CCMIN021908 - Laserfiche WebLink

Councilmember Sullivan referred to the Downtown Specific Plan Implementation on page 11 and asked that charrettes be held in order for the community to understand the Downtown Specific Plan, which he confirmed could be undertaken within the context of the existing priority and during the specific plan's implementation. Councilmember Sullivan questioned the status of the Commission on Energy and the Environment. Management Analyst Maria Lara said staff is working on collecting data around the commission, are researching options with what other cities are doing and plan to bring a report to the Council in May. Regarding the Cities for Climate Protection Program, Councilmember Sullivan confirmed that staff was working with PG&E and Public Works staff to collect information regarding the actual city's consumption, are working with ICLEI to collect community data relating to consumption and emissions and once all data is collected, the collection will be completed in February/early March and submitted to ICLEI for analysis and report back to the City in late May. Staff would then provide a findings report and information to the Council in late May. Thereafter, staff would work with ICLEI to learn more about climate change action planning and during July/August, bring action plan recommendations to Council. Councilmember Thorne said his priorities were getting the General Plan, the Staples Ranch, Fire House finished, as well as safety issues at the Aquatics Center. Councilmember McGovern said under the General Plan, Noise, Air and Water seem to be going to the Planning Commission but they are not coming to the Council. City Manager Fialho said the Council will review the last three Elements when the Draft General Plan is presented in the context of the EIR. He agreed to circulate them to the Council and comments can be forwarded to staff. Councilmember McGovern referred to the Vineyard Avenue Realignment issues and asked if the Old Vineyard Avenue Trail would be designed in-house. Director of Public Works Rob Wilson said they have not started work on it yet, but it is in their program. They will do water projects first, traffic signals next and lastly, finish the trail. Councilmember McGovern hoped the trail could be in by the end of 2009. Councilmember McGovern questioned if a traffic safety study had ever been done regarding safety of streets. Mr. Wilson said staff annually conducts studies, such as a baseline report but have not hired anyone to do astreet-by-street analysis of the entire city. In terms of intersection ramps, a citywide analysis has not been done as to where the curb ramps need to go, but it is part of their work plan. Most of the City does have ramps, they have been addressing older neighborhoods and those that do not meet standards have been addressed on an on-going basis. Councilmember McGovern referred to the Traffic Signal Coordination Workshop and confirmed with the City Manager that the City hired a new Traffic Engineer to assist with signal timing. The priority was initially developed for the Council to have dialogue publicly about the City's signal timing system and talk about areas for improvement, but there might be a way to morph things into a discussion about infrastructure, signal timing, best practices, bike/pedestrian plan and safety improvements and general transportation planning into one broad priority rather than having a workshop. City Council Minutes 7 February 19, 2008