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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/01/1976 - Adjourned City Council MeetingADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF COSTA MESA May 1, 1976 The City Council of the City of Costa Mesa met in adjourned regular session at 8:00 a.m., May 1, 1976, in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 77 "Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, California, said meeting having been duly and regularly ordered adjourned from the adjourned regular meeting of April 20, 1976, and a copy of the Notice of Adjournment having been posted as required by"law. Roll Call Council Members Present: Raciti, Hammett, Hertzog, McFarland, Smallwood Council Members Absent: None 1 1 1 Officials Present: City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Assistant City Attorney, Director -of-:-Planning, Director of Finance, Director of Public Services/City Engineer, Director of Building Safety, Director of Leisure Services, Fire Chief, Police Chief, Director of Personnel, and City Clerk Adjournment On motion by Vice Mayor Hammett, seconded by Council - to Conference woman Smallwood, and carried, the meeting was Room adjourned at 8:05 a.m. to the first floor Conference Room. Appointment The Mayor presented names for appointment to a of Water Citizens Committee whose purpose shall be to compile Committee and study information pertaining to a possible consolidation of the Water District to the City of ---Costa Mesa. Said committee shall report its findings to -_the Council. On motion by Councilwoman Hertzog, seconded by Councilman McFarland, and carried, the following persons were appointed to the Water Commit- tee:,' Tom"Nelson, Faye Wilson, Louise Napoli, Paul Raver, Al Painter, Ralph Burgess, Neil Abrams, Russ Gilbert, Don Tompkins, Ken Wayman, and Elsie Koresche. Agenda The City Manager deleted Item 41, Policy Statement - Deletion .:-Badges, from the Agenda, and added an additional item and concerning the Orange County Fairgrounds. A brief Addition discussion followed to establish the priority of the 43 Agenda items to be discussed. Federal The City Manager led a discussion on allocation of Revenue Federal Revenue Sharing Funds, outlining those Sharing projects for which funds have already been committed, Funds and indicated those projects which will be recom- mended to the Council for funding in the near future. Ongoing projects will include continuance of the street maintenance program; and Phase II of the downtown fire station. Further discussion was held concerning what percentage of_funds should be allo- cated to social programs within the City. It was e suggested that previous policy be continued by 1 1 1 accepting applications from those organizations seeking assistance from Revenue Sharing. On motion by Vice Mayor Hammett, seconded by Councilwoman Hertzog, the City Manager was authorized to set aside an amount representing ten percent of the available Revenue Sharing Funds for social programs, by the following roll call vote: AYES: Council Members: Raciti, Hammett, Hertzog, McFarland, Smallwood NOES: Council Members: None ABSENT: Council Members: None Planning Discussion was held concerning the area of responsibil- Commission ity of the Planning Commission. Councilman McFarland Area.of expressed his desire to review the report that was made Responsibility on this subject.approximately one year ago, with the idea of updating and more clearly defining the Planning Commission's role in decision-making. It was suggested that the Commission could have greater authority in the area of planning, variances, etc. Vice Mayor Hammett expressed great interest in having the planning densi- ties more clearly defined together with justification in support of the definitions. The Council also addressed the subject of placing the CP designation on all"zones. Vice Mayor Hammett felt many properties in the City could not be developed without acquiring variances, and at this time the Council would have the opportunity to require the CP standards. The Planning Director recommended a review of the zoning and land Development use, and that development standards, which are neces- Standards sary and desirable, be incorporated into the Land Use Ordinance. At the conclusion of this discussion, a motion was made by Vice Mayor Hammett, seconded by Councilman McFarland, and carried, that a Study Session with the Planning Commission be scheduled as an adjourned Council meeting, to take place at the earliest possible date. As part of the motion, the Planning Commission was directed to commence a review with the staff.of the zoning definitions, the prob- lems commensurate with the application of zoning, and the merits of.incorporating the CP standards into ordinance form. It was felt that Items 21 and 22 concerning Land Use Study - Fairview Road to Sunflower Avenue to'Main Street to Baker Street; and Evaluation of Land Use - General Plan 1970, had been covered in the preceding ' discussion and could be a part of the aforementioned meeting with the Planning Commission. Civic Center The next item concerning the Civic Center Study was Study discussed along with Items 13 and 14 concerning City - owned properties; and the old City Hall building. It was suggested that two properties adjacent to the Civic Center, and identified for these purposes as the Water. District property and the Buccola property, should be incorporated for consideration in the Civic Center District Study. These two properties are now available for sale and the merits of acquisition by the City were briefly discussed. The City Manager expressed some concern that priorities in the area of property acquisition by the City be established in light of the fact that other purchases are presently being considered. A brief discussion was held con- cerning the possible sale of the old City Hall building with the idea of diverting the proceeds to other,acquisitions. Concerning the sale of the Water District property., Councilfeltthat this could be more adequately addressed at a future date when the Water Consolidation Study is completed. The City Manager indicated he would make contact with the Water District Manager to ascertain if the sale of this property could be delayed. At the conclusion of discussion, a motion was made by Vice Mayor Hammett, seconded by Councilwoman Smallwood, and carried, that the Civic Center Study be reinstituted and reviewed with a report back to the Council in 90 days. Recess The Mayor declared a recess at 10:05 a.m.,and the meeting reconvened at 10:20 a.m. Fairgrounds Councilman McFarland requested a meeting be scheduled with Jim Porterfield and other representatives of the Fair Board to discuss various items of common interest including the Master Plan of Development for the Fair- grounds, licensing of business activities, and zoning matters related to the Civic Center. It was also suggested that the Planning Commission be present at this meeting. 1 Traffic Councilwoman Smallwood expressed her concern that. Circulation - traffic circulation.is a very serious problem in the Scheduled City and should be addressed, particularly in the Projects downtown area, before the redevelopment plans move ahead. Councilwoman Smallwood feels that many projects are being approved without proper consider- ation to the total affect on traffic circulation throughout the City. The Director of Public Services discussed some of the traffic problem areas in the City and identified projects which are planned, or in progress, to alleviate these situations, including the Del Mar Avenue widening, the 19th Street widening between Park and Fullerton Avenues, and the widening of Victoria Street from the Santa Ara River to Canyon Drive. During the discussion which followed, Council addressed the apparent halting of Costa Mesa's free- way plans and what impact this may have on the downtown traffic problems with particular emphasis on the redevelopment. On motion by Vice Mayor Hammett, seconded by Councilman McFarland, and carried, it was recommended to the Redevelopment Agency that the redevelopment plans be reconsidered and -expanded in regard to circulation, and that new recommendations be formulated taking into consideration the possible J elimination of the freeway. Recess The Mayor declared a recess at 12:00 noon and the' meeting reconvened at 1:00 p.m. Hydrant Russ Henderson, Fire Protection Analyst for the City, Distribution gave a presentation dealing with the deficiencies Center relative to fire hydrants and water mains throughout .the City. The cost to correct these deficiencies is estimated at $3,532,000.00. The allocation of costs has been addressed by the Fire Department and the recommendation is to assess by fee method based upon front footage and fire potential. Additionally, it is recommended that the City adopt a fire flow ordi- nance. This would establish the maximum allowable fire flow and limit the fire flow to local water main capabilities. At the conclusion of this discus- sion, the staff was authorized to prepare the proposed ordinance. South Coast. Councilwoman Hertzog suggested that a portion of the Repertory City's'bed tax revenues be allocated on a continuing basis, in support of'the South Coast Repertory Company. Since these revenues are generally derived from sources outside of the City, it was felt that support of the theatre by this means would be more widely acceptable. After discussion, Council Members Hertzog and McFarland were appointed to meet with representa- tives of the South Coast Repertory Company to discuss this proposal further. Priorities on Items Returned Councilwoman Hertzog expressedconcern that in cases where items of business are returned by the Council to Planning to the Planning Commission for further review, these Commission items are not being processed through the normal procedures which would permit notification of inter- ested parties. During the discussion which followed, it was agreed by the Council that individuals should be given every opportunity to be heard on items of concern to them. The City Manager recommended, and the Council concurred, that all items returned to the Planning Commission follow the normal procedures for scheduling on the Agenda, and this would then include the notification procedures. Council Councilwoman Hertzog expressed her concern that Discussions discussions with staff concerning City Business are with Staff sometimes misinterpreted as criticisms or directions Regarding for change. She would like to establish communica- City Business tion with the staff whereby requests for information or research and/or the relationship of the request to the existing work load. The City Manager indicated he would like to investigate this matter further. "Super Block" Bill Dunn, Assistant City Manager/Community Develop - went, presented a report on property acquisition for the "Super Block" and the status of negotiations at this time. For the benefit of new Council Members, Mr. Dunn explained that the "Super Block" concept arose some two years ago when the need for a downtown "--fire station became apparent. This concept was expanded to include the possibility for a Child Care Center as well as plans for expansion of the downtown park-. It was felt that negotiations should continue in an orderly manner without resorting to condemnation proceedings if at all possible. At the conclusion of this.'discussion, Councilman McFarland expressed an interest to meet with the Redevelopment Agency to dis- cuss the downtown redevelopment. Sign Ordinance.., The Assistant City Attorney presented a report on the Enforcement status of the new Sign Ordinance. He indicated that an inventory of signs throughout the City has been made. Further, that as of this date, approximately 500 sign permits have been issued under the new ordinance, with less than 2_.5 percent of these being issued under variance procedure. In addition to this, approximately 40,000 square feet of signs have been removed. It was concluded that sign enforcement appears to be progressing in an orderly fashion with-, out too many problems. Senior Citizen Councilwoman Hertzog gave a brief report on the subject Housing - of Senior Citizen Housing. No action was taken on this Downtown item. SCAG Discussion was held concerning Southern California Association of Governments, its function, and possible control over this City's activities, especially those related to Federal programs. The City Manager indi- cated that there are two cities in Southern California, with a population exceeding 301-000, who are not members of SCAG; Costa Mesa being one of them. The merits of E -, f`drl�rle�ms joining or not joining this associaton were discussed at some length. At the conclusion of this discussion, the Mayor requested the City Manager to make contact with SCAG for the purpose of requesting a presentation to the Council by one of their representatives. Parks - The Director of Leisure Services discussed the criteria Priority for for establishing priorities in park development. He Development explained that the City has an adopted park acreage standard of 2-1/2 acres per thousand persons, and that the City is divided up into six park zones. The criteria for establishing development priorities is then based on the zone with the fewest developed park acres per one thousand persons. The City Manager discussed properties which are being considered for purchase in those zones which are presently deficient in park development. At the conclusion of this dis- cussion, no action was taken on this item. Opinion The question was asked by Councilman McFarland as to Research how much use is made of the information contained in Report the Opinion Research Report. The City Manager (Crime) responded that this information is used by the staff as a.guide in pinpointing needs within certain areas of the City. Further discussion was held concerning the value of fact-finding committees and the projects they are assigned. In conclusion, the Police Chief gave a brief report on the crime rates within Orange County. Adjournment The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m. Mayor of the 6y o Costa Mesa ATTEST: &24'eezi 6i, City Clerk of the City of Co a Mesa 1