01 - Laserfiche WebLink

Councilmember Sullivan said the only advantage he sees of waiting is that when the Council does discuss the report, it may come to the conclusion that it wants to adopt the ordinance outright; however, he believed the changes of this were slim. Mayor Hosterman opened public comment and noted there were no speakers. Mayor Hosterman noted the Initiative was written without help from legal and planning staff, said it says nothing about safeguarding the environment in the southeast hills, with no input from the community and in her opinion poorly written, She said preserving the southeast hills has been one of this Council's many priorities for a number of years, and requested staff move forward to work on enacting correct language which can be legally implemented to safeguard the southeast hills. Councilmember Sullivan said whether individuals think the initiative is poorly written or not, the fact is that signatures were obtained, it qualified for the ballot and it deserves to either be adopted or placed on the ballot. He feels it is not about not liking the initiative but an attack on citizens' rights to referend or create an initiative, which is one of the people's most important rights. He said the Pleasanton Ridge was a citizen's initiative developed without City staff or experts, said Measure D also protects the County from being developed outside of City limits, believed sometimes measures do work and supported putting it on the ballot in a way it does not compromise the integrity of the process. Vice Mayor Thorne thanked staff for responding as quickly as it did with a very difficult and thorough report, thinks the ultimate objective of the Council has been and is to develop a comprehensive hillside protection ordinance. He believes those who signed the initiative have that same goal and the debate here is the way to get there. Councilmember McGovern voiced concerns about how the item was being discussed and said the initiative does not remove any of the environmental protection from the General Plan, overlays or anything in place. For the Council to say the Initiative is poorly written and that it had no input from experts is an opinion and assumption. The reason the hillside preservation ordinance is important is because there have been two developments approved with 50 units on ridgelines, with one home where 40 feet was cut off the top of a hill to put in a 14,000 square foot home. This has been in the City's General Plan for over 11 years, and felt the Council should have approved it sooner and believes the issue is that people are concerned that other developments are coming forward will be treated identically. She asked that it be placed on the ballot and have straight-forward honest conversations about the Initiative. Councilmember Cook-Kallio voiced her concerns with the Initiative's language, thinks all stakeholders were not talked to, does not think the unintended consequences were explored, agreed people do legislation all the time where unintended consequences happen but it is the Council's job to be as careful as possible that it does not happen. She believes the Initiative is vague and is bad law, it should go to the ballot, thinks more discussion is needed, and it may tie the City up in litigation. She confirmed with the City Attorney that voters will be asked to vote on the text of the Initiative; there will be a ballot question and within the voting materials will be the text of the Initiative. Motion: It was m/s by Hosterman/Cook-Kallio to order the election and direct staff to prepare for the Council's July 15 meeting the required documents to place the initiative measure on the November 2008 ballot. The motion passed by the following vote: Regular City Council/ Library Board of Trustees Minutes 11 June 17, 2008