has been discussion as to whether they actually designed this for a f lag lot and every single thing they have done with Parcel B is in response to that f lag lot. They have turned the entire building 90-degrees perpendicular to the Golik 's property so that the w indows upstairs look into their deepest yard perpendicular to the Golik 's v iew and into a yard that is very deep and adjacent homes are set far away.

They have placed all of the quiet parts of their building such as the back of the garage, the breezeway, the dining room and the side of a kitchen and str ipped all of the w indows except for lower f loor w indows in the dining room and garage f rom those elevations. They have done everything possible architectural ly to turn the house away f rom the Golik 's property to preserve their privacy. A lso, the second f loor is 15'-4" w ide in its basic bay which is human scale. It refines the elements of the buildings down to smal l component parts that relate to the neighborhood. They are actually small units.

Lastly, regarding height, they are 23 ' wi th the revision in roof height and for him this is an extremely low profile two-story home. He recently completed a project in Carmel where the Vi l lage is all 5,000 to 6,000 square foot lots. They have a max imum ridge height of 24 ' and a max imum plate height of 18' and they fit into Garmel 's very restrictive guidel ines, which he thinks is remarkable and indicates that this house is wel l -behaved wi th respect to the neighbors.

B O B MCCLAIN, appl icant, stated they reduced the height by 1'-4" to try and be responsive wh ich is actually a 3' reduct ion f rom the original plans. The Gol iks were kind enough to invite

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them over to their house and they ioolêd out the w indow f rom their bedroom. Regarding observat ions, he agreed they couid see a house but whether or not one can see a house is one of the f indings that need to be made to approve a project. It is R-10 and in the R-10 and R-6 zones it is denser and people wil l see homes.

Standing in the Golik 's bedroom he could see 4 homes plus the commercia l property. He said Parcel B improves the privacy of the Golik 's house, and the way it is si tuated people will not see f rom straight ahead or f rom the side, and given t ime, he stated he would discuss views in their rebuttal per iod.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to the screening trees along the back edge and said they result in not seeing the home and retaining the view of the ridgelines behind it. Therefore, the nature of trees is not to s top in their particular growth. He asked how large they will be when first p lanted, how long will it wi l l take for them to grow up and how large will they get.

Mr. Hertel said there are two different species of t rees along the Golik 's property line. One is a Live Oak tree and they have a relatively slow growth but can get to be as tall as 50 or 60 feet. They will be planted as 24-inch box at about 9 or 10 feet tall. There is also a Red Bud tree which is a much smaller scale deciduous tree.

He commented that all landscaping along the Golik 's edge occurred before any quest ion of v iew was raised at al l , and he said nobody has asked them to circle back now that a v iew has been identif ied as one that would be preserved and strip out those trees. Therefore, they are left over f rom staff telling them where to place the trees and how many. He said they originally proposed nothing more than tall shrubs that will build up to replicate the green fence that was between the propert ies. They thought this would provide more screening and top out at 12 feet or sheared to whatever height. Therefore, trees were not their motive or goal for screening on that edge.

Mayor B. Andersson asked if the story poles as they exist now reflect the current plan or the earlier plan. Mr. McClain said the story poles there now reflect the current plan and those poles there two weeks ago also reflect the current plan; however, a couple of them were off by 6 Inches but they have been corrected to reflect the 5:12.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to the garage and asked If the higher height was strictly an architectural considerat ion or funct ional need. Mr. Hertel said the only funct ional need is to be able to have enough height in the gable that they can actually do the trellis detail proposed above the doors. They also have a small w indow that would be in the attic wh ich could be painted out black as it is only there as an element that reflects the historical type of architecture and it a lso relates to the elements that are on Parcel A as wel l . Therefore, while he honest ly likes the project with a 7:12 garage pitch, it could go to 5:12.

Vice Mayor Reil ly referred to the garage and asked about its height. Mr. Hertel said he bel ieves it is 19'-6". The dimension is f rom the slab of the garage to the very peak wh ich he sees as 20 ' -6". Mr. Cass clarif ied it is 20 ' based on the south elevat ion.

Mayor B. Andersson opened the public comment per iod.

Public Comments :

CRAIG BUTLER said he believes the purpose of tonight 's meet ing is for the City Counci l to make all of the f indings listed in Draft Resolut ion 2015-55 DR25-14 related to the proposed development on O'Connor Drive, specifically Parcel B.

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He said unlil<e the developers and their attorney he believes the Counci l will be unable to make all of the f indings. Finding 6-275{C) pertains to a single-family residential exceeding 17 feet in height. Sect ion (1) states that "when siting buildings and their associated outdoor living and service areas respect the privacy and views that exist in adjacent residences." The proposal for Parcel B impacts both the Golik's v iew and privacy and perhaps the privacy of his home.

Houses wi th small footprints are encouraged where the site is restricted by exist ing features. The developers chose to subdivide, thus making Parcel B a unique flag lot that is surrounded by neighbors. The development team has only proposed a two-story residence that by all measures is in the top 5% of home sizes on both O'Connor and Herman Drive. He also f irmly bel ieves that if the developers had correctly installed the story poles with the associated orange netting when this project began over 14-months ago they would not be here tonight as none of the other commit tees would have been able to make ali of the necessary f indings.

He said it is abundant ly clear that the deve lopment team started this process by proposing homes of more than 3,300 square feet knowing they would never be approved. They then spent 14-months, 5 design reviews, 2 Planning Commiss ions and now 2 City Counci l meet ings performing Xerox reductions fully knowing they would eventual ly f ind the bare min imum needed for possible approval .

Mr. Butler said throughout the process there has never been a unif ied v iew by any of the groups including this commit tee. He would hope the City Council can do better than begrudgingly approve a development that has absolutely no support f rom anyone and is opposed by all of the attached neighbors and other concerned cit izens. As a resident of Lafayette who greatly appreciates the volunteer nature of many Lafayette commit tees, he urged the Counci l not to set such a dangerous precedent for future downtown development.

In closing, he said they have repeatedly asked the developers to design a single-story residence wi th a smal ler program on Parcel B. If he were the deve lopment team motivated by the rising value of Lafayette real estate he would also cont inue to push this issue, factoring in the delays of his construct ion and the hourly rate of Mr. Bowie and his col leagues against his forecasted revenue f rom a completed project. He is not naive to believe that this does not happen all the t ime but is disappointed that the Council wou ld al low this to happen and miss an opportuni ty to set the correct tone with future developers, saying they support growth but not at the cost of what makes downtown Lafayette special .

STEVE GOLIK thanked Counci lmembers Mitchell and Tatzin, Vice Mayor Reil ly and Mayor B. Andersson for coming and visit ing their home. He said now that the Counci l has seen the impact f i rst-hand and the story poles have been updated for the first t ime accord ing to City guidel ines the picture is as clear as it is going to get. The Counci l f inally now has the information needed to make its decision.

He said all of the f indings, whether there was any controversy, boiled down to three things: 1) compatibi l i ty with regard to size and massing; 2) appropriate deve lopment for an infill f lag lot; and 3) impact on v iews and privacy. Regarding sizing and massing. Parcel A would be the largest residential structure in the neighborhood based on square footage. It wou ld also be the tallest at 24'-3". The Counci l might wonder w h y the Goliks are even concerned about Parcel A. They are concerned about the neighborhood and the precedent that Parcel A sets, as clearly precedents can be pressed to a developer 's advantage.

He said Parcel B has a second story that would loom over their property. They l istened to the minutes f rom the Woodal l project, and his understanding is that one of the most significant concerns was the looming nature of the project over the neighbor's property. He would ask the


Council to directly address how this project is different f rom the Woodal l project for consistency's sake.

The f loor area ratio of Parcel B is an object ive measure to be sure and one that is of ten dismissed here, but surely now the Counci l has a subject ive exper ience wi th what would be 185% of the neighborhood average, or a lmost double.

Regarding item 2; appropriate development for an infill f lag lot, Mr. Gotik said special considerat ion must be made to avoid oversized development of an infill site. He would argue that an infill f loor area ratio should be possibly lower than the neighborhood average if not at least close to the neighborhood average. He noted the architecture is certainly skil led and tasteful, but Mr. Hertel cannot violate the laws of physics. As the Counci l has seen f rom the new story poles it is physically impossible for a structure that size to be considered suitable for that particular infill parcel and thus, it is impossible to make this f inding.

Regarding item 3; privacy and views, Mr. Golik said only now that the story poles have been updated is it clear that the angle of the west- facing windows on Parcel B would al low a direct v iew into their master bedroom and of their bed. It is impossible to tell how inhabitants might position their furniture or where they might stand and his home has floor to ceil ing w indows all along the north side. Including right next to their bed. Regarding v iews, he asked if the Counci l can disagree with staff and with the Planning Commission 's assert ions that their v iew of the Lafayette Ridge would be substantial ly blocked by Parcel B.

Mr. Golik said in the end there are only two ways to evaluate anything object ively and subjectively so the Counci l can boil it down to this. Objectively, the buildings, particularly Parcel B, are too large for the sites. Subjectively, the buildings, particularly Parcel B, are too large for their sites. There are clearly unreasonable impacts on privacy and v iews and just like the Woodal l project. Parcel B looms over their yard.

Now that the Counci l has seen the revised developments, Mr. Golik asked if the Counci l can reasonably and honestly make any of the f indings much less all of them. Even if they feel they can make the f indings individually surely cumulat ively concerns about all of these f indings is clearly an indication that these buildings are just too large for the site.

Counc i lmember Mitchell asked Mr. Golik if he has considered the plants they are using and had an opinion between the two given a Coast Live oak tree is an evergreen oak that will not lose its leaves. As an alternative, the appl icant is also suggest ing large shrubs to work to complement the fence but not grow very high.

Mr. Golik said honestly he has not spent a lot of t ime thinking about landscaping, mostly considering that to be something less fundamenta l to the project. Certainly, anything that can be done to mit igate the impact he very much wants to part icipate in, but at the moment he has not spent much t ime thinking about alternatives for landscaping.

A M B E R GOLIK said she wanted to address concerns about the Redwood tree and presented a photo f rom their master bedroom and said the redwood tree is not visible. There is also a photo from their yard which also shows the same thing; that the Redwood tree is not impacted by their view of the home f rom their yard.

She said a picture paints a thousand words but in the case to make the f indings to approve the project at 3540 O'Connor Drive, there is no substitute for v iewing it f i rst-hand f rom their property. Now that most of the Counci l has had the opportuni ty to v iew the visual impacts, she asked whether the Counci l can make f inding 6-275(C).

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As seen f i rst-hand, the staff has shown in photos, the report and at the iast meet ing there was a very ciear v iew obstruct ion f rom their master bedroom, their famiiy room which they start construct ion on this week, and from the majori ty of their yard, if the Councii i ived in her home, she asked whether these v iew obstructions wouid be signif icant to them. She does not have a iawyer but said she just wants to continue enjoying iiving in her home.

Furthermore, since the story poies for the first t ime have been properiy updated, it now seems there is also a privacy impact directly into their master bedroom. Considering it is a wall of glass and their bed right by the window, this is obviously disconcert ing to her. She would be surprised after seeing her bedroom if it would be comfortable to Counci lmembers, as wel l .

In addit ion, f inding 6275(C)(4) states, "The structure is so designed that it does not appear too tall or massive in relation to surrounding structures or topography when v iewed off site." She would argue in the case of Parcel B, since her property shares the entire lot line wi th this infill lot she would say it is signif icant to her property and it feels too tall and massive. She is not sure how anyone standing on her property could say anything different and it is egregious.

She hears over and over that Mr. Hertel is such a great architect so she would assume it would be easy for him to design something more suitable for the site and something that is not 22' tall with a 636 square foot, 20 foot tall garage. Perhaps a smal ler garage would a l low for more outdoor space.

Ms. Golik then quoted Mr. Bowie from the meet ing on October 26**̂ when tell ing Counci l that a single-story would have less outdoor space, and he said, "People in Lafayette buy to enjoy their outdoor space." To this she said yes, they would like to cont inue to enjoy their outdoor space and indoor spaces which includes their v iews wi thout a large two-story home looming over their property.

She stated that Mr. Bowie also said, "There is no impact in the living areas. The only impact is in a corner of their rear yard. " Now that Counc i lmembers have been to her home, she thinks this is clearly untrue and she is sure the Counci l would agree.

One final thing Mr. Bowie said was that "all adjoining neighbors are two-story" wh ich is obviously false. Her home is a one-story home, similar to the Heckmann 's and the Dente's residences, and the Butler home is a one-story residence with the basement. She said this is not about change being difficult as they have heard f rom the appl icants. It is about Counc i lmembers being able to make all of the f indings in order to approve this project.

Rebuttal - Applicant

BOB MCCLAIN said part of the reason for the 7:12 pitch on Parcel B's garage is that when standing at the street people cannot see the Parcel B house, but the garage and the Parcel A house. Parcel A 's ridges are at 7:12 so there is some consistency f rom front to back.

Secondly, if the Counci l has been to the Golik 's house and has stood in their bedroom, their eyes are at about the same level as where the w indows are not facing them on the second f loor of Parcel B, which is akin to a one-story home on a level space. This is because they are uphil l, up steps and up into the house that the second story does not loom over.

Regarding v iews. Parcel B does not unreasonably impact the Golik 's v iews. In looking out their w indows including the pictures they presented, when standing on the right side of the room there is a v iew of the ridge that is still there. In standing on the left side of the room their own


landscaping obscures the view, hence there is not really a v iew there. And f rom the middle there is somewhat of an impact but again he would say it is not unreasonable. Once landscaping grows up it would not be further unreasonable.

ERIC SHAFER, attorney representing the appl icants, said Mr. Bowie was unable to be in town and in preparing for today, he read the entire file. A few things strucl< him in that this seems to have been consistency agreed that Mr. Hertel is an excel lent architect and has objectively designed two very nice buildings. Another thing that strucl< him is that there does not seem to be real opposi t ion of Parcel A but opposit ion to Parcel B, and this opposi t ion has been directed

to privacy and size.

He noted that the Counci l must keep in context here that in reviewing residential guidel ines and applying them to this particular appl icat ion, the appl icants are in an R-10 zoning district and legally there is s imply not an expectat ion that one will not see another neighbor 's house. The neighbors do not get to be surrounded by open space in this zoning and as for size there has been a lot of material submitted over t ime regarding the project. He highl ighted that these particular lots are surrounded by 5 of the larger 7 exist ing homes in the neighborhood. Parcel B is roughly the same size as Mr. Butler 's home which is also a two-story home also right next to the property. He noted there are actually 9 existing two-story homes in the neighborhood. Of the 7 residential parcels surrounding Lots A and B, 4 are actually two-story. There is also the commercia l building right next door wi th a parking lot with a large structure.

Regarding privacy concerns he believes that as Mr. Hertel has ment ioned, frankly his design provides more privacy with the design he has created. W e r e he to have to create a single story bui lding, he would actual ly have to pivot it in a way for the structure to face the neighbors as opposed to the opposi te.

Lastly, he said everyone recognizes that the City Counci l has a fair amount of discretion in these matters and he knows they obviously take their posit ions seriously but it is not unfettered discret ion, and this is why there are design review guidel ines. It is important that these design review guidel ines are upheld consistently and fairly so that people submit t ing applications are able to expect what is going to happen, given the neighborhood and other projects approved. He would state that here, in applying the design review guidel ines the project needs to be approved.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said if the parcels are approved, he asked if the appl icants would be wil l ing to work wi th the neighbors with regard to landscaping, as he w a s not sure they fully understand the ramif ications of the screening landscaping on the back of their property.

Mr. McClain agreed to work with the neighbors. He noted that the shrubs in the landscape plan grow to be 15-feet tail and he ment ioned this at the meet ing, but they thought it might be counter-intuit ive. But, he agreed to work with them.

B R E A K Mayor B. Andersson called for a break at 9:21 p.m. and thereafter reconvened the regular meeting at 9:28 p.m.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said he is at a similar point as where he was at the last meet ing. He is prepared and will vote in favor of the resolution to adopt, granting the appeal on Parcel A. However, he cont inues to have problems making the f indings on Parcel B.

In v iewing Parcel B f rom the Golik 's property, he did not agree with their assessment that it is a privacy issue. To h im, the orientat ion seemed to be adequately focused to the west where it did

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not seem to be a problem, but on Sect ion 6-275(C) he has a problem particularly wi th (1) and (4) where it addresses the relationship and views of exist ing and adjacent residences. Therefore, he is not able to make those f indings.

Counc i lmember IVI. Anderson said he is also staying consistent with the last meet ing. He feels the f indings can be made for both structures. He appreciates the adjustment to the roof pitch and said for him it made a dif ference. He thinks it helps the overall look but he is not an architect.

He thinks the quest ion on f loor area ratio is not relevant because the City does not regulate FAR. The quest ion on massing and size to him relates to the visual scale, elevat ion and appearance of the building and not the square footage of the bui lding. He stated there can be a lot of square footage to make a building look like it is not very big and there can be a small amount of square footage to make a building look huge, so this is the skill of archi tecture and he thinks it has been done here very wel l .

He said this then comes down to the quest ion of v iews and privacy. He thinks staff is correct that there is no privacy issue and as stated at the last meet ing, views in this City typically are about pubiic locations v iewing off-site toward a site up on the hills in hil lside areas, in this case, they are in an R-10 zoning. There are other homes that are cieariy going to be visible in R-10. He lives in an R-20 and has two homes that are clearly visible f rom his backyard, and it is part of living in a neighborhood environment where there are sizes of lots that will put homes near each other. So he does not think that Is an issue here, a l though the neighbors are concerned about it. Therefore, he said he could make the f indings on both projects and move the matter forward.

Vice Mayor Reil ly said she is able to make all of the f indings for Parcel A, as consistent with the last meet ing. On her wa lk through today she does not see the privacy issue so this is not a concern for her, and she does not know how this would be possible. As far as the v iews, she struggles a bit and disagrees slightly in that she thinks when the Redwood tree comes down and when the family room is built there will be a whole new view that will open up. So she does not necessari ly see pr ivacy or v iews lost. She thinks some v iews will be ga ined, but as Counci lmember M. Anderson has said, in an R-10 zoning she does not know necessari ly that one is entit led to all v iews. She lives in a neighborhood and can see her neighbors ' houses.

Where she is struggling a bit is on Sect ion 6-275{C)(3) which relates to the house being too tall or massive. Because of the fact it is a f lag lot and it is pushed back closer to the Golik 's property, it does feel massive with the story poles. The size of Parcel B f rom the Golik 's home and f rom the neighborhood fits in nicely, but this is the one f inding she cannot make . Again, she wants to be clear that in R-10 zoning the privacy and views are such that people are going to see houses and she does not know one can deny a project just because one can see another person's house. But, wi th that said she thinks the massing is too much because of the f lag lot.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said he also has not changed his opinion f rom the last meet ing. He thinks the architecture is very nice but as stated at the last meet ing, there is too much of it; that the buildings collectively are too massive. Even if one argues these are two transit ional lots, they are two transit ional lots therefore on the north side of O'Connor Drive; that the total square footage on those two transit ional lots of comparable size is about 6,000-feet and the total proposed here is 7,500-feet so it is an invitation for the adjacent 19,000-square foot lot which cannot be subdivided to start having 5,000 and 6,000-square foot houses based on what the Council has seen this even ing. Therefore, he said he cannot approve either home.


He said wi t l i regard to specif ic f indings for Parcel A he is unable to mal<e Finding 6-275(C){2) and unable to make (3) because he thinks the buildings are too tall and massive.

If the majori ty of the Counci l is in favor of them he would ask to consider a couple of modif icat ions to the resolution for Parcel A, stating what is before the Counci l all the t ime is the appl icat ion and not the history about what got them to the appl icat ion. One of the last things he tf i inks the Counci l ought to do is send messages that if one modif ies their appl icat ion during the course of the process they get points for that even if at the end of the day they do not have a good appl icat ion.

Therefore, on the resolution for Parcel A under 6-275{C){2), he would suggest removing the sentence that states, "The applicant reduce the building height during the review process, thus decreasing the massiveness of the residence." This simply sends a message to the next appl icant to start out big and they will get credit for reducing the size.

He said he thinks there is a bit too much cutting and pasting and he referred to 6-275(C){4), for resolut ion for Parcel A, on the top of page 6 of 6, there is a lot of descript ion of things that wen t on in Parcel B, wh ich he does not understand why they should be in the resolut ion for Parcel A.

Counc i lmember Tatzin noted that when this subdivision was approved, it was approved wi th a condit ion that the design review for both homes occur concurrent ly and whi le technical ly it did not say they needed to be decided at the same t ime, the hint was that the design of one house might affect the design of the other house. If they now lock in the design of Parcel A, the Counci l has had some influence on the design of Parcel B. A n option the majori ty might wish to consider is, if the Council is not going to approve Parcel B, to defer act ion on Parcel A until there is a new plan on Parcel B so the Counci l knows they fit together the way the Planning Commiss ion had conceptual ly envis ioned.

Mayor B. Andersson said with the theory of what is before the Counci l and not how it got here, he asked if the Counci l should instead take what is before them.

Counc i imember Tatzin noted that the Counci l will have to deal with condi t ions of approval of the subdivision simultaneously, and this is a decis ion each Counc i lmember wil l have to make. He is merely expressing one point of view.

With regards to the resolution for Parcel B, Counc i lmember Tatzin said again, on Finding 6-275(A)(3) ; "General architectural considerat ions including the character, design and scale" he has problems wi th this, as scale shows up in 6-275(C)(1). The comment he made before about the total size of these developments appl ies to 6-275(C)(2). Even if approved, he would delete the last sentence of that section which, again, gives the appl icant credit for a long process as opposed to a great design at the first round. He said he cannot approve 6-275(3) because he believes it is too tall and too massive, and the last sentence of (4), he would remove this because it again deals with process as opposed to outcome. Therefore, he said he will not vote for either Parcel. He also would suggest that the Counci l consider that if it d isapproves Parcel B, to postpone Parcel A.

Mayor B. Andersson said when the Counci l receives these projects, a key issue is neighborhood compatibi l i ty and some of the f indings related to that. Very of ten they are a quantum leap ahead in size for most of the communi ty if not considerably larger than many of the homes in the area. They are usually in areas with half-acre lots where much of Lafayette is zoned. He said this is an R-10 neighborhood or less than VA acre, so it is different. First, there is not as much of an expectat ion of privacy or v iews and it is more of a downtown situation where people expect th ings to be a little bit t ighter.

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As far as tf ie size, it is bigger than the average home but not too much bigger than the average home, it is less than 150% of the average home and when the City conducted the house size studies, one thing that came f rom that is that a house seems compatible wi th the neighborhood general ly if it is at or less than 150% of the average of the neighborhood, it is difficult somet imes to identify exact ly how far the neighborhood spreads, but this seemed to be a reasonable metric, and this building falls within that.

He said it also a situation where, in fact, it is right next to a commercia l lot, so both lots transit ion between that commercia l edge and the rest of the neighborhood. In trying to build a one-story there, even if they do reduce the program, it will take up virtually all of the lot and not really be compatible in that sense wi th the rest o f t h e neighborhood.

As far as it being a f lag lot. Mayor B. Andersson said he ment ioned at the last hear ing that it is actually more than 10,000-square feet. If taking the flag pole off of the lot it still qualif ies as a 10,000-square foot lot. If the road were running right in front of it he does not see why that would be di f ferent than having it as a f lag lot as it is now. Plus, there are a number of homes of a similar size and a number of two-story homes in the immediate neighborhood. Therefore, he is support ive of both Parcel A and Parcel B in this appl icat ion. He suggested the Counci l take

up Parcel B first.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said It sounds like the Counci l may be having a difficult t ime making the f indings for Parcel B but the architecture has never been in quest ion. He said if the Counci l were to approve Parcel A and not make the f indings for Parcel B, he asked and conf i rmed with Mr. Cass that the Counci l will have locked the appl icants into the design for Parcel A and no modif ications would be able to be made once final act ion is taken.

Counc i lmember Mitchell suggested hearing f rom the applicant, stating if Parcel B, in fact, does not get approved, the appl icants may still want to make architectural changes to Parcel A so the two propert ies would be harmonious.

Mr. Cass said ult imately, each project must be evaluated based on the required f indings and on its own meri ts. If the Counci l delays taking action on Parcel A to al low some modif icat ions to be made to Parcel B it wou ld , in fact, leave opt ions open for changes to be made to Parcel A. However, based on what staff is hearing the majori ty of the Counci l can make the f indings for Parcel B and there has not been specif ic direction for modif icat ions for Parcel A. Therefore, staff would recommend that if the Counci l w ishes to defer taking act ion, to provide specif ic reasoning for want ing to do so.

Counc i lmember Mitchell, through the Mayor, asked the appl icant if a majority of the Counci l is unable to make f indings for Parcel B but can approve Parcel A, whether the appl icant would prefer the flexibil ity to make modif ications to Parcel A so that the two homes' architecture could be more consistent. He further explained that he suspects Parcel B will eventual ly be approved and would think the appl icant might want the two structures to look architecturally compat ib le.

Mr. Hertel stated that as the architect each parcel has its own unique external i t ies. Both lots were des igned f rom the outside in because they are sensit ive to the neighborhood condit ion. Parcel A really addresses O'Connor Drive and that is its pr imary issue, as well as the size and shape of the lot and want ing outdoor yard area for the residents. Therefore, he does not foresee any signif icant changes to Parcel A because of what it is addressing.

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council IVleeting IVIinutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 28 November 9, 2015

He said if Parcei B becomes one-story he does not thinl< it wiii change the dr iveway, basic garage iocations and those types of things, and he thinl^s it wiii remain consistent but with a different profile for Parcel B.

Counci lmember Tatzin said unfortunately the Council this evening does not have the denial resolution before them.

MOTION: It was M/S/C (Tatzin/Mitchell) to deny DR26-14 (Parcel B) and place the denial resolution on the November 23, 2015 Consent Calendar, direct ing staff to review and edit Findings 6-275(C) and 6-275(A)(3) where it talks about architectural relationship with the site

and other buildings.

Counci lmember Tatzin referred to Sect ion 6-275 f indings and stated that he and some Counci lmembers could also not make f indings 6-275(2), (A)(3), (C)(1), (C) (1 , 3 and 4).

Vice Mayor Reil ly said if a denial resolution is agendized for the Consent Calendar, she stated she can make more f indings than Counci lmember Tatzin. Mr. Cass clarif ied that in that c i rcumstance Vice Mayor Reilly should concur with the outcome but voice that her reasoning is based on a particular f inding, not necessari ly all of the same f indings that the remainder of the majority of the Counci l could not make.

ACT ION: It was M/S/C (Tatzin/Mitchell) to deny DR26-14 (Parcel B) and place the denial resolution on the November 23, 2015 Consent Calendar, directing staff to review and edit Findings 6-275{C) and 6-275(A)(3) where it talks about architectural relationship with the site and other buildings. Vote: 3-2 (Ayes; Mitchell, Reilly, Tatz in; Noes: M. Anderson and B. Andersson).

MOTION: It was M/S/C (Mitchell/Reil ly) to adopt Resolut ion 2015-54, granting the appeal and approving appl icat ion DR25-14 (Parcel A) , subject to condit ions.

Counci lmember Tatzin proposed an amendment to strike the few sentences which talk about the effects of process. Counci lmembers Mitchell and Reilly agreed to the amendments .

A C T I O N : it was M/S/C (Mitchell/Reil ly) to adopt Resolut ion 2015-54, grant ing the appeal and approving appl icat ion DR25-14 (Parcel A ) , subject to condit ions and to str ike the fol lowing sentences or references in the resolution under Parcel A:

1) Finding 6-275(C)(2): "The applicant reduced the building height during the review process, thus decreasing the massiveness o f t h e residence."

2) Finding 6-275(C)(4), on the top of page 6 of 6 delete the descript ion of things relating to Parcel B;

3) Finding 6-2759(A)(3); "General architectural considerat ions including the character, design and scale" as this shows up in Finding 6-275(C)(1).

Vote: 4-1 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell, and M. Anderson; Noes: Tatzin).

11. S T A F F R E P O R T S - None

12. P U B U C H E A R I N G - None

13. I T E M S R E M O V E D F R O M C O N S E N T C A L E N D A R - None

14. C O U N C I L / C O M M I S S I O N R E P O R T S


Mayor B. Andersson moved up Items B and C ahead of Item A.

B. C o u n c i l m e m b e r M. A n d e r s o n and Mayor B. A n d e r s s o n Rate Setting for Sol id Waste S e r v i c e s Recommendat ion: Provide direction to council representat ives to Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authori ty regarding rate increases for solid waste services for 2016/2017.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said every year, the Council reviews its rates relating to solid waste col lection. This is the second year of a new contract with Republic Services. Included in the packet is the presentat ion given to the Mayor, himself and the City Manager reviewing the current situation in Lafayette in terms of its reserves, the amount of money needed to cover next year 's costs and what other cities are doing in terms of their overall costs.

He referred to page 4 of the presentation and said this is Rate Year (RY) 2 wh ich is a 1 .1% increase. The City would end up with a revenue shortfal l , which is Line 9, of about $69,150. This takes a look at costs for services the City would need to pay for in that rate year. He said other cities and the county will end up with a negative if they do not do something in terms of adjust ing rates for the coming year.

In moving onto Sheet 6, wha t the consultant has done each year is to provide several scenarios of rate increases they can consider in terms of trying to increase their actual reserves and cover projected shortfalls. In this case on page 6 there is a straight across the board 1 % increase and this takes care of the shortfal l expressed at the beginning where the City would end up with an operat ing surplus of $525 in RY 2.

He noted this is only the Lafayette scenario. Next to that co lumn are RY 3 and R Y 4 . On those the consul tant has included a 4 % increase and a 2 Vi% increase in those fol lowing years. This again is something for the Counci l to decide as each of these rate years approach, but they have programmed that in in anticipation of RY 3 which is a true-up year where actual costs to do the work will be brought back and the Counci l will true-up its actual expendi ture amounts and adjust for the next 3 year period to reflect actual costs for operat ions. Therefore, more money will be needed in RY 3 to make up true-up costs.

RY 2 would end up wi th a $76,000 surplus and on Line 23 their reserves would be at $1,167 million in terms of reserves available to either spend in fol lowing years to help cut down the rate increase or save for a day when they do not want to increase rates at all.

On page 8 is Number 3, at a 3.5% increase and in this scenario, they end up wi th $152,000 surplus at the end of the year which would make their reserves $1,243,000. The last scenario they ran is Number 4 wh ich is no rate increase which carries forward the $69,000 shortfall in Line 17 wh ich would then reduce the City's reserves to $1,022,000.

On page 10 are compar isons of where Lafayette's costs for a 32-gal lon per month can would be in relation to other rates that exist today. This does not take into account ad justments for RY 2 that would be done by other cities and the Solid Waste Authori ty or the other cit ies listed here. It reflects everyone as they are today. Scenar ios 3, 2, 1 and 4 show how they would compare with today's rates, but these wil l probably change.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said they d iscussed this and decided that RY 1 has been a bit rocky, g iven issues wi th trash and litter, confusion about pickup days, concerns about cans being left all over the place, and he suggested with the Mayor that they would not increase rates this year. They would fol low Scenario 4. This means they would cut their reserves back a bit

City of Lafayette Regulars Special City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 30 Novembers, 2015

and in RY3 they will have the true-up period where they can decide what they want to do. It seemed to him and the IVlayor that after their exper iences by residents, they might wan t to provide them with a break on increases.

Mayor B. Andersson stated last year 's rate increase was signif icant at 8% or 9% because it was a change in the contract and addit ional services were provided. There is more recycl ing done and aggressive goals for that; however, many people do not see addit ional programs. Because it has been a rocky exper ience for residents, the idea that given this percept ion, they suggest not proposing an increase this year.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said he knows that factored into these are the vehicle impact fees and Line 13 is unchanged. Under their agreement wi th the JPA, he asked what the reserve can be used for and asked if there were restrictions.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said there are no restrictions. They can loan it to other members of the JPA who are in trouble, they can use it for their own costs, and there are no restrict ions. Counc i lmember Tatzin asked if they can count it as part of their General Fund reserve, and Counc i lmember M. Anderson said no.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said therefore, it is not the city's money but money they control in an account for waste services for which the City is a JPA member.

Vice Mayor Reil ly asked what is the point of having such large reserves, g iven they do not control it. Counc i lmember M. Anderson said it has been the ability to be able to smooth the impact of a major change like a true-up per iod. W h e n coming into RY 3, the consultants included a 4 % increase but it may end up being a 7% increase to cover numbers. This is the t ime they would go to reserves, split it, raise the rates 3 H %, and in the next cycle, do 4 % instead of TA %. In other words, they will try to keep the costs and impact down as opposed to hitting users wi th costs in one large bill.

Mayor B. Andersson added that there is the goal of 7 5 % diversion. There is a high diversion program lying in wait and if they can reach this by incremental improvements, they will not need to do that. If they go to the high diversion implementat ion, it will cost some money and the reserves can smooth that out.

Counci lmember Mitchell said what he thought Counc i lmember Tatzin might be gett ing to is that if there are excess reserves, can these be al located towards vehicle impact fees if they f ind they are having more impacts on roads. Counc i lmember M. Anderson said he did not bel ieve they could and thinks they are limited In the amount they can get for that impact. City Attorney Mala Subramanian conf i rmed and stated that her recollection is they did a study and another s tudy would need to be conducted.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said the second survey was based upon the Republ ic Services contract which has 3 trucks and the previous study was 2 trucks. So there are more impacts on the roads to just i fy a higher franchise fee.

Counc i lmember Mitchell asked if the City gets to see the big savings that was promised since they el iminated plastic bags. He noted it was argued the City should el iminate plastic bags not just for the envi ronment but that it would save the cost of garbage collection because the bags would not get stuck in the system.

Mayor B. Andersson said it did not save them garbage collection but it saves them in garbage processing, and he did not know this was part of the contract. Counc i lmember M. Anderson

City of Lafayelte Regular A Special City Council IVleeting IVIinutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 31 Novembers, 2015

noted their contract talês piastic bags in the recyciing and he was not aware of the City receiving anything bacl< f rom that. They do get funds into the diversion incentive fund, Line 19, and those funds are for diverted materials that are then resold or recycled. So there might be a slight increase for the plastics, but he thinl^s they cost more work to process.

Mayor B. Andersson said the difficulty with plastic bags is they are very light and they must be pulled out of the stream individually, in the initial sort ing, those bags get into the machinery and they must stop the machinery and pull them out. To that extent, it is expensive to the operators who conduct separat ion. He does not recall promising that this would come back to the City as a specific savings. In the larger local scheme of things, it definitely saves money and t ime.

Counci lmember Mitchell said he has asked a variation of this quest ion in the past, but in picking up garbage, there is a f ixed cost for trucks driving around and a variable cost of how much garbage they pick up. It looks to him like a 64-gal lon is about twice as much as 32-gal lon and he knows the fixed cost of dr iving around is a big component and this way they can charge less for a 64-gal lon bin. He would iike to see more incentive for people to use the 32-gal lon, so in a revenue neutral way, if they were to add a bit more cost to the 64-gal lon and subtract a bit f rom the 32-gal lon, he would prefer this. He realizes it is a compl icated calculation, but he thinks less garbage is better and he would like to see if it is possible to incentivize people.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said he knows they did do this wi th a previous scenar io where they made it more expensive for the 64-gal lon bin. They can carry this fonward, and he noted as people recycle more and more, there is less 64-gal lon bins, so the weight must be put on the 32-gal long bins because there are not as many.

Counci lmember Mitchell suggested doing this in a revenue neutral way and raising the 64-gal lon bins quite a bit so as to have an impact on the 32-gallon bins.

Counc i lmember Tatzin suggested a next step is to decrease the cost of the 20-gal lon compared to the 32-gal lon. He knows some neighbors use 20-gal lon bins now. Counc i lmember M. Anderson said he has heard that the cost of 20-gal lon bins is not sustainable and it costs more to pick them up and process them than they are charging, which adds up. Whi le they hope there will be nothing but 20-gal lons, there wil l still be the same trucks picking them up. Counc i lmember Tatzin sa id , however, they can go further because there is less put in them.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said lastly he referred to the di f ferences in the rates and said Orinda is paying substantial ly more than Lafayette and their topography is not all that different. He quest ioned why, and Mayor B. Andersson said actual ly their topography is dif ferent and roads are much shorter. Counc i lmember M. Anderson said there was also a t ime when Orinda w a s not gett ing a share of some of the money because they had been given too much previously, so they were taken out of the loop for about 8 years.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson stated that the recommendat ion is for no increase, or Scenar io 4.

A C T I O N : It was M/S/C (M. Anderson/Tatz in) to recommend no increase or approve Scenar io 4 to Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Author i ty regarding rate increases for solid waste services for 2016/2017. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, Mitchell, Tatzin and M. Anderson ; Noes: None).

C . Mayor B. A n d e r s s o n and V ice Mayor Reil ly Update on C o m m i s s i o n Consol idat ion Conversa t ion Recommendat ion : Discuss and direct.

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youth Commission 32 Novembers, 2015

City IVlanager Steven Falk stated at the last Counci l meet ing, the Mayor and Vice Mayor were asked to convene a public meeting wi th Bicycle Advisory Commiss ion members to attend which was held last week. Before the Counci l is a memo that summar izes the outcome or conversat ion f rom the meet ing. He commented that he did not think anybody at that meeting or the Mayor, Vice Mayor or himself would authorize these as recommendat ions but rather as options for the Counci l to consider. The conversat ion was very casual and lasted about 90 minutes.

Secondly, Mr. Falk said one of the opt ions that came out of the conversat ion was to combine the Banner Advisory Commit tee with the Public Art Commit tee. He at tended the next meet ing of the Public Art Commit tee and held a long conversat ion. Member Dennis Mudgett made an interesting point and said it would make sense to combine the two groups because Public Art Commit tee members have the same basic skill set as the Banner Advisory Commit tee members. Both are interested in public graphic display in the downtown and both share many concerns. But he said the Banner Advisory Commit tee is doing a great j ob and he quest ioned why mess with it. Wha t he was suggest ing is that the Counci l should focus on outcomes rather than inputs. The Counci l should think about what it is trying to achieve and then design the commiss ion system to do that rather than worry about the individuals who make up commiss ions or the history of commissions or how and why they are currently conf igured.

If the Youth Commiss ion is doing a great job and running programs wi th great outcomes, possibly this commiss ion is wel l -designed. If, on the other hand there are certain ou tcomes coming out of the commission system that the Council does not think are excel lent this might be an area to focus attention.

The third point is that they received a call this week f rom Al Davis who informally served on the Technology Task Force and he worked on a commiss ioned audit for the City of Walnut Creek and expressed interest in work ing on this project and he is present tonight.

Vice Mayor Reil ly referred to Option 4; Comb ine P lann ing , D R C , Ci rcu la t ion and B P A C into a s ingle P lann ing and Transpor ta t ion C o m m i s s i o n , she thinks this was coming from primarily one person which st imulated a lot of conversat ion, but she does not wan t to leave the Counci l with the impression there was a lot of interest in going down this road. There was also a lot of concern about how this would work and she felt differently about how Opt ion 4 was presented and received, which was fairly mixed.

Mayor B. Andersson opened the public comment period.

Public Comments :

LYNN HIDEN, Circulation Commissioner, said she was unable to at tend the meeting and suggested that if the system is not broke do not fix it. She said 7 of the 22 commiss ions listed are subcommit tees and she thinks when they serve their purpose they wil l be sunset. She said she would be very careful in mixing some of the commissions. Whi le she thinks it is a good idea to have l iaisons, she sees no wise choice in Opt ion 4, as the mindsets are different. The Circulation Commiss ion debates are different and if water ing down the minds deal ing with the problems, there will be fewer members and she thinks what the Counci l wou ld get is a "jack of all t rades master of none" commiss ion. She said the Circulation Commiss ion involves the BPAC with it and thinks there could be more participation f rom them. It seems as though there are not many pedestr ian experts on the BPAC and she thinks more of this representat ion could be we lcomed.

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AL DAVIS said he agrees with the City Manager 's second point to look at outcomes, stating commissions cost money. He said he heard of the item and did not know there were City procedures about this. He stated there is a group called the Stanford Alumni Consult ing Team and they do projects for Bay Area non-profi ts, educat ion and government agencies, and they have about 500 clients wi th about 700 projects. The main point is that they have done 4 projects for Walnut Creek, 2 of which have been involved with Commiss ions which is exact ly what the Council is looking at. He was not sure they are too late but his recommendat ion is to start from scratch, talk to everybody, look at expenses and the output and wh ich is the most effective total commiss ion structure, wh ich is what they did for Walnut Creek, and he can provide information on it and it was a complete pro bono project. The City of Walnut Creek has been satisf ied with their work and keeps asking them back, as they are all graduate MBAs f rom Stanford.

Mayor B. Andersson said in the Walnut Creek situation, when they reduced their number of commissions, what was the mechanism for that. Mr. Davis said they interviewed everybody, determining what had to be done, and they did not suggest anything necessari ly be el iminated, but simply where eff iciencies can be made, as commissions are expensive to manage and meet.

Counci lmember M. Anderson asked how to formal ly get Mr. Davis involved. Mr. Davis said they do not typically advert ise it, but in this case, the City would apply towards year end or the first week in January and they would accept the project, and then they compi le a team of volunteers and the project would start in March and run typically 6 months.

Counc i lmember Mitchell asked what kind of issues the team would look at. Mr. Davis said as MBAs, most of their work is for non-profits and he recommended the City check on their references. They are on the websi te: www.stanfordact .org and he suggested reviewing their materials and he would be happy to talk about the group.

A V O N W I L S O N said she moved to Lafayette two years after incorporat ion and the quest ion she raised wh ich is not yet in any written communicat ions is, what is driving the desire to look at commissions, as this determines the possible outcome. She asked if the City was trying to save money. Commiss ions historically were intended when the City was a contract, a low-level delivery of service city and a no tax city and commiss ioners were developed as an extension of staff. She thinks Lafayette is no longer this type of city. The city has far expanded by what was envisioned and she caut ioned that if the commiss ion system is going to be redone, she asked that the Council understand that commissions were intended to replace staff and save money because the people who incorporated did not want to spend much money. W h e n she was on the City Counci l , there were 10 commiss ions which were very busy. She would say commissions are a diverse group. She has been on the Traffic Commiss ion, a BPAC member, a Planning Commiss ioner and their discipl ines are d i f ferent The Circulation Commiss ion is a combinat ion of the traffic, parking and walkways used to have the ward system which was very much Integrated with the neighborhoods, and it does not do that now. It has come to depend on staff. Therefore, she thinks it is very important to look at what it is that commiss ions really do and whether they can be integrated. Lastly, she asked that the public be informed and to be as open and transparent as possible because the commissions are already establ ished and a tradit ion.

Mayor B. Andersson said regarding what is driving this, he did not think there was any budget crisis because of staff ing commiss ions. The primary reason is that the Counci l has really not looked at commiss ions in a whi le. They began differently than they are now and the underlying purposes have changed. Therefore, he does not think there is someth ing driving it. They have many commit tees and commiss ions than other cities do, and they want to look at whether some could be duplicating things that other commiss ions are doing, whether some could operate more

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effectively if they strip some responsibil i t ies and combine them with another commiss ion, and he thinl<s it is a quest ion of looking comprehensively at them.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to Item 1 , there was a comment that a number of entit ies were intended to be temporary. There is a suggest ion that perhaps some of their work might be complete and he was not sure it was true of the last two, but somet imes there is a si tuat ion where they go on forever because they do not end. Those initially intended to be temporary should return to be re-evaluated.

Counci lmember M. Anderson suggested clearly identifying which ones those are, g iven the list is not accurate. Mayor B. Andersson said he was not sure some have reached their sunset point, but these are all entit ies that were intended to be temporary and will complete their work in the foreseeable future and there may be others.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to the Banner Advisory Commit tee, an interesting point was made it is work ing wel l . At a t ime when the City might lose a couple of members , they might want to revisit combining them with the Public Art Commit tee. He said he did not recall any others that seemed that clear for combinat ion.

Vice Mayor Reil ly d isagreed and said there is the Downtown Public Works Commit tee is one that is supposed to sunset, but she sees their work going on possibly longer than others. To her, it should be hand in glove with DSIMPIC. Any design DSIMPIC comes up wi th , they need to have an understanding of what the budget is for public works . She could therefore see the Public Works Commit tee folded into DSIMPIC. Eriing Horn was at that meet ing and he concurred they would be a logical fit. She said when she was interviewing, people were looking at things f rom totally different angles and decisions being made for DSIMPIC were not being made relating to budget, so for her this seemed like this made logical sense. Even though it is a commit tee, she thinks their work will cont inue.

Mayor B. Andersson said the reason he did not include this as an obvious one is because it is d iscussed in Opt ion 3; that Public Works Commit tee be combined wi th Capital Projects and the Creeks Commit tee. A n alternative would be to combine it with DSIMPIC and possibly also CPAC. He thinks when looking at downtown street issues and the Public Works Commit tee, DSIMPIC seems like a fit. W h e n thinking about having a need for capital improvements , then perhaps it is combined wi th CPAC. If they are going to strip the drainage part of the Creeks Commit tee and have them work on planning, development and restorat ion, this might make sense, so there is more moving pieces in that area.

Vice Mayor Reil ly said f rom her perspective, they did not want to go too far because they did not know where others would land. For her a couple opt ions seem obvious. In addit ion to Publ ic Works Commit tee and DSIMPIC, the other one is for BPAC to be combined with the Circulat ion Commiss ion. She would prefer that if the Counci l was interested in a large approach she wou ld prefer to have Mr. Davis and the Stanford group look at that.

Counc i lmember Mitchell said this is obviously very complex wi th dif ferent dynamics. He is not in favor of moving fonward wi th any one of the particular recommendat ions at this t ime. There are some like Opt ion 4 which do not make sense to him at al l . Therefore, he thinks it is reasonable to look at this and go wi th an approach that produces better ou tcomes more efficiently. W h e n doing analysis, he would also want to take into considerat ion that there are many intangible benefits, the way it brings the communi ty together, the way people feel invested in the City by serving, and the way they make relat ionships with other members . So he is reluctant to make wholesale changes, but thinks it warrants further invest igat ion.


Counci lmember IVI. Anderson suggested having the City Manager contact Mr. Davis to make a request and see if their help can be obtained in the coming year.

Mayor B. Andersson referred to Option 4 and said Gordon Chong has submit ted a letter as well as others that the City might be diluting the pool of expert ise the City has. One Planning Commiss ioner he spoke wi th was not at ali interested in the opt ion. It is interesting to determine if they were to make changes, how to do it. In taking the PTR Commiss ion model where they have Trai ls, Parks and Communi ty Center subcommit tees who work independent ly and return to the major body, this works wel l . It may be that the DRC, Circulat ion and Planning Commiss ions are further apart. Therefore, he thinks it is interesting to think about how or whether something like that would work.

Counc i lmember Tatzin thanked the commit tee for holding their initial meet ing and providing opt ions. He reads Opt ion 1 as when the Council creates a temporary commit tee and the work is done, they should sunset it. It is not clear to him that any of these have completed their work yet and he would also add the Sales Tax Commit tee that has done its work.

Mr. Falk noted that there are commissions which are permanent, but everything cal led a commit tee or task force when originally created by the Counci i w a s thought to be temporary. So the Creeks Commit tee has been a commit tee for 10 years because of their study and they perpetuated. His point is that it is hard to know when creating a commit tee as to when their work is completed and somet imes commit tees will f ind reasons to cont inue.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said if the Council thinks those commit tees and their reasons are good, they can cont inue. For example he and Counc i lmember M. Anderson served on the Moraga Roads Property Commit tee last year and they came up with a recommendat ion and they sunset the commit tee. Therefore, conceptually, when the temporary completes its work, it is thanked and sunset at that point. He thinks he heard arguments to not implement Opt ion 2, is hearing different things f rom Counci lmembers regarding Opt ion 3 and whether or not to bring DSIMPIC into that, and Option 4 w a s someone who has writ ten a memo who w a s un-attr ibuting himself f rom it. Therefore, he suggested that the Counci l commit tee cont inue their work and if they think the appropr iate approach is to ask the Stanford Business Alumni to help think things through this would be f ine. Normally, when he has seen this done, people think about the funct ions and then the organizat ion structure fol lows the funct ions which is to a large extent wha t the City has done, and not worry about the funct ions at the beginning and he suggested the commit tee return with that suggest ion.

Vice Mayor Reil ly said she thinks there has been enough test imony that the Counci l loves its commiss ioners and there are tangibles derived f rom commiss ions. Her concern is that she does not want to engage Mr. Davis and his group if there is not a strong interest to have an honest conversat ion about reducing commissions if this might affect and offend commiss ioners who have been volunteer ing. She feels strongly and agrees with Counc i lmember Mitchell , and if the Council does not want to reduce them, she would not bother going down that path.

Mayor B. Andersson said he agrees. He will say that he likes the commissions as they serve a purpose and do good work in their areas, but they also are a w a y for people to contr ibute to the community. Over and over again, there are more quali f ied people than the City has posit ions for and when he sees someone finishing 3^^ out of 2 vacancies, he quest ions how else they could serve. He thinks over the last two years there have also been younger people gett ing involved and there is an advantage of putting useful people on commiss ions. He said he thought the conversat ion at the meet ing, while all things were there, he thinks it w a s interesting because it seemed like there was a clear wi l l ingness to engage in a discussion about how it is work ing, whether there are eff iciencies or things that should be split up differently. Therefore, it is not a


driving force, but more a conversat ion about what compet ing issues there are and what other things might be done. Possibiy after another meeting or two, they might say th ings are worl<ing or they might recommend a coupie of things, or asl< IVlr. Davis to provide another viewpoint.

Vice Mayor Reil ly added that for her and everyone in the room, it was somewhat i l luminating to f ind out how commiss ions or commit tees began. The City Manager ment ioned that the Banner Commit tee was first and then the Public Ar t Commit tee was fo rmed, and had they been first, they might have taken up the banners. The one thing wh ich is a positive take-away that if they do nothing at all, at least for the future, before assigning new commit tees and task forces, the Counci l might consider who they have and then task them with some of these things instead of creating something new. As a co-chair, she thinks the Emergency Services Task Force will be going away as soon as Stat ion 16 is built, as their task will be done. She does not know that Cr ime Prevention Commiss ion could have taken on emergency preparedness because there are different skill sets. So she thinks there will be individual si tuations but there at least needs to be housekeeping to determine which bodies are ready to sunset.

B R E A K Mayor B. Andersson called for a brief break for Counc i lmember Mitchell at 10:45 p.m. and thereafter reconvened the regular meeting at 10:47 p.m.

Counci lmember Tatzin thinks it makes sense to review the structure periodical ly even if they end up f inding out things are okay and no changes are necessary. It is difficult for him to make a proposal when there is more knowledge.

Mayor B. Andersson said the Council has some ideas after discussion and he proposed that they reconvene a second meeting with commission participation and look at each of the opt ions as a model for ways to proceed. They could then refine each to see whether there is something that can be developed wi th more of an actual proposal or not, or wi th an eye towards gett ing more concrete proposals to bring back to the Counci l . Also, they could look at and determine whether or not they would want to bring on assistance.

Vice Mayor Reilly said in listening to what Counc i lmember Tatzin stated, if the Counci l really wants more information, she did not know that she was equipped per se to state that some of the alternatives would be good ones. If the Council really wants more information and there is an interest, she suggested asking Mr. Davis to go forward as an outside representat ive and provide his feedback. She was not sure how effective the subcommit tee would be to meet and again try to analyze this.

Counci lmember Tatzin suggested draw up a specif ication for the work, indicate object ives to either save money and limit commiss ions, or maximize citizen input through having lots of hearings, or maximize the number of cit izens who part icipate on a city activity to have more feeder networks into the communi ty , or are there aspects of projects or processes that might not be work ing well that need to be improved. He would hope that the commit tee can work with staff and return wi th the mission of such an effort which would help Mr. Davis to identify volunteers and help Counc i lmembers to see if this could be done and provide metrics in evaluat ing the recommendat ions.

Mayor B. Andersson suggested he and Vice Mayor Reilly meet with the City Manager and go through the mission of Mr. Davis' engagement and then bring it back to the Counci l . If they cannot and decide to obtain a broader spectrum of opinion on that, that could be done as wel l .

Counc i lmembers concurred and gave this direction to the commit tee.


A. C o u n c i l m e m b e r report on activit ies and considerat ion of matters a counc i lmember w i s h e s to initiate for placement on a future agenda .

Counci lmember Tatzin said about a year ago the Lamorinda Program IVIanagement Commit tee created in 1985 by IVleasure C and cont inues to exist under Measure J which d iscusses traffic congest ion and transportat ion in the Lamorinda communi t ies. It received funding f rom the Transportat ion Author i ty for a study to look at shutt le services through County Connect ion. They have received the final report and there are three recommendat ions. One is that the f requency of Route 6 that goes to Orinda, Moraga and Lafayette be increased on the Moraga to Orinda BART port ion, wi th the argument being that most of the Moraga riders go to Orinda BART and not Lafayette BART and it is less expensive to add half of the service.

The second recommendat ion is that there be increased funding for a senior shutt le, whether it be what the County Connect ion does or wha t the Spirit Van does. The third recommendat ion is that there be some addit ional school bus routes. Those Impacting Lafayette would include something along Happy Val ley to along Stanley and possibly some along Burton Val ley to Campo Lindo.

He then reported that the Sales Tax Commit tee had its f irst meet ing last week and the membership includes Counci lmember M. Anderson, himself, Jennifer W a k e m a n , Tracy Robinson, Larry Blodgett f rom the Communi ty Foundat ion, Caesar Perales f rom the Chamber of Commerce and Kristina Sturm from BPAC, Cameron Burkes f rom Cr ime Prevent ion, and they are still looking for a f inance expert. Mostly Ms. Wakeman and Ms. Robinson have prepared a lot of information and he would say the largest part of the conversat ion was about the reserve policy. Whi le they did not take a vote, those at that meeting were in support of roughly the 6 0 % reserve policy the City has, recognizing that in the event of a major disaster, that could be spent down quickly. They wil l schedule two more meet ings. They looked at the 5-year forecast and people said this could be changed but it truthfully showed a surplus and in excess of the $60 million of about $1.2 mill ion over a 5 year period and this is cumulat ive. The commit tee cont inues to meet.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said the third item is a request. The City is processing two private appl icat ions which will essential ly create new intersections. One is Pleasant Hill and Deer Hill where it will be a roundabout or traffic s ignal . His understanding is that the Lennar Homes project creates a new signal ized intersection on Mt. Diablo Boulevard. As the Counci l heard today about the intersections on St. Mary 's by Stanley School , there are exist ing intersections that possibly the Council is not paying adequate attention to.

What he would like for the Council to do is receive a report f rom staff before implement ing any new project-related intersect ions, on intersections of concern like the Stanley intersect ion, two in the DSP on Deer Hill and Oak Hill, and the other at Deer Hill and Happy Val ley. Other Counc i lmembers might wan t to add others, but he suggested determining how to address these in a comprehens ive manner for a future agenda.

Counc i lmember Mitchell stated he and the City Manager at tended a presentat ion in Richmond on s tem cells and the money generated f rom the citizen initiative passed a number of years ago. It was very interesting wi th amazing progress being done in the s tem cell a rea regenerat ing t issues and organs.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson reported that he and the Mayor met with the D R C and Planning Commiss ion Chair Tom Chastain. This w a s their second meeting to discuss the DRC and what its focus should be and identify quest ions they had about their processes and th ings they feel are unclear in terms of direction and what the Council wou ld like to see them do. It was a good

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Commission and Youtii Commission 38 November 9, 2015

2-hour meet ing and there quite a few architects in the audience abie to speal< about their own concerns about process and provide examples of things that had not been worlîng. They ended wi th a iist of things staff is worl<ing on to help improve some of the guidance for the DRC in process and educate applicants early in the process about what to expect and tr iggers the City has for projects brought fonward. There are still a few unanswered quest ions but he thought it

was a great meet ing.

IVlayor B. Andersson said there seems to be appl icat ions being brought to the DRC, gett ing some suggest ions and requirements and f inding a new set of requirements; that perhaps a commissioner w a s absent and there were new items presented. His thought that some of this is due that the D R C by its nature has two roles. The Counci l must malê f indings and recommendat ions which are well def ined to the extent that it is difficult to def ine architecture. They also want to make the project better, are talented members and have lots of ideas. They may not be directly related to the f indings they must make. His suggest ion was that in the very beginning, as part of early educat ion, to identify f indings that must be made wi th examples of things appl icants need to provide to make those f indings and somehow try to separate those f rom the suggest ions on how to improve the project.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said one of the th ings they said when they had a joint meet ing wi th the DRC was that they really wanted them to push for excel lence in des ign. He asked how that direction corresponds wi th achieving excel lence in design.

Mayor B. Andersson said they had an interesting discussion about subjectivity of architecture related to the object of f indings. He commented that some of these things as to meet ing such a standard is subject ive. Two senior members of the Commiss ion stated this w a s an object ive standard. If a certain type of architectural design is proposed, there is an object ive s tandard, which he was surpr ised wi th. Therefore, for h im, he must f igure out how the intellectual effects work with architecture. As far as excel lence, the DRC definitely wants this yet on the other hand they have a role to judicial role to play and they must keep that excel lence somehow within the f indings they must make. He said it is hard for an architect to come to the DRC and say this is their plan, t l iey have looked at the f indings that need to be made and they talk about whiat they have done to keep the massing appropriate and met all standards, and then have the DRC say it is not excel lent enough. Again, to him this is a subject ive considerat ion and to the DRC it is an objective considerat ion because they may see it more clearly than he does. So there is a broader understanding that has to be made before gett ing a handle on it.

Counc i lmember Tatzin said he senses there is informed subjectivity where people have better eyes in terms of seeing th ings and understanding how they look, but he would not wan t to somehow wind up having cookie-cutter projects because the City will w ind up wi th appl icants for reasons of cost who will say, meet the minimal s tandards to achieve the f indings and tell the appl icants that it is excellent. He is worr ied about those applicants who decide what they are going to do is cut costs wherever they can, "meet the f indings" and announce it is excel lent and tell the DRC to take their word for it.

City At torney Subramanian suggested agendizing the discussion for a future meet ing.

Counc i lmember M. Anderson said he thinks the Counci l needs to determine how to f igure a way to bring this meeting back to the Counci l because he thinks part of wha t is happening is that he and the Mayor are beginning to provide their opinions and state how they feel about the quest ion of excel lence, and the DRC is trying to f ind a way to codify that into gu idance so they can make their decisions and know this is what the Counci l wants. Therefore, at some point the Council needs to meet together with the DRC and go through the discussion where everybody


can hear the feedback on issues because the DRC is searching for a formula to heip them understand what exactiy the Councii is iooking for which they have stated several t imes.

Counci lmember Tatzin suggested that when it comes back, he asked to understand how this does or does not relate to the Downtown Design Guidel ines which have been adopted. IVls. Subramanian suggested a joint meeting and Counci lmembers concurred.

IVlayor B. Andersson stated he had a report on his trip to China, but said he will defer the report

to the next meet ing.

15. W R I T T E N COMMUNICATIONS - None

16. A D J O U R N M E N T

A C T I O N : It was M/S/C (Tatzin/M. Anderson) to adjourn the meet ing at 11:08 a.m. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: B. Andersson, Reilly, M. Anderson, Mitchell , and Tatz in; Noes: None).

A P P R O V E D :

Brandt Andersson, Mayor ATTEST:

Joanne Robbins, City Clerk

City of Lafayette Regular & Special City Council Meeting Minutes Circulation Connmission and Youth Commission 40 November 9, 2015

Documents

City of Lafayette Regular and Specia Citl y Council