CCMIN052008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Councilmember Sullivan said it was disconcerting that many people have left. Regarding the West Foothill Overlay guidelines and when he was working on the General Plan, he saw many projects approved that the Planning Commission either denied or put conditions on that the Council then turned around and approved, sometimes with and without imposed conditions. They went through an extensive exercise in reviewing those guidelines and trying to strengthen them because they believed they were not complied with at the time, and their recommendations died somewhere in the process. He felt the matter is a divisive issue in town, doing initiatives and referendums is not easy or fun, and if people are going to this level of effort and obtain signatures enough to qualify, it should tell the Council something. Policy 5.1 says we should develop a hillside ordinance, so even with these other protections, people decided this is something that should be done. Councilmember Sullivan said he supported the approach on Oak Grove which had the same goal in protecting the ridge lands, but 5,000 people did not like that process. He suggested engaging the Initiative writers to work through issues, have abroad-based community task force, and by placing a City Council sponsored measure on the ballot and creating some competing measure would widen this divide and disenfranchise people more. He supported holding the 30-day study, form a community task force, bring back answers to questions, and if it is satisfactory to the Council and to the community task force, to move forward. Vice Mayor Thorne agreed, believed there were good questions in the staff report and he would need answers to them, but he was not sure about having the process to formulate something to go on the ballot would be divisive. He felt it would provide people with an alternative of the public process used and put that on the ballot, but he would like to see what that looks like before agreeing to it. Councilmember McGovern felt there is definite concern in the community that there are things already contained in the General Plan and Specific Plan and the word "flexibility" keeps coming up, which means a change can be made, and sometimes large changes. What some people are looking for is that some of that flexibility goes away and they want assurances that ordinances passed have a lasting effect on development. She said Measure F was a positive initiative that impacted the western ridgelines, felt the public is happy with it, and she is looking forward to having the Council do something with both the hillside ordinance and grading ordinance. She believes the Council needs to look at policies that affect the ridgelines within the sphere of influence and any lands that could increase the size of the community and is worried that consensus will not be reached through formation of a task force unless there is open- mindedness. Councilmember Cook-Kallio said she agrees there should be open-mindedness and thought that questions put forth in the staff report regarding considerations illustrate how complex the issue is. She supported including everyone who has a stake in the matter, thinks the Pleasanton ridgeline is geographically different than the Southeast hills and should be treated differently, her interest is to ensure everyone is heard, believed this issue was intertwined with Item 21 and suggested waiting for that item to be discussed. Mayor Hosterman believed the Council is fervently supportive of hillside preservation, but how it addresses it in the southeast hills is very different than how the Council has addressed the Pleasanton Ridge. She would like to see an economic analysis as to what the Initiative would do, get a clarification on General Plan policies, more analysis as to options the Council can take, and acity-initiated document, as the initiative is extremely clumsy and confusing. She wants the opportunity to engage the entire community in a discussion about hillside preservation and not be reactionary to a few people who came up with the Initiative's language. She wants City Council Minutes 11 May 20, 2008