Laserfiche WebLink
Councilmember Cook-Kallio questioned if this was consistent with State law and City Attorney <br />Roush said there is not necessarily a state definition; that what the City has tried to do is to look <br />at whether the unit really impacts the City's infrastructure and the Council has concluded that <br />assisted living facilities does not have a significant impact on infrastructure the same way a <br />single family home or multi-unit development would have. <br />Councilmember Cook-Kallio said if there was a senior facility for people 55 years or older, with <br />no automobiles or children, the impact would be almost nothing and the increase in the <br />business community might be significant, and City Attorney Roush said there might be an <br />argument for that. Mr. Iserson said other impacts include operational characteristics, such as <br />employees, taxes or fees paid, and zoning goes into the equation. <br />Councilmember McGovern said one of the reasons the Initiative puts the housing cap in there is <br />because people believe that people 55 and older, if they live in a residence with a kitchen and <br />bath, it is a housing unit, and they should be counted without exceptions. There has also been <br />discussion that affordable housing should not be counted toward the cap as well as others. She <br />thinks there should be a definition for this. Regarding a second unit having a separate address, <br />water meter and billing for sewer, she confirmed with Mr. Iserson that those are not counted <br />toward the cap because State law precludes this. She therefore asked to have a distinction <br />made for second units in order to further understand this better. She also suggested that <br />additional definitions be added to the General Plan to clarify certain areas. <br />Mayor Hosterman invited public comment on the item. <br />Lance Smith, Corporate Counsel of Greenbriar Homes, requested the Council not adopt the <br />Initiative as presented tonight; follow recommendation C of the staff report to study the fiscal <br />and legal effect of the Initiative as permitted by Election Code 9212, to present the Initiative to <br />the voters after such study has been done. He also urged the City to establish a process to <br />create City-initiated ridgeline protection regulations to augment the existing policies discussed <br />tonight through a separate ballot measure. He presented a letter of the factual, practical and <br />legal concerns they have with the current initiative and asked for it to be entered into the record. <br />He said the Initiative lacks key terms, there are broad interpretations which could result in <br />severe development restrictions where no exist in today's developments, believe their proposed <br />development could be negatively impacted by the Initiative, and intent language that falls below <br />the line is not the controlling language but the language above, which amends the General Plan. <br />He believes a careful review period will corroborate a number of their concerns, asked the <br />Council not to adopt the Initiative, but to present it to voters after the 30-day review, and asked <br />for aCity-initiated Initiative or ordinance be developed which addresses questions raised <br />tonight. <br />Brad Brownlow, Cox, Castle and Nicholson, Counsel of Greenbriar Homes, is pleased that <br />discussion started on Proposition 98 which crystallizes their primary concern-that often voter <br />initiatives have a scope that are far broader than the rhetoric of the proponents might have the <br />voters believe and it is necessary and appropriate for the Council to order a study on the report <br />so they can get a full understanding of operative terms, ambiguities which might characterize <br />those terms so voters are fully informed. He felt the full scope of the Initiative is much broader <br />than restricting development of single family home sites. He requested that the public and <br />Council testimony given on Item 20 be incorporated into the record for Item 21. He said <br />exemptions only applies to legal parcels as of January 1, 2007, such legal parcels may be <br />subdivided into 10 or fewer parcels for a housing development, but when reading the precise <br />language, it does not exempt that. It exempts housing developments for 10 or fewer housing <br />units on a single property that was a legal parcel as of January 7th, and it does not permit one to <br />City Council Minutes 12 May 20, 2008 <br />