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City Manager Fialho noted the way the staff recommendation is structured is that by <br />supporting the Blue Ribbon Committee's recommendation the Council is generally accepting <br />that the alignment is in that general vicinity. But, the Council has not amended the Specific <br />Plan, the General Plan and hasn't proceeded with an EIR process or a development <br />application on the part of Greenbriar. All of this must come together before the road ever <br />gets constructed. <br />Councilmember McGovern stated she honestly believes the City has its integrity and her <br />integrity is on the line. She noted previous Councils, when the golf course was agreed <br />upon, it was also agreed to make permanent to remove traffic away from the rural roads that <br />were in the Happy Valley area as a way of maintaining the rural nature of that portion of the <br />Valley, but also to try to have the least impact on those properties as possible. She is <br />looking for a final solution and is ready to move on and do something here that the City has <br />promised for years. She clarified that the people in Sycamore Heights and Briddle Creek <br />were noticed about the meeting to establish our attempt to find volunteers. The meetings <br />were noticed that staff was planning meetings throughout the summer and the notices <br />included the dates, times and locations of the meetings. <br />Councilmember McGovern clarified with staff that the Briddle Creek CC&Rs did lead <br />someone to believe that Sycamore would be connected possibly to a bypass road. She also <br />clarified there is one sign at the dead-end of Sycamore Creek that refers to a "future <br />extension." <br />Councilmember Thorne indicated for him this boils down to some straight-forward facts. The <br />first is that when the City built the golf course, a bypass road was promised. The bypass <br />road originally looked at would have gone over the hill and that was geotechnically <br />impossible and is no longer an option. Given that, he made a motion to accept the <br />recommendation of the HVBRC. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McGovern. <br />Councilmember Sullivan stated this is one of the most difficult questions the Council is going <br />to have to deal with, along with the density issue coming forward in a couple of weeks. He <br />added it has been the promise from the City to build a bypass road to the golf course around <br />the Happy Valley area. He noted Sycamore Creek Way has always been designated as the <br />bypass road to the golf course. He sympathizes with the confusion of the neighbors. He <br />noted the Blue Ribbon Committee was created to attempt a compromise and noted there is <br />a significant group of stakeholders that were not adequately represented throughout the <br />process. He further noted he has a problem with saying he accepts the report and accepts <br />the recommendation, because he's not real happy with that part of the process. He added <br />this is not the final decision as the Council does need to consider the environmental <br />impacts. He stressed he has no comment as it relates to density associated with the <br />alignment and that will be discussed at a later date through a series of public hearings. He <br />indicated he will be supporting the motion and as the Council goes through the process, he <br />would like to see the Council look at the existing Sycamore Creek Way to see if there's any <br />kind of reconfiguration that can be done there to add additional safety measures to the <br />houses that front Sycamore Creek Way. He would also like to see the Ciry work proactively <br />with the neighbors on issues with that road and traffic calming in other areas along there to <br />keep speeds down and make that as safe as possible. <br />City Council Minutes 10 April 17, 2007 <br />