01 MINUTES REGULAR 07-15-08 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mayor Hosterman said she heard Councilmember Cook-Kallio's request to strike the word, "all" and what she envisions is that knolls may or may not be appropriate so the City will need to define exactly what a hillside is through elevation, and she believed it is a good option. Vice Mayor Thorne said he would opt for Option 1 as a title, agrees with changing "management" to "control" initiative, said he was prepared to go with a more lengthy question, but since the summary route is gone, then both should go the summary route. He would go along with Option 4, asked that the word "re-affirm" be changed to "implement" because he does believe this is an action plan and not a plan to do a plan. Mayor Hosterman suggested using "affirm policies" and not necessarily specify "General Plan", and she read the revised question, "Shall the (title) be adopted that would preserve scenic hillsides and ridges surrounding Pleasanton and implement policies that protect hillsides and define housing units that respects the voter-approved housing cap?" Councilmembers Cook- Kallio, Vice Mayor Thorne and Mayor Hosterman supported the question. Councilmember McGovern asked if this was true because you are talking about a plan to preserve a collaborative process. She cannot say that process will come out and preserve scenic hills and ridges surrounding Pleasanton and implement policies that protect hillsides and define housing units. She does not believe this because the city has had a general plan in place since 1996 that has policies in it, the flexibility word is used, and then we do not protect. Councilmember Sullivan agreed and felt the statement was misleading. This should say, "...that has a goal of preserving all scenic hillsides." City Attorney Roush cautioned the Council with the use of "implement" rather than "affirm or adopt" because when one looks to Section 3, what the voters are actually being asked to do is to re-affirm the General Plan policies which do talk about preserving and protecting. This is why staff had suggested in Option 4, the word "re-affirm" be used as opposed to "implement". Vice Mayor Thorne questioned if the end result of the process was an ordinance, and City Attorney Roush said the purpose is to create that, but the actual substantive portion of the initiative affirms and adopts the existing general plan policies that do talk about preservation and protection. What the Initiative does is set into motion a process that will look at a number of things the Council will have identified as things needing to be looked at to further implement that. Councilmember Cook-Kallio said this ordinance, as it is written, is very specific about making sure definitions are there. So, it has more meat in it than the General Plan would. City Attorney Roush said it puts into motion an action, but the substance of these which is important for purposes of the poison pill provision is to re-affirm and re-adopt what is already in the General Plan. Councilmember Cook-Kallio said in order to implement, the City would identify specific ridges, design guidelines, drafting an ordinance, etc., and she would not have any problem with that language. Mayor Hosterman asked if there was Council support for "...and affirm and implement policies that protect hillsides...." City Attorney Roush said this would be preferable. Councilmember Sullivan questioned how the measure was clear that it was acouncil-sponsored initiative, and Councilmember Cook-Kallio said it references the General Plan and ordinance, but Councilmember McGovern noted "general plan" was taken out. Councilmember Cook-Kallio said the General Plan is referenced in the declaration of purpose and a number of other places in the explanation and she thinks it is clear that it is acouncil-sponsored measure. City Council Minutes 14 July 15, 2008