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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC AG PKT 2003-10-27 #F • Seal Beach, California October 13, 2003 The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular session at 7:00 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Campbell Councilmembers Antos, Doane, Larson Absent: Councilmember Yost Larson moved, second by Antos, to excuse the absence of Councilman Yost from this meeting. AYES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson NOES: None ABSENT: Yost Motion carried Also present: Mr. Bahorski, City. Manager • Mr. Barrow, City Attorney Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development Services Mr. Dancs, Director of Public Works /City Engineer . Captain Schaefer, Police Department Mr. Vukojevic, Deputy City Engineer Ms. Yeo, City Clerk - • APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mayor Campbell requested that Items "K" and "L" be removed from the Consent Calendar for separate consideration, and Councilman Antos requested that Items "Q" and "S" be removed. Antos moved, second by Doane, to approve the order of the agenda as revised. AYES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson NOES: None ABSENT: Yost Motion carried • ANNOUNCEMENTS Councilmember Antos mentioned that he spoke with Councilman Yost with regard to the Department of Water and Power property and the pending development application for that site, and since the property owners are not holding community meetings with regard to their plans he and Councilman Yost will be hosting meetings at the Marina Community Center and the Mary Wilson Library Senior Center, Councilman Yost will provide a power point presentation relating to the history of the property, comments and concerns will be taken, the application process will be explained, and said he would seek the cooperation of the press to advise the public of the meetings once they are scheduled. Item F • 1 Page Three - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 emitted by diesel powered vehicles, power plants, and other industrial manufacturing processes, they travel • deep into the lungs, the Agency has identified over one hundred forty -five airborne cancer causing substances; * A recent AQMD study determined that seventy -one percent of cancer causing pollutants come from mobile sources such as cars, diesel powered trucks, trains,_ and ships, and if one looks closely at the coastline it can be seen that the actual plume of smog and air quality begins off the coast where the ships are coming in to the ports of San Pedro and Long Beach, that is where the air quality deterioration begins; * Studies continue to link the poor air quality to several health risks, shortness of breath, inflammation of lung tissue, and respiratory cell damage, there are two and a half million people in California that suffer from asthma, about five hundred thousand of those are the children, the American Lung Association has linked one particular air pollution to lung cancer and one investigation found a possible link between brain cancer and air pollution; * The AQMD represents over eight hundred scientists, planners, engineers, and inspectors,•the major objective of the Agency is reducing toxic diesel emissions, heading the efforts of the AQMD is a twelve member Board of Directors including a Supervisor from each of the four counties, five City Council members, and three appointees, Supervisor Silva represents the Orange County Board of Supervisors, and he represents - Seal Beach and the other thirty -three cities in Orange County; * Major accomplishments of the District include but are not limited to developing and revising the Air Quality Management Plan, formulating mobile source offset programs, introducing the mobile air toxic exposure study to establish the baseline levels of air toxics, and in 2004 there will be a MATES III study; * Some of the problem sources in Orange County range from light duty trucks to certain consumer products, if the air pollution problems in Orange County were not addressed as they have been over the years through aggressive emission control, programs, Orange County would not have the lifestyle it has today complete with prominent destinations and gracious living, uncontrolled smog would have driven away residents, industries, jobs, and tourists; * The summer was experienced with an unhealthy air quality due to an unusually high air pressure system and the resulting inversion layer and on July 11th, 2003 there was a first stage one episode in the eastern part of the District, the first in five years, remarkable improvement has been made over the past twenty -five years with air quality however unfortunately this year it was seen to begin to turn Page Five - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 * Some of the areas where policy makers can help, make clean air a high priority when making decisions on local government City operations, request contractors to use clean vehicles and materials, choose cleaner lawnmowers, paints, personal products, and alternative fuel vehicles -, and if a smog problem is seen a call can be placed to 1- 800 -cut smog and the District staff will follow up, local government is encouraged to have - an Air Quality Element in their General Plan, staff should have received a CEQA process that the District is assisting with, it is not a new rule or requirement, simply something with which the District offers their support, it is important that the Council and Planning Commission be aware of air quality issues as they review development transportation projects in Seal Beach, and extended an invitation to attend the AQMD monthly Governing Board meetings. Mr. Craycroft introduced his assistants, Deborah Reed and Barbara Beck. Noting her California residency of thirty years, Mayor Campbell mentioned her amazement at how much the air quality has been improved over that period of time, and for all the progress that has been made there is still a long way to go, it can be observed by simply leaving ones car, sit for a few days. Mr. Craycroft said the largest contribution today is from mobile sources, seventy -one percent is from the diesel trucks on the freeway, those are regulated by the State Air Resources Board and the Federal EPA, the District has some goals that the EPA and State has given them to meet yet the goals can not be met without some help from those agencies, they are the regulatory agencies but there are no requirements that trucks burn green diesel or low sulfur fuel. The District is working hard to obtain the City and staff support for the Air Quality Management Plan and get the Air Resources Board to move faster to make certain that air quality does not go the other direction. Councilman Doane inquired if for a long time the diesel vehicles were exempt, to that Mr. Craycroft responded that they still are, that is an objective that they are concerned with. Councilman Larson asked what cars are required to have the annual inspection for air pollution, his understanding is that some of the small trucks do not get inspected. Mr. Craycroft said he did not have the details of the Department of Motor Vehicles requirements for annual or renewal checkups, there is however some laser technology where instead of taking ones car for the DMV two year renewal the laser can be set up on freeway on- and off -ramps and check emissions on a daily basis. Councilman Larson said it is disturbing to see the trucks pumping out fumes, and noted that his eighteen year old Volvo is checked annually because of its age and he has been told by the inspectors that it is cleaner than any car on the road, for a period of time there was a requirement to even have new cars checked, one in a hundred thousand failed. To that Mr. Craycroft offered that one of the objectives of the laser testing at intervals from the freeway ramps is that it would only cost a couple of dollars instead of the usual $65, the problem is that there is an economic system involved in the $65 Page Seven - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 • • AYES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson NOES: None ABSENT: Yost Motion carried CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEMS "E" thru "U" ' Doane moved, second by Antos, to approve the recommended action for items on the Consent Calendar as presented, except for Items "K, L, Q, and S," removed for separate consideration. E. Approved the waiver of reading in full of all ordinances and resolutions and that consent to the waiver of reading shall be deemed to be given by all Councilmembers after the reading of the title unless specific request is made at that time for the reading of such ordinance or resolution. F. Approved regular demands numbered 43631 through 43911 in the amount of $2,469,937.27, ADP payroll demands numbered 6010563 through • 6010675 in the amount of $187,429.10, and authorized warrants to be drawn on the Treasury for same: G. Approved the minutes of the regular adjourned and regular meetings of September 22, 2003. H. Accepted the resignation of Mr. Charles Shulthies as the District Two member of the Civil Service Board and declared the position to be vacant for the unexpired term ending July, 2006. I. Accepted the resignation of Mr. Harold Robertson as the District Five representative to the Department of Water and Power Advisory Committee. J. Approved the second reading and adopted Ordinance Number 1505 entitled "AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH AND THE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM." By unanimous consent, full reading of Ordinance Number 1505 was waived. M. Adopted Resolution Number 5170 entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH ACCEPTING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND AUTHORIZING THE RELEASE OF SECURITY FOR CENTEX HOMES TRACT NO. 15797." By unanimous consent, full reading of Resolution Number 5170 was waived. N. Adopted Resolution Number 5172 entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH ADOPTING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS FOR CENTEX HOMES TRACT NO. 16306." By unanimous Page Nine - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 • anticipate under what is defined in the City's Noise Ordinance as their 'noise budget,' that comment will be seen throughout the document with regard to noise issues and traffic because if the.number of flights increase in accordance with their noise budget there will be additional . persons going to the facility which in turn increases traffic in and out of the site which could potentially impact this community, however given the distance from the , Airport it is doubtful that traffic would have an impact yet the flight operations and the ability of the pilots to stay on course in the proper flight approach pattern are the main issues that staff attempted to address in the response. Mayor Campbell said one of the things that has . always been a concern is that a flight taking off from Los - Alamitos going straight intersects with the approach to Long Beach Airport over Leisure World, however what happens in reality is that when planes take off from Los Alamitos they bank and go over the Weapons Station. What she would like to see in the EIR is a•definition of the maximum number of flights, define the flight patterns, and recent flight activity suggests their possibly using the east /west runways which would put them over residential areas. The Mayor also mentioned that within the information received it is said that two airlines have been referred to the City Prosecutor for criminal enforcement, she would like to know which airlines, when this happened, and what the criminal penalties are. The Director offered to contact the Long Beach City Prosecutor's office to obtain that information for the Council, it is believed that the other concerns have been addressed in the comment letter. Mayor Campbell said the comments in the letter are good in that they reflect the concerns she has heard from a number of residents, when El Toro was closed that opened up the airspace therefore the planes are coming in over Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Seal Beach to land at Long Beach at a much lower altitude than before which in turn is noisier, this is causing great concern for the residents. The Director explained that the Notice of Preparation indicated that the EIR would evaluate the existing flight path approach patterns into the facility consistent and in compliance with their existing requirements thus the letter did not comment on that issue again, and confirmed that the - maximum number of flights issue does exist in several places within the letter. The City Manager clarified that this agenda item has two communications to the Long Beach Airport however deals with separate issues. Councilman Larson stated that he had - a concern with the letter, the number of flights is regulated, Long Beach has been in litigation with the airlines in federal court for years,. the federal court has set the number of flights based on some formula, they are going to expand the terminal, he has had no complaints from Leisure World about the Long Beach Airport yet gets a great number of complaints with regard to the Joint Forces Training Base, also, he does not believe that the east /west runway at Long Beach has ever had a jet land on it, that is where the small private planes land, the letter is good in the sense that it is asking for information, yet Long Beach is aware that they fly over the two most expensive residential areas of the City, Los Altos, Bixby Knolls, and Virginia Country Club, there will be plenty of people from those areas complaining Page Eleven - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 AYES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson NOES: None ABSENT: Yost Motion carried ITEM "S" - REQUEST - FILL VACANCIES - ASSOCIATE ENGINEERS / SALARY RANGE Councilman Antos said he is aware that there are employees that have left the City yet he also knows that there have also been substitutions with A E.'s (consultants)doing much of the work, his question is if this is going to reduce the reliance on AE's, this is a small City with a small Capital Improvement Program, there are two Engineers that are City staff, this request asks for two more which seems somewhat high if the engineering work is not going to be done in- , _house rather continue to rely on AE's to do plans, specs, inspections, etc. The City Engineer responded that it will reduce plans and specification work, presently a number of project management consultants are used to prepare projects, especially for water and sewer, the other component is to use in -hours instead of contract ' professional services for NPDES, storm water quality, which for one thing takes considerable meeting time, also the in- house person would be used for waste discharge requirements at a much lower hourly rate than using a contract professional services consultant that could cost two to three times the cost of an in -house person. Councilman Antos said if approved he would like to have this looked at as part of the next budget, and at some point he feels that the budget should be revisited because it has not been done since adoption, and he would assume that with the new Governor and the legislature dealing with an adopted budget it will be better known what impacts there will be on the City. Campbell moved, second by Doane, to approve the amendment to the Position Classification Plan to re- establish the position of Associate Engineer, establish a salary range for same, and authorize recruitment for two Associate Engineer positions. AYES: Campbell, Doane, Larson NOES: None ABSTAIN: Antos ABSENT: Yost Motion carried PUBLIC HEARING / ORDINANCE NUMBER 1506 - ZONE TEXT AMENDMENT 03 -2 - SEAL BEACH TRAILER PARK - TWO STORY CABANA STRUCTURES Mayor Campbell declared the public hearing open to consider Zone Text Amendment 03 -2. The City Clerk certified that notice of the public hearing was advertised as required by law, posted and mailed, that sixty communications have been received, fifty -six in favor of ZTA 03 -2 and four in opposition. The Director of Development Services presented the staff report, explained that this matter comes before the Council on recommendation of the Planning Commission from their meeting of September 3rd at which time the Commission conducted a public hearing on the subject, at that time seven persons spoke in favor of the Text Amendment, two spoke in opposition, as well as seven letters in support and two in opposition. The Director Page Thirteen - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 • one class of citizens in Seal Beach under one set of Building Code rules. Mr. Glen Clark, Trailer Park, said it seems that there has been one class of citizens in Seal Beach that have not been treated quite as fairly as others, those being the residents of the Trailer Park. He noted that in 1978 the State granted a waiver that allowed two story cabana additions to trailers in the Park, around 1982 the City took action to allow them however enacted a twenty foot separation condition, this was not imposed anywhere else in the City. He said it is true that the safety factors have changed considerably over the years, this condition has run its course, and urged that in fairness everyone in the Trailer Park all persons be allowed to have a two story cabana, everyone treated the same. Mr. Clark noted that in the middle of the greenbelt area there was one unit that was allowed a second story cabana which in turn then denies five other locations from doing the same because of the twenty foot separation, and urged passage of ZTA 03 -2. Ms. Pat Clark, Trailer Park, pointed out that this is the only area in all of Seal Beach with a twenty foot setback, the Text Amendment is the only fair way to treat everyone in the Park, and agreed with a prior speaker that the residents are low to moderate income people and most do not have the money to build a second story, there was a chance however if some of the Park residents had signed a letter supporting the repayment of the $1 million MPROP loan for the $1 million Bridge Loan that the Agency loaned for the purchase of the Park. A majority of the audience indicated their support of the ZTA by a show of hands. Mr. Mike Hutton, Welcome Lane, recalled that about two years ago this same issue was discussed, the Planning Commission recommended approval yet the Council in their wisdom decided to retain the twenty foot setback. Mr. Hutton claimed that parking is terrible, there is only a, little more than one parking spot per home, one out of every seven homes has two cars, the overflow parking is on First Street, he agreed that the demographics have changed, some older people are leaving, younger families are coming in, some have two or three cars, there are children that will be driving in a few years, this would allow ninety homes to double their square footage, that could bring in family members, roommates or even rentals to subsidize income. Mr. Hutton said the reason the number of written communications was lopsided was that a Park resident passed them out with a flier and they were turned in to him. He said another issue is the utilities, the Park was set up for one hundred twenty -five trailers, the contractor did not envision one hundred twenty -five two story homes with two bathrooms, laundry provisions, the way pipe is sized for any project, whether it be a trailer park or tract of homes, is that every plumbing fixture is given a unit value, by adding those together that tells what size pipe should be used, the Trailer Park is a twelve according to the 2001 Plumbing Code, if people add bathrooms and a laundry that will overload a system that is likely already substandard, there have been problems with the waste lines, last year a backup cost $12,000, an overload will make this more frequent. With regard to water it is a loop system, there is a main line running through the Park, on his row I • Page Fifteen - City Council Minutes - October 13, 2003 She said she understands the concerns expressed with regard to the infrastructure and the plumbing, it has to be kept in mind that the final negotiations are taking place relating to the purchase of the Park, it is correct that there was $100,000 designated for infrastructure improvements, however not seen as yet, it may time for all to gather around a table and assess where the Park is going in the next ten to fifteen years, make certain those monies are spent on the infrastructure, possibly that would ' relieve some of the concerns expressed, the people without subsidies have experienced a doubling of their rent and will pay that rent level for the next thirty years, similar • to the rent level of those who are enjoying the larger lots. Ms. Tarascio said she hoped that people will remember that they are all neighbors, want to enjoy a decent standard of living, and find a way that this can work on a somewhat equitable basis. There being no further comments, Mayor Campbell declared the public hearing closed. Councilman Larson noted the concern expressed with regard to plumbing and asked if staff foresees a problem. The Public Works Director responded that currently the sewer system for the Trailer Park is on private property, their system has not been evaluated as it is a private property matter. Councilman Antos mentioned a concern relating to aesthetics, and is it not true that because this property • is located within the Redevelopment Agency that architectural review is required, that a function that the Planning Commission does with each proposal that comes before the City, in response the Development Services Director stated that to be correct. Councilman Antos said even though the City has not evaluated the utilities on- . site, asked if the utilities that come to the property are adequate. The response of the Public Works Director was • yes, they can be supplied with adequate water based upon the line size in the Park and there is an adequate sewage disposal system to take sewage from the Park. Mayor Campbell said she too had question as to'whether the utilities were overloaded, to that it was said it is private property therefore that may be something that the residents will need to address with Linc Housing, it is said that the utilities going to the Park are adequate for what they want to do, what probably needs to be evaluated is each unit on a unit by unit basis, that would come up when a resident wants to add a second story and would not a building inspector determine if each unit was adequate. The Development Services Director explained the process when approval is given to construct a two story cabana, the plans must go through the Fire Department for approval, they check the sprinkler plan, flow tests need to be done to assure there is adequate pressure to energize the sprinkler system before they can obtain a building permit for construction, therefore there are adequate flows at the time building permits are issued. Mayor Campbell said then the concerns voiced by the speakers are taken care of at the time there is application for a two story cabana, to that the Director explained further that there are two inspections, the City Building Department will do inspections on the actual unit as far as building, mechanical, and plumbing systems, then the Fire Department Page S-everitn '43-fy' -tatrrosl °`Minutes - October 13, 2003 retrieved. Mayor Campbell said that is why she applies for and votes an absentee ballot. CLOSED SESSION No Closed Session was held. ADJOURNMENT It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council, to adjourn the meeting until October 27th at 6:30 p.m. to meet in Closed Session if needed. By unanimous consent, the meeting was adjourned at 8:28 p.m. THESE ARE TENTATIVE MINUTES ONLY, SUBJECT TO THE APPROVAL OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL•BEACH. Council Minutes Approved: •