A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of San Ramon was called to order on February 13, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 2222 Camino Ramon, Mayor Hudson presiding.
PRESENT: Councilmembers Kinney, Raab, Tatarka, Wilson and Mayor Hudson
ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Herb Moniz, City Attorney Bob Saxe, Police Chief Brian Lindblom, Administrative Services Director Jim Randall, Parks and Community Services Director Jeff Eorio, Planning Director Phil Wong, City Engineer Joye Fukuda, Building & Safety Services Director Don Rhoades, Transportation Director John Dillon, Economic Development Manager April Gray, and City Clerk Judy Macfarlane

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After calling the meeting to order, Mayor Hudson said the Council had met in closed session for the purpose of discussing litigation threatened by Windermere BLC Land Company LLC under the Dougherty Valley Settlement Agreement and pending litigation with Central Sanitary District v. City of San Ramon. Mayor Hudson commented that it was an informational meeting and no vote had been taken.

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Cub Scout Pack 841, Den 2, Walt Disney Elementary School, led Council, staff and those present in the audience in a pledge of allegiance to the flag.

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Mayor Hudson reminded the audience that the California Public Utilities Commission Public Participation Hearings for the Tri-Valley 2002 Capacity Increase Project Draft Environmental Impact Report would be Thursday, February 15, 2001 at 7:00 p.m., and confirmed the location was Dublin Elementary School, 7997 Vomac Road, Dublin.

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The Parks and Community Services Director introduced Gaylen Stockdale, Maintenance Assistant, and said he would be working at the Community Center, Senior Center, Library and various other facilities.

Mayor Hudson welcomed Mr. Stockdale and gave him a City pin.

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Donna Dickey, representing the South San Ramon Neighborhood Association, encouraged all residents to attend the California Public Utilities Commission Public Participation Hearings being held Thursday, February 15, 2001 at Dublin Elementary School.

Bob Ingalls, 3147 Riviera Way, announced that on Saturday, March 10^th at 11 a.m., the first nine homes of the Habitat for Humanity program in Concord would be dedicated. He said San Ramon residents worked on one of the nine homes during San Ramon Day at Habitat, and he invited everyone that worked on the project to attend the festivities.

Evan Jacobs, Field Representative for Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, announced there would be a Town Hall Meeting, Saturday, February 10, 2001 at 11 a.m., at the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek and invited all residents to attend.

Phil Reed, 488 Chaucer Circle, representing the San Ramon Senior Citizens Advisory Committee, said that due to the success of many programs and the expansion of the lunch program, there was a need for additional volunteer drivers for the vanpool. He said a Class B license was required, and they would assist in the training those interested in pursuing this opportunity.

Cm. Kinney announced the San Ramon Valley Rotary Club had formed a liaison with Wheelchairs for the World and said information was on the back counter for those interested in the program.

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Cm. Raab’s motion to approve the minutes of the January 23, 2001 meeting was seconded by Cm. Kinney and passed 5-0.

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Mayor Hudson announced that item 8.2 had been pulled from the Consent Calendar.

Cm. Tatarka asked that item 8.7 be pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion.

Cm. Kinney’s motion to approve the following Consent Calendar was seconded by Cm. Wilson and passed 5-0.

FINANCE      Register of Demands dated January 26, 28, February 2, and 9, 2001 in the amount of $1,838,092.70.

Accepting certain landscape improvements within the Iron Horse Trail area adjacent to Subdivision 7884 (Ponderosa Homes/Ponderosa Village – Phase II)

Approving the Final Map for Subdivision 8415, located in the northwest corner of Alcosta Boulevard and Palatino Way (Braddock & Logan Group/Terrazzo Unit 2)

Authorizing the Mayor to execute Amendment No. 1 to the agreement with MacKay and Somps Infrastructure Group for preliminary roadway and landscaping design services for the Crow Canyon Road Corridor Improvement Project (CIP Nos. 7114, 7116, 7117, 7127, 7129, 7130, 8125 and 8168) in an amount not to exceed $125,271

Authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Robert Gray and Associates for utility undergrounding design services for the Crow Canyon Road Corridor Improvement Project (CIP Nos. 7114, 7116, 7117, 7127, 7129, 7130, 8125, and 8168) in an amount not to exceed $75,000

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ORDINANCES REZONING AND PREZONING THE BRIDGES RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION – DOUGHERTY VALLEY

Cm. Tatarka asked for clarification from  the City Attorney on how these ordinances were not in conflict with Measure G.  

The City Attorney said Measure G precludes general plan amendments and rezonings during this two-year moratorium period. He said this issue was brought to his attention by the Planning Department a few months ago. He explained an initiative such as Measure G cannot impair a contract. As a matter of law, you cannot impair a contract that has been entered into. The City, through the settlement agreement in Dougherty Valley, and the follow on annexation agreement is committed to annex parcels in Dougherty Valley at the final map stage of the project. . LAFCO has a requirement that in order to process the annexation, the property has to be pre-zoned. He continued to say on that basis, he advised the Planning Department that there was no conflict with Measure G. Measure G could not impair the obligation under the settlement agreement and annexation agreement to proceed with annexation for which pre-zoning is a prerequisite. Subsequently, it was noted that the first phase of the Dougherty annexations was processed without pre-zoning and therefore presently has no zoning. He said in his view this was still part of the process under the settlement agreement and was unaffected by Measure G and so the re-zoning should go forward. He concluded by saying settlement and annexation agreements are contracts and an initiative cannot impair a contract and gave as an example the U. S. Constitution states that Congress cannot impair contracts through legislation.

Cm. Tatarka asked if there was a critical sense of urgency for the re-zoning and pre-zoning to be done at this time.

The City Manager replied that the City is contractually obligated by the settlement agreement and the property tax transfer agreement to proceed. He indicated that should annexation of the area not occur prior to occupancy, at that point residents would be paying independently for services delivered by the City of San Ramon.

Cm. Kinney’s motion to set the public hearings for February 27, 2001 was seconded by Cm. Raab and passed 5-0.

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APPEAL - VINCENT CUOCO 541 ALTA LOMA PLACE

The Building and Safety Services Director said  numerous municipal code and zoning violations had occurred at 541 Alta Loma Place. He said staff had tried to work with the appellant for over 15 months to correct the violations. He continued to say the appellant had been issued a "final notice" at which time he exercised his right of appeal to the City Manager. The City Manager’s decision required the appellant to mitigate the code violations. He concluded by saying at this time the appellant has exercised his right of appeal to the City Council.

Mayor Hudson opened the public hearing.

Marvin Ellenberg, attorney for the appellant, said his client, Vincent Cuoco, was ill and could not attend the meeting. He said the violations against his client were the result of a neighborhood dispute. He challenged the validity of the violations due to the fact that Mr. Cuoco purchased the property in 1982 and the swimming pool was already there. Furthermore, in 1991 when City staff issued a permit for the solar heating panels for the pool, staff was aware of the existence of the pool and did not issue a citation for the violation at that time.

Michael Jimenez, 530 Alta Loma Place, said he was anxious to have final resolution to this situation. He described the dilapidated fence and expressed his concerns with safety issues.

The City Attorney stated that the basis for the appeal was the municipal code and zoning ordinances and it was independent of any neighborhood issues or disputes.

Mayor Hudson closed the public hearing.

Cm. Raab said the matter before the Council was limited to the numerous violations at 541 Alta Loma Place and not a personal issue between the neighbors. He said this was a dangerous violation that needed to be corrected. He asked the Building & Safety Services Director for clarification regarding the issuance of a permit in 1991 for the solar heating panels for the pool.

The Building & Safety Services Director said staff performed the inspection for the permit of solar panels as requested. He continued by saying the inspector was there specifically to look at the solar panels for the heating unit, which was located off to the side, away from the pool.

Cm. Tatarka’s motion to deny the appeal was seconded by Cm. Kinney and passed 5-0.

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LIBRARY SERVICES MASTER PLAN

The Parks and Community Services Director presented the Library Services Master Plan. He requested that staff be directed to pursue optional steps to explore the various "service delivery models" as outlined in the Master Plan to secure ongoing adequate funding for library services. Additionally, he requested direction from Council regarding the negotiations for Memorandum of Understanding for the development and joint use of the library in the Dougherty Valley and the establishment of a "core team" to continue the planning for the City Center library.

The City’s consultant, Sam McBane, from Anderson-Brule Architects presented the Library Services Master Plan.

Sherri Hedman, 3711 Mesa Vista Drive, representing the Library Advisory Committee, requested the Council to approve the Library Services Master Plan as presented.

Yvonne Kimber, 12237 Alcosta Blvd., representing the Library Advisory Committee said the committee largely endorsed approval of the Library Service Master Plan.

Bill Meine, 401 Burning Tree Court, Parks and Community Services Commissioner, said the Library Services Master Plan was unanimously approved by the Parks and Community Services Commission and expressed the Commission’s desire that Council approve the plan.

Pauline Nolte, 458 Santander Drive, Library Foundation member and City of San Ramon’s representative to the Costa Contra County Library Commission requested the Council’s support for the master plan. She indicated the population is estimated to exceed 99,000 in 20 years and we need to look beyond today’s needs and into the future. She urged the Council to adopt the master plan.

Anne Cain, Contra Costa County Librarian, answered questions regarding surveys of San Ramon residents. She replied that the County had done a couple of surveys of voters prior to ballot measures in order to get information. There was one done in 1999, prior to 1998 ballot measure. Additionally, another survey was commissioned by the Public Manager’s Association in 1996-97. She said with respect to all of the surveys taken, some just contain countywide information, some have regional information and some have city specific information. She said she would have to review the surveys to find out how detailed the data was with respect to San Ramon.

No one spoke during the public hearing.

Cm Raab said he would like to adopt the master plan however he wanted to remove the option of privatization of library services before doing so. He said that public comment strongly supports the library. He said during the City Center Task Force meetings numerous residents requested a bigger library.

Cm. Wilson said we have a commitment from San Ramon residents for a superior library, unfortunately, we do not have the same commitment from the County. He hoped the Council and the City would back Mrs. Nolte’s request to ask for funding from the County’s General Fund. He expressed his concern in the event of a dispute over procedure or policy, the dominant entity is DVOC. He wanted to ensure that the final decisions regarding the library would remain with San Ramon.

Cm. Kinney voiced his desire to remove San Ramon from the County library system. He requested staff to explore this possibility. He stated his opposition to a joint venture with Contra Costa Country and the Contra Costa Community College District. He further stated that he had no problem doing a JPA with the community college district if we could do a joint library of approximately 40,000 sq. feet and we would have total access. He stated he was not against the library but against doing business with the County.

Cm. Tatarka said the Master Plan explored all of the options and was a model for our Civic Center library and joint use library in the Dougherty Valley. She said the option of San Ramon pulling out of the County system was explored in the Master Plan and did not prove feasible. She encouraged the Council to work with the County in a cooperative manner as stated in the outline of Council goals. She said now is the time to adopt this master plan and move forward with a main library in our Civic Center and a joint use library in the Dougherty Valley. She said she supported the Library Services Master Plan but requested the option of privatization of the library services be removed.

Cm. Wilson said he did not support the removal of the privatization of the library services option because this document was supposed to review all plans to determine if this is a viable plan for San Ramon or not. He also said that any plans that add funds to the library system should be explored.

The City Manager clarified for Council the control of the MOU lies with the city for which it pertains. The South Region Library Board is comprised of Walnut Creek, Danville and San Ramon, and no matter what happens we would have to initiate discussions with them as they are part of the region. He said the negotiation of a MOU is generally done by staff however, it is not unusual to have a councilmember as a representative. He indicated staff would bring back from the initial negotiations an outline of the points of agreements in the MOU. He said the reason the DVOC had to rule on the issue of the joint community college, city, and county library, was to determine whether or not it met with the intent of the settlement agreement.

Cm. Raab’s motion to adopt Resolution No. 2001-23 was seconded by Cm. Wilson and passed 4-1, Cm. Kinney dissenting.

ADOPTION OF THE SAN RAMON LIBRARY SERVICES MASTER PLAN

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MAYORS’ CONFERENCE 

Mayor Hudson said State Senator Tom Torlakson spoke at the Mayors’ Conference regarding smart growth and urban sprawl. He added the EBMUD American River Project had been renamed the EBMUD Sacramento River Project because water was being accessed from a different source.

DOUGHERTY VALLEY SCHOOLS 

Mayor Hudson asked all Councilmembers to review the language on page 3 of the Dougherty Valley Agreement with regard to the requirement of a high school. He said if it was determined that a high school was not needed, it would be moved to open space. He felt assured that a high school would be needed.

Cm. Raab asked for verification regarding whether the new developments were paying only 75% of the costs with the balance being funded by the rest of the San Ramon residents. He asked for staff to get clarification from the school district.

COUNTY CONNECTION’S CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Council unanimously approved Gerald Cole’s reappointment as San Ramon’s representative to the County Connection’s Citizens Advisory Committee.

Mayor Hudson announced that an informational meeting regarding the High School Exit Exam was going to be held at California High School February 26, 2001 at 7:00 p.m.

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There being no further business to come before the City, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 P.M.

David E. Hudson, Mayor
Judy Macfarlane, City Clerk

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