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1993/09/23 City Council MinutesROHNERT PARK CITY COUNCIL TOWN HALL MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1993 The Council of the City of Rohnert Park met this date in adjourned Town Hall meeting commencing at 7:00 p.m. at Ladybug Recreation Building, 8517 Liman Way, Rohnert Park, with Mayor Hollingsworth presiding. CALL TO Mayor Hollingsworth called the adjourned Town Hall meeting to order ORDER at approximately 7:05 p.m. and extended his appreciation to everyone present for attending. ROLL CALL Present: (4) Councilmembers Eck, Gallagher, and Reilly and Mayor Hollingsworth Absent: (1) Councilmember Spiro (out of town on Council business) Staff present for all or part of the meeting: Assistant to the City Manager Leivo and City Manager Pro - Tempore /Director of Public Works /City Engineer Brust. Mayor Hollingsworth acknowledged the City Manager /Clerk's report on the posting of the meeting's agenda and apologized for the conflict in scheduling with the local school and suggested that before the next town meeting is scheduled that staff check the local calendar to avoid future scheduling conflicts. Mayor Hollingsworth stated that the City Council indicated the purpose of tonight's meeting is to listen to the comments of the public and the procedure designed is for the Council to listen, take notes and then the Councilmembers will make comments and /or respond to questions when everyone is finished speaking. Linda Christopher, 1010 Copeland Creek Drive, stated she works for Sonoma County Recycling Center and distributed to the Councilmembers and City staff an analysis and recommendations on garbage rates /increases. She stated that City staff did a good job in assembling four options, and there are good ideas in each of them. She wished to present a hybrid proposal combining options (b) and (d) by extending the contract for 2 years; forgo mixed waste collection and mixed plastic collection; take a look at the free recycling services; backyard composting is a good way to start and preferred to mixed plastic; have contractor go out for competitive bid for machinery purchases so that the contractor is not buying from a subsidiary company and the City of Rohnert Park should have title for the equipment. (A copy of her analysis and recommendations is attached to the original set of these minutes.) Robert Allen, 1529 Madison Avenue, asked if recycling bins can be placed at all parks. He has checked garbage cans and has seen a lot of good recyclable items being thrown out. Mr. Allen also referred to the weeds on west side of M Park and suggested the weeds be replaced with a lawn and trees. Robert Evans, 577 Lydia Court North, gave a copy of the map to show the tot park at end of Lydia Court North has a pathway to Lilac Way where numerous cases of vandalism of vehicles, tire slashes, windows broken have been experienced Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes -2- September 23, 1993 by residents. The pathway is an easy access and exit for those who use it to drive motor bikes at 30 mph where young kids play. The pathway used to be a drug hangout but the police have taken care of the drug problem. Mr. Evans suggested to have safety bars put up and would like to see the park closed and read a list of acts of vandalism prepared by Walt Hyde, his neighbor at 571 Lydia Court. Mr. Evans stated he and the other residents would appreciate any help. Debbie Hales, 825 Liana Court, asked the audience if structural damage in their homes because of adobe found that there is no mesh in their driveway and major structural damage because of adobe - lack of and it costs $3,000 to have a Soil Engineer to come that kind of money. anyone else is having soil shifting and they they are experiencing water or too much water out and they don't have Katherine Collins, 828 Lilac Way, stated that she can attest to the fact about the Tot Lot as a hangout and it has never been maintained in the 20 years she has lived in the area. The Tot Lot is a waste of money to mow it, weed it and water it and it is not paying out for the benefit of the public. Pali Walker, 8535 Liman Way, spoke about public spending of money such as donating money to the Sonoma County tourist industry and repaving of streets which to him did not need to be repaved and the potholes created by the road work has caused more damage to his car. He suggested that public funds be spent wisely on crime prevention, school system and keep kids out of trouble. Donating to Sonoma County Visitors is a joke to promote the wine industry and the City should not subsidize consumption of alcohol. Raquel Guinn, 846 Lunar Court, stated she read in the newspaper about commuter trains and asked who is funding this, if the citizens get to vote on it, where the trains will run and how often? Walt Hyde, 571 Lydia Court, stated that at the south end of Lydia Court, there is another tot park so there is one on each end and should be closed off. Peter Thomas, 8557 Larch Avenue, Cotati, stated that he has kids attending La Fiesta and understand that the City owns the parking lot. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated the school owns the parking lot. Mr. Thomas stated that his concern is safety of the kids because parents drive 30 mph in the parking lot and invited the Councilmembers to go and observe the situation and take care of it. Joan Miller, 300 Enterprise Drive #262, asked about noise ordinance and if Raley's Towne Center is breaking it every night with cleaning their trucks every night next to the 230 apartments of seniors at the Altamont. She was told that the City does not even have a decibel meter. She also reported that residents at Altamont are still experiencing car thefts and break -ins and asked if anything can be done about them. Also, that people drive past the rear of the Senior Center so fast that they scare the seniors even if they don't hit them and asked if speed bumps can be installed. Betty Brooks, 451 Alta Avenue, asked Mayor Hollingsworth how can he, a lame duck member of the City Council, supercede a newly elected member and deny her to name anyone to the Planning Commission. Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes . -3- September 23, 1993 Barbara Mackenzie, 1536 Gladstone, stated the parks in the City are wonderful but would like to comment that the water seems to flood very bad every winter in the G section, tennis courts are soaked and a lot of kids on roller blades and skateboards are on the tennis courts and basketball courts and there is a whole lot of vandalism in the G section. Kitty Collins, 828 Lilac Way, stated she wanted to get back on the garbage issue. The locking dumpster was a good idea but people are dropping off mattresses, chairs, refrigerators, dryers behind and around the dumpsters. If the City will give residents smaller cans, this problem will get worse. Debbie Hales stated as far as building more homes to concentrate more on the west side of the freeway and have multi - family homes. There is a lot of traffic now on this side and it now takes her 20 minutes to get to the Expressway and it used to be 5 minutes. She also stated that she tries to recycle as much as possible and would like the garbage company to pick up carboards. Helen Dell, 4464 Graywhaler Lane, stated she drove on the west side and noticed there will be five furniture stores over there which seems ridiculous. When they become empty, her concern is it might become a slum area later on. Who plans this? Robert Allen, 1529 Madison Avenue, took the Recycling Guide out that shows what Empire Waste picks up and what they don't pick up. He wanted to know why Empire Waste won't pick up empty oil cans. At this point of the meeting, Mayor Hollingsworth asked if anyone else wished to speak. He then replied on his appointment of Mr. Flores to the Planning Commission that as long as he is an elected official and his vote counts, he will exercise his right and use his vote to the best of his ability. City Manager Pro - Tempore Brust replied to Mr. Allen's query about recycling bins at parks, that City staff is looking into how it can be handled and he has visited other parks in the County and staff is interested in the program and looking that it is something the City wants to do. Regarding M Park, the City has stretched the budget to the limit and would love to put in the lawn and irrigation system and agreed that it is an eyesore. Mr. Brust indicated he will request it as an improvement if additional funds become available. Jerry Griffin, 1514 Garfield Court, requested that native oaks (Valley Oaks) be planted in our community and stated that this valley was full of Valley Oaks which grow well in grass or dirt areas and have few problems when maintained properly. Councilman Eck, in reply to Mr. Evans regarding the Tot Lot, stated that the tot lot was an experiment and suggested to schedule this item as a public hearing, noticing all the neighbors around the park and should be agendized at the Council meeting. Regarding the request to put some posts, City Manager Pro - Tempore Brust stated he will arrange to have it done and will take care of it to prevent motorcycles although there can be some problem with strollers in going through. Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes ' -4- September 23, 1993 Regarding recycling cardboards, Counciirnembery Eck stated this will be negotiated and the goal is to have it. Councilmember Gallagher stated she drives to Santa Rosa to the recycling center that takes cardboard. In response to Debbie Hales' comment, City Manager Pro - Tempore Brust stated he visited the homes and there is extensive movement and it appears to be adobe. He has not investigated enough to determine the cause but he will get Condiotti back to look at them to get some assistance to find out what the problem is and will look at the code although the driveway portion is separated from strucutural part of the house. Mr. Brust stated he is actively involved in this matter but it is the contractor's responsibility to build a house up to code. Councilman Eck stated anyone who has a similar problem to bring it to Mr. Brust's attention. Discussion followed on building on jacks. Jerry Long, Liana Court, stated he has jack system but there is not enough room between the steel beams and the ground, adequate crawl space was not given. Mayor Hollingsworth discussed "latent defect" which is the insurance company's nightmare and which will give the homeowners recourse if the finding that the home was not built up to code. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated he will check the code and noted again that it is the contractor's responsibility to build to code, but that he will help the homeowner contact the contractor. Loy Reyes, 4759 Fairway, asked if the City is not responsible for homes not being built to code, what is he paying the inspector for? City Manager Pro - Tempore Brust replied that the inspection process is not a 100% inspection. The inspectors only inspect at appropriate times during each phase of construction and can only spend a few minutes per day at each site and again noted that it is the contractor's responsibility to build to code. The inspector cannot be present all the time. Mayor Hollingsworth stated that proving latent defect is difficult because usually the plans are gone but there is recourse for structural problems. Councilmember Gallagher asked when a certificate of compliance is issued, if that signifies that the City guarantees the structure is up to code. Mayor Hollingsworth reiterated that homeowners contact Mr. Brust if there is a major problem with their homes. Regarding building on the west side of the freeway, Linda DeBolt, 5701 Davis Circle, suggested that instead of building general low income housing behind Price Club, would it be possible in making it low income senior housing because it would be ideal so that seniors won't have to drive and the City can make arrangements for stores to have a centrally located area for carts, and there won't be any traffic or children. Mayor Hollingsworth stated the Council will address the west side low income housing as part of the General Plan update. Councilmember Gallagher mentioned that residents can address the Council at its September 28th Council meeting concerning a 20 -year master plan and a long term General Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes ' -5- September 23, 1993 Plan instead of a short term General Plan. Regarding items being dropped off at the back of the store, City Manager Pro - Tempore Brust suggested to fence off the area and limit access at the back of the store. Councilman Eck stated that maybe because Kitty Collins has been gracious enough to have the City use the parking lot in front of her store during spring or fall cleanup, that people have developed a drop off psychology. Regarding public spending, Councilman Eck stated that in donating money to the Visitors Bureau, it is hard to know what you are getting but for every $1 spent in Rohnert Park to rent a hotel or motel room, the City gets 11 cents of that dollar as a transient occupancy tax. The transient occupancy tax generates $900,000 to our budget and it appears that to reinvest $30,000 to the Visitors Bureau to get the high transient occupancy tax is a good investment. Councilmember Gallagher stated that the City needs to spend money on kids and that now is the time for those who have programs for kids to come to the Council. On repaving the streets, City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated that repaving money is from gas tax money coming from the State; it cannot be shifted to schools. The street overlays need to be done in a 20 -year or shorter cycle. Paving after about 15 years has substantially deteriorated even though damage is not visible. If no repair or overlay is done between 15 and 20 years, you may have to reconstruct the entire road. It is much cheaper to do timely overlays. Councilmember Gallagher asked if gas tax dollars can be put away and fix the Expressway at the Hwy 101 overcrossing. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust replied in the affirmative. Mayor Hollingsworth stated that because of the shopping centers built on the west side of the freeway, the sales tax from the stores is the reason why we got the additional funds. Sales tax in Rohnert Park is up 69% while other cities sales revenue are down. Rohnert Park is one of the few cities lucky enough not to have a big depletion in its reserves. Regarding commuter trains, Councilman Eck stated newspapers always like to be ahead of the game. Federal grants are being pursued to acquire the railroad right -of -way and the near term intent is to do freight only. Passenger commute rail is a very long range plan. It does have the potential of being developed as an overall commuter rail. However, Sonoma County hopefully will not support the population needed for a commuter train. Regarding parking lot in La Fiesta, Mayor Hollingsworth stated that school issues and school funding are separate from City issues and they should be dealt with by the School District. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated he has observed the problem and the best program is education. Parents and children need to be educated; teachers and Principals need to enforce that education. Councilman Eck stated he would express this issue at the next joint School Board meeting. Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes 6- September 23, 1993 Regarding speeding in the neighborhood, City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated the best thing is to have the police give tickets but that the next best thing is to have the City -owned radar speed lightboard operated on the street. Discussion followed on putting in speed bumps to slow cars down and it was noted that 70% of those speeding are parents. Sergei Lofitzki, 8742 Laurelwood Drive, requested the Council to do something about the poor illumination at night at Snyder Lane /Golf Course. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated he will look at the area. Mr. Brust noted that street lighting is not cheap and that he needs to balance cost with the safety need of the neighborhoods. Gas tax funds are not used for street lighting. Councilman Reilly stated, regarding speeding, that residents call Public Safety and make them aware on enforcement in the parking lots. If there are problems of break -ins, call Public Safety because a good thief will break in your car if he wants to break in your car. Mayor Hollingsworth suggested to address a letter to the School Board about this concern. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated he will ask Public Safety to cite in the parking lot. On the question of reflector pavement markers, City Manager Pro - tempore Brust stated they are cost effective. Mr. Brust said he will also look at the G Park tennis courts and drainage. If the cost is minimal, he can apply it on Public Works budget but if the cost is $10,000 to $15,000, it will need to go before the City Council. Helen Dell, 4464 Graywhaler Lane, asked who plans the stores on the west side. Mayor Hollingsworth replied that the stores make their own demographic study before locating here and as long as the stores meet zoning requirements, they can be built on the west side which means more revenue to the City but he cannot predict what will happen to the stores. Betty Brooks, 451 Alta Avenue, asked whatever happened to the idea to have each section have a volunteer "trouble shooter" (neighborhood representatives)? Also she was told that the right hand turn on the Expressway opposite the Olive Garden is a State project. When people get in the middle, traffic gets backed up to Codding Bank. City Manager Pro - tempore Brust replied it has been a budget problem and it will cost $1.2 million and is dependent on some Federal funding which hopefully will be available next year. In response to neighborhood representative, Councilman Eck stated that this was discussed and the Council looked at the Simi Valley model and Councilmembers were concerned that this would only create another non - elected body with no power. Myra Siegel, 570 Santa Alicia Drive, submitted a speaker card but chose not to speak on street lights which are out and never replaced at Santa Alicia Drive. She also suggested that for the next Town Hall meeting that perhaps a map to show the location where the meeting is to be held can be included in the agenda for those who are new to the area. Rohnert Park Town Hall Meeting Minutes 7- September 23, 1993 ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hollingsworth thanked everyone for taking time for their comments and adjourned the Town Hall meeting at approximately 8:35 p.m. Mayor 7 9�4- A XA",4� Deputy City Clerk