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One is restoration of the arroyos. They should be reviewed to see if they are flood control measures, riparian corridors or a combination of the two. She asked how they could be embraced in the community. One arroyo goes through downtown and steps have been taken to preserve the area. The high school has also gotten involved in preserving flora and fauna. It is a learning tool and natural feature to be cared for. Someday she would like to put signs so people know what they are looking at along the waterways. Many sections in town have become a dump although they are cleaned periodically. She looked forward to working with other water agencies here and in the Delta in looking at how to identify flora and fauna. She said that through her work on the State Local Government Commission, she has been involved in water issues throughout the State of California. As one of the authors of the Ahwanhee Water Principles, she said it provides a broad based sense of water conservation and water issues and those principles have been disseminated to every city in the State. Pleasanton is one of the few agencies yet to adopt the Principles. There will be moneys available from the State Water Quality Control Board to agencies for water projects. She said she has ideas she has been discussing with DSRSD and Zone 7. The State Water Quality Control Board has specifically stated that those communities that have a water element and have adopted the Ahwanhee Water Principles will rise to the top as far as receiving funding for projects. In order to place Pleasanton on parity with other communities, she believed it was imperative that the city adopt a separate water element in the General Plan. The city delivers water services to the residents and businesses and in essence already has water policies that rival any water element used in any other agency. The Local Government Commission recently developed a draft water element for agencies to review. She said she has a copy and will make it available to all Councilmembers as well as the Ahwanhee Water Principles. At the next appropriate workshop, she would like to discuss this again. Those are the two big issues she had. The idea of a greenbelt around the city is important and she felt the urban growth boundary was achieving that. She referred to a book written by Jane Jacobs called "The Death and Life of the Great American City." It discusses the importance for the economic base of a community to maintain a greenbelt around it. It also talks about how to achieve that and how other cities in the country have done that. Council member Brozosky referred to the arroyos and suggested a policy that recognized the importance of the arroyos instead of saying restoration or something else. He asked staff to investigate if the city was not competitive for water funding because it does not have a water element or adopted Ahwahnee Principles. Mayor Hosterman suggested staff contact the Executive Director of the California Water Quality Control Board. Assistant City Manager Bocian asked for direction regarding the Council comments on restoring the arroyos and the comments of Councilmember Sullivan. He believed there was some disagreement. Council member Thorne asked if the verbiage stayed as written, would the projects come back in the priority setting session for review. Assistant City Manager Bocian said typically staff would bring projects back individually. Councilmember Thorne agreed to review them on an individual basis. General Plan Workshop Minutes 21 August 29, 2006