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CC 08-10-61 394 10321 SO.SARATOGA--SUNNYVALE ROAD C I T Y 0 F CUP E R TIN 0 CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL- August 10, 1961 AL 2-4505 ¡..,.¡. II>\!B~ r~ !~ ';fr..y Place: Time: 10321 So. Saratoga--Sunnyvale Road 7: 30 PM I SALUTE TO THE FLAG II ROLL CALL: Councilman Present: Benetti, Jewett, Pelosi and Saich Councilman Absent: Lazaneo Staff' Present: City Manager, City Attorney, City Engineer and City Clerk Vice-Mayor Benetti presided, III ESTABLISHING DEPTH OF COMMERCIAL ZONING: Cow1cilman Pelosi stated that in the course of about six years, the City has not established any fixed depth for commercial zoning, The City did inherit certain zoning districts from the County upon its incorporation and thus far has granted commercial depths in accordance with the applications, He said the question is whether to fix a certain depth such as 500 feet for future C-I-H districts or whether to resolve the matter on the basis of individual applications or to put it another way, to decide each application on its own merits, A diversity of factors including differing property depths by ownership complicates the situation, especially on Stevens Creelc Boulevard. He said he is not inclined to tell people who may have potentially commercial property on Stevens Creek Boulevard, but only 150' deep lots, that the property can possibly be commercial, Some such small lots are already zoned C-I-H, In the case of a 5001 commercial zone, the distance is sufficient to assure good parking facilities, proper road width and attractive landscaping, Councilman Jewett agreed that it is almost impossible to establish a fixed commercial depth due to the fact that there are so many variables and unknowns, He said he is in favor of taking each application individually and treating it on its own merits, Councilman Saich said that he is also in agreement with Councilmen Pelosi and Jewett. He said the distance would have to vary depending on the part~cular property, He is not in favor of creating too shallow a commercial depth which might hinder the development of some major company which requires considerable parking, landscaping, etc. Councilman Benetti concurred with the aforementioned posi- tions. After thinking it over, he has decided that no one minimum can be established, add~ng that such a procedure might keep out commercial interests which would be an advantage to the City. Councilman Pelosi said that the City Council has always been conce~1ed with the depth of cOlm1ercial, but he suggested that a builder can actually place a building 10 feet from the property line, In so doing, he \'vould tend to negate the intention of a deep cowaercial zoning which would supposedly serve to set the buildings far back and allow good landscaping, he said further that the placement of the buildings on a lot is in reality an equally important factor. Therefore, the City Council should consider the landscaping and the entire plot plan as well as a fixed zoning line. -1- 09'5' ..~) f:JIL IV HIGffiJAY 9 WIDENING: Reimbursement of County for Cost of right- of-way. The City Attorney stated that he has been asked to explore the possibilities of forming an assessment district along Highway 9 rather than have the City pay the cost for the entire project. He pointed out that one of the important factors is to secure an easement beyond the 80' right-of-way so as to relocate the facilities. Pacific Gas & Electric Company will move utilities once at their own expense. In view of the fact that the High- way 9 widening may be accomplished in two stages, first to 80' and second to 120', it is important to secure the necessary ease- ment so that the utilities will have to be moved only once. The City Attorney advised that under any assessment proceed- ing, the City must have a 60% petition, He mentioned the Street Opening Act and the Improvement Act of 1911 as examples of assess- ment proceedings which require the aforementioned 60%, However, he referred to the statute Icnovm as the Majority Protest Act under which terms the widening could be effected with a majority of 51%, Mr, Anderson stated that the City would be well advised, however, to secure 60% endorsement rather than proceed with a bare majority. The City Attorney noted that he has previously suggested an increase in the tax rate or a bond issue to raise the funds necessary to improve Highway 9, There appears to be no Council or public sentiment in that direction, He emphasized that the statutory authority to proceed with either Phase 1 or 2 is dubious without the support and agreement of the affected property owners, At the present time, the County has indicated that they will institute an eminent domain suit to acquire the right-of-way for delivery to the State, One possibility, he said, would be that the Phase 1 work might be paid out of the County Trafficway bond money allocated to Cupertino and Phase 2 to be paid out of assess- ments on the Highway 9 property owners. A written opinion from the office of the County Counsel indicates that the Cupertino share of the aforementioned bond money, in the vicinity of $340,000.00 must be used in the Cupertino vicinity and may be used on the road not named in the expressway system; for example, Highway 9, The City Attorney reasoned further that this bond money can be used for the property acquisition involved in Phase 1 of the City Engineer's report, dated August 7, 1961, Councilman Saich stated that, as the Cupertino delegate to the Trafficways Committe, it is the opinion of the n~jority of cities that the $70,000,000.00 authorized by the voters should be used only on the projects named in the bond committee report, This would preclude its use on Highway 9 since this road was not named in the expressway bond program. The closest expressway to Cupertino is Lawrence Station Road. The City Attorney observed that neither the opinion of the County Counsel nor that oE the bond counsel in San Francisco would prevail in the event of a taxpayers su~t, but the decision as to the legitimate use of this money, assèèming t¡1e suit were filed, could only be reached in the court room, Councilman Saieh repeated that the people voted for the bond issue on the grounds that the money would be used for certain expressways. Therefore, the cities, Cupertino in particular, must abide by the will of the electors, Councilman Pelosi said that with all due deference to Council- man Saich, he did not share his sentiments. He cited the tremendous traffic problem, becoming increasingly worse on High- way 9 and concluded that Cupertino should spend some of its bond money to alleviate this deficien~y, If the cost of widening High\'¡ay 9 is spread over a 15-year period it is possible, he said, tha t the City v¡ill never need to use this bond mone3T. However, he thought that the possibility of using it should be considered and/or using it as collateral, Councilman Benetti (presid~ng) advised that the Council hear from the City Engineer in order to see what the project accomplishes before going into the means and methods of financing. -2·- 396 k!!c.' I"'~ ('"'''"'.f Councilman Sa1ch added that the City Manager should call the ~~ County and learn what the present position is. Councilman Benetti asked how much more time the City had to get the right-of-way. The City Manager answered that the County had originally indicated the end of September as the deadline. A county letter dated August 7, states that the Board of Supervisors agreement with the State Highway Department pro- vides that February 15, 1962, is the latest date for acquisition of orders of possession and March 15, 1962, as the date by which the right-of-way shall have been cleared of all obstructions. The City Manager recalled that he has already submitted the figures the County intends to pay for the right-of-way, Councilman Jewett aslced for verification of the project schedule so that the City will be able to meet the deadlines, The City Manager reported that the County is still of the opinion that Cupertino has another program for the bond money, He agreed that the County would probably accept a longer period for reimbursement by Cupertino. The Chairman called On the City Engineer, Mr, Fleming explained his report of August 7, with relation to Phase 1, He expanded On the report by reference to wall-length maps depicting the entire section of Highway 9 through the City Limits, The areas in blue represented existing improvements which comply with City standards and the area in grey indicates the 10' widening on each side of the highway which will accomplish the 80' right-of- way, He read the sections of the report, Some discussion arose over the estimated appraisal, The right-of-way acquisition as listed in the report as 2,59 acres at $43,560,00 per acre, totaling $112,820.00 and the easements on each side totaling 5.18 acres at $21,780.00 per acre equal- ing $112,820.00, Councilman Pelosi estimated that the $325,000,00 for acquisition and contingencies could be spread over a 15-year period costing the City about $20,00 per year, This is based on an interest-free loan, He preferred to concentrate on Phase 1, contending that after the 80' road is complete, other means could be explored to make the road a 120' highway, Relative to the agreement between the County and the City for payment of costs of right-of-way acquisition, Councilman Benetti advised that we omit references to the utility relocation. Councilmen Jewett and Pelosi both proposed an early meeting with the Board of Supervisors to arrive at an answer. The City Manager proposed that some additional ground work be laid \lith the County administration before going to the Board of Supervisors with the agreement, Relatlve to the financing phase, the City Attorney stated that the City could allocate the trafficways bond money and not come into conflict with the Debt Limitation Act, Further analysis of the engineering report by Councilman Pelosi disclosed that about $165,000.00 will be the acquisition costs for the 80' road. Polling the Council informally showed that the four members present are in favor of acting upon the 80' right-of-way at the present time rather than the 120', Andrew W, Kappes, 10149 Adriana Avenue, spolce on behalf of the Highway 9 Association and aslced for notification of all Cupertino Council meetings involvi~g Highway 9, The City Manager stated that he has written to Mr, Ruffo seeking the membership of the Highway 9 Association but thus far he has had no answer, Councilman Pelosi reported that Mr. Ruffo had called him personally and was informed that Highway 9 was on the agenda of August 10. Councilman Jewett proposed that the easement situation be explained to the property owners so that they are familiar with the -3- 397 entire project and such ramifioations as the relocation of utili ties, Moved by Councilman Pelosi that the City Manager and City Attorney contact immediately the County Executive and County Counsel in order to determine the answers to the questions raised in the aforementioned deliberations. Seconded by Councilman Je~lett , AYES: Councilmen: NAYS: Councilmen: ABSENT: Councilmen: MOTION CARRIED: Benetti, Jewett, Pelosi and Saich None Lazaneo 4-0 The Council requested that the attorney representing the Higlway 9 Association be notified in time to attend future meetings relative to the improvement of said Highway 9. Donald Barr, representing Herbert Ketell, Inc., asked the Council to consider assessment proceedings on Highway 9, The City Council agreed that time is of the essence and that the complexities of the road program indicate that Phase 1 of the report is the proper procedure at this time. It was agreed that no interference with the State Highway program should be allowed, Mr. Barr said he would like some investigation so as to learn whether an assessment district can be started. In discussing the possibilities of an assessment district to improve 40 feet in addition to the 80' program proposed by the State, the City Engineer observed it would be 1963 before con- struction could start on Phase 2 and, of course, work on Phase 2 would be impossible before completion or at least the start of the work on Phase 1. Assessment district petitions must describe the exact areas to be improved and the nature of the work to be done, The City Engineer's report proposes an assessment district 400 feet deep and the length of the City, Mr, Barr said that his company needs to know when the full improvement can be expected and when an assessment district might materialize. Councilman Jewett told Mr, Barr to inform the City as to the exact extent of the assessment distrlct he proposed. Controversy developed over such assessment district due to a misunderstanding of Mr, Barr's request. He is interested in an assessment district embracing the limits of the Ketell project, not the entire length of Highway 9 throughout the City of Cupertino. The Council agreed to consider the subject on that basis, V PERMANENTE NATER AGREEMENT: Completed, See minutes of August 7, 1961, VI REIMBURSEMENT OF NARD CRUMP - Storm drainage: Scheduled for agenda of August 21, 1961, VII McCLELLAN ROAD AGREEMENT: The Council agreed that ~ñyor L~zaneo should contact the City Manager to reschedule the McClelli:il1 Road age-eement. VIII MISCELLANEOUS: Moved by Councilman Salch that Resolution 479 be adoptedj a resolution of the City Council ordering the abatement of a public nuisance, to wit: weed abatement. Seconded by Councilman Jewett, AYES: Councilmen: NAYS: Councilmen: A0SENT: Councilmen: r,.i~ :ì'.:.1 C0N CÞ T-lHT~D ~ Benetti, Jewett, Pelosl and Saich None :..h.zaneo i.! ~r. 398 IX ADJOURNMENT !- ~ -"~"Î I...... ..... ~ The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 P.M. to an adjourned regular meeting August 12, 1961, at 9:00 A.M. ATTEST: iO';41<i.<Ju<- ,<. ~lt<h--- d"'\C1ty ClerIc -5- APPROVED: /s/ Nick J, Lazaneo Mayor, City of Cupertino