1971-06-08 Special CC MinutesSPECIAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL AND THE PLANNING BOARD OF
THE CITY OF ALAMEDA HELD TUESDAY JUNE 8, 1971
The meeting convened at 7:30 o'clock p.m. with President La Croix presiding.
ROLL CALL:
The roll was called and Councilmen Longaker, McCall and President La Croix, Jr., (3), were noted
present. Absent: Councilmen Fore and Levy, (2).
On roll call by the Clerk, the following members of the Planning Board were noted present:
Chairman Lynne F. MacNeill, Mrs. Ina M. Ratto, Messrs. Herman J. Kihn, Ronald W. Matheson, Raymond
Moser and Melvin R. Sanderson, (6). Absent: Mr. Robert E. McPeak, (1).
Also in attendance were H. D. Weller, City Manager; Frederick M. Cunningham, City Attorney; Irma L.
Nelson, City Clerk; John D. Goss, Assistant City Manager; Donald F. Johnson, Planning Director;
Robert L. Venable, Assistant Planning Director; Bruce Aspinall, Associate Planner; and Bernard Carter,
Assistant Planner.
Receipt of the Notice and Agenda of said Special Meeting had been acknowledged and was on file
with the Clerk. The purpose of the session was to consider the planning work program.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
1. President La Croix stated the joint session was held at the request of the Planning Board to
discuss projections of planning in the City. He said he and the other members of the Council recognized
the time and effort put in by the members of the Board on good and hopefully reliable planning for the
future of the City and publicly commended them for their contribution. He called on Chairman MacNeill
to comment.
Chairman MacNeill said this meeting was the outcome of a joint session of the Council and the Board
held October 5, 1970, when the role of the Board was discussed. Subsequently the staff had been directed
to present to the Board their thoughts and considerations for medium and long range programs which were
necessary to the City. After considerable deliberation and long meetings on the subject, the Board had
arrived at certain programs which it felt were absolutely necessary for the good of the community. A
request had been sent to the Council under date of April 13, 1971, for another joint meeting for discus-
sion of the programs in detail and the concurrence of the Council as to priorities. He requested Mr.
Johnson to expand briefly on the programs.
Mr. Johnson explained that the letter of April 13 to the Council outlined the middle and long range
programs. He said the subjects were presented as a complete or semi - complete list of those types of
programs which the City should be undertaking. Necessarily the list confined itself largely to the
planning function although the function overlapped into the engineering and recreation fields with
specific programs. He said the list had been prepared at Board direction because there were some
choices to be made; the Board was desirous of knowing which categories the Council would desire first
and which programs should be pursued. He said the choice necessarily inferred that decisions would have
to be made within the programs and how much of the total program the Council envisioned for the immediate
future, with necessary budget implications. He said it should be emphasized that the present Planning
staff could perform the work with Board, Council and staff assistance, although the present staff was
small by comparative standards and if the Council elected to pursue all of the programs it would simply
take a longer period of time. That would be the Council's choice.
Mr. Johnson said the list of items had been compiled as a result of pressures from or requests from
different agencies and persons, and they were included to give the Council a broad range of choices as
to which should come first, which should be included and how rapidly results were desired.
Councilman McCall said his first conclusion from the outline was that the Planning Department was under-
staffed and would not be able to do the job. He inquired if it was requesting that the work be "farmed
out ".
Mr. Johnson stated the Planned Development amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, on which the Board had
just completed its consideration and which would now be referred to the City Council, had been under
study since November, 1970. He said this could not have been pursued any faster with more staff, that
the Department was not saying it needed additional staff but if the Council desired a number of the
programs rapidly, or within the next two years, this could not be done; also there were certain programs
which would undoubtedly have to be "farmed out ". If an updating of the traffic plan, for instance,
should be desired the Planning staff was not competent to do this and it would logically be something
which should be handled by an outside firm and be headed by the Engineering Department, hopefully with
strong Planning input as the latter personnel felt the present traffic plan was deficient in that it did
not recognize adjacent land uses and it did not have a strong aesthetic standpoint. He repeated that
the Department could do almost the entire program if given sufficient time.
The categories listed in the communication were considered in order, as follows:
I. Middle Range Programs - A. Planned Development Ordinance Revision.
Mr. Johnson said the Ordinance revision, hopefully, would be forthcoming for the agenda of the City
Council meeting of June 15.
Councilman McCall inquired if the proposed revision provided for public hearings. The reply was in the
affirmative.
B. Land Use Inventory and Mapping.
President La Croix noted that this work was fifty per cent complete and was being done by the present
staff.
C. Off- Street Parking.
On request, Mr. Goss, who had been working on this program, stated a series of meetings had been held
with a committee representing Park and Webster Street merchants and some minimal staff work had been
done in evaluating the possibility of additional off - street parking. He said a study of the matter was
more or less in process.
Councilman McCall pointed out that the Bank of America had gone out of its way to provide off - street
parking in its vicinity with a beautiful facility on the old firehouse site, and other bank branches in
the City had installed similar lots. He said he felt it was not the duty of the City to provide parking
for anyone, and suggested the business houses might wish to purchase the off - street parking lots from the
City, the bonds could be paid off and an off - street parking association could be formed within the district.
City Attorney Cunningham said the merchants were aware of this possibility but they were not enthusiastic
about the proposal.
Mr. Johnson said when Mr. Goss had finished with the "meet and confer" sessions the Planning staff would
be glad to resume its work with him on this subject.
It was agreed that the matter of off - street parking would not be one of No. 1 priority.
D. Circulation.
President La Croix said this was certainly something with which everyone was concerned, the future develop-
ment of Bay Farm Island, the possible need for an additional bridge from Bay Farm Island, the Del Monte
situation and the way traffic would flow into and out of that particular area.
Mr. Moser said he would place this item at the top of the priority list, pointing out that real problems
would develop in the West End with new apartment developments which the Board had already approved or
had inspected, as well as Bay Farm Island.
On request, City Manager Weller said he would agree that this category should have high priority but that
it should be a floating priority as there were some unanswered questions. He said there would be questions
with respect to the Del Monte and Utah developments, the Southern Crossing, the prospect of the Broadway
Bridge, the Fruitvale Bridge and a number of other factors and until these were answered he felt it would
be a waste of time, effort and money to try to develop a plan which might be outmoded by the answer of
any one of the questions which were still pending. He said he did not know how the item would be set in
the order of priority but he felt it should be the top priority item at the time it becomes reasonable to
attack the solution, and that time was not the present.
The opinion was expressed that the City should keep abreast of progress and all aspects of the problem
should be given study in order to be better prepared when the time comes for action.
President La Croix remarked that he was interested particularly in bicycling in view of the tremendous
number of students of the College of Alameda using this form of transportation. He said he would like to
see certain streets in the City almost immediately defined as bicycle routes with signs, et cetera, so
that automobile drivers would know that a particular street was one on which bicycles would be traveling.
He said he had discussed this with the Recreation and Planning Departments, and also the East Bay Regional
Park District about the possibility of a bicycle path along the fill area. He said he felt this was a
part of the circulation plan which could be given consideration at this time.
Mrs. Ratto suggested that thought be given to a temporary traffic plan, one that would not take property
or change streets, but perhaps would utilize the existing streets until such time as Utah and the larger
developments would need major through ways.
President La Croix said he felt this had been Mr. Weller's thought in using the term "floating" priority,
that the City should progressively move in the direction of solving its traffic problems, making what
changes it could to tie into the total given end. He said he felt the circulation plan with this in mind
was a continuing ongoing study.
There was brief discussion with regard to the 1961 Traffic Plan which it was said was now largely complete
or obsolete.
In reply to a question by President La Croix, Mr. Johnson said the Board could go quite far in finalizing
a circulation plan, that certain assumptions would have to be made, that the traffic problem was very
definitely related to land use, density and to types and modes of transportation, and possibly the Board
should be governed by the particular circumstances in approving developments. Possibly what was involved
was a traffic philosophy rather than a circulation plan.
President La Croix asked Mr. Johnson if he envisioned drastic changes in moving traffic from the confines
of the City excluding the possibility of the Southern Crossing. Mr. Johnson said there were fourteen or
sixteen lanes of traffic in and out of the City; that was the limit and there was no projection for any
future external lane capacity out of the island, without assuming the Southern Crossing freeway.
Councilman McCall said he understood there was a traffic circulation plan for each of the phases of the
DMJM Plan from a professional talent standpoint. Also the City had just requested Wilbur Smith & Associates
to do a traffic study on the Bay Farm Island project. He said if the present developers on Bay Farm Island
were given a free hand he did not feel other developers such as Del Monte should be denied similar consi-
deration. He pointed out that all of the potential developments were included in the General Plan and he
felt the City should live with the Plan and try to get the best out of it. He said if it should be
necessary to get the best traffic people in the country to come in and do an analysis he would prefer
this as the City lacked the professional talent to make such a survey. He said he felt it was time to
realize that the City had a problem along these lines, and suggested possibly it should seek a link with
the Grove - Shafter Freeway and forget about the Southern Crossing.
Councilman Longaker expressed the opinion that it was necessary to have some ongoing kind of plan,
possibly with alternatives set up.
Mr. Kihn said the Board had a traffic problem every time it received a Planned Development proposal for
its consideration. He said the point to be determined at this time was where priority should be given
to the circulation problem. This he felt had been settled, the problem of a final circulation study
could be deferred for the moment, keeping a constant eye on what was taking place while more important
things were taken care of.
Chairman MacNeill said when project manhours far exceeded the capabilities of the staff, 'ongoing" would
not become a reality unless a certain amount of project time was set aside, and in some form the circu-
lation plan should be upgraded. He said he was not suggesting a complete plan as he acknowledged Mr.
Weller's remarks that a final plan could not be resolved. He said he felt, however, that some idea
should be had of the present capabilities of some of the main arterial streets and what levels the City
was approaching at this time as to the number of cars per hour the streets could handle.
President La Croix pointed out there were traffic counters on the streets which provided a continual
updating of the traffic flow. He said, with regard to the Board's desire for a circulation plan to up-
date the Alameda Traffic Plan of 1961, the Council could only direct the Board, hoping that this would
be an ongoing project, updating the 1961 plan as necessary.
Councilman McCall raised the question of how the updating would be done, whether by staff or outside
professionals. He inquired if any grants were available to a federally - impacted city or any funds.
Mr. Johnson stated there were federal grants for very specific things and certain gas tax monies could
be used for traffic engineering.
Chairman MacNeill expressed the opinion that the discussion was premature and before the City would
enter the consultant field for this purpose it would investigate the possibilities of such funds.
On question by President La Croix, Mr. Johnson stated the General Plan on two of its levels assumed the
Southern Crossing freeway and definite assumptions on traffic capacities could be made. The lesser
plan, the so- called Trend Plan, did not assume the Crossing Freeway but a much lesser density. If the
City had reached a point where it would not assume the Southern Crossing, certain very definite assump-
tions should be made concerning future density and uses.
President La Croix summarized the discussion that funds available would be expended as far as possible
to make necessary studies and at such time as additional help was needed the matter would come again to
the Council.
E. Design Controls.
President La Croix expressed the opinion that this was not a top priority item but one of which all
should be cognizant and moving toward continuing changes, with aesthetic improvements to some of the
shopping areas with planting, et cetera.
Chairman MacNeill said he felt the Board was thinking of aspects much greater than the commercial
districts alone. He said he felt the residents were incensed with certain unattractive methods of
advertising used by commercial food dispensing establishments and objectionable stores in the City which
the Board had no way of controlling nor prohibiting under existing ordinances, and that some of the apart-
ment houses which had been built in the City were carbon copies of this condition. He said he felt the
City needed something which would allow it to dictate the type of materials and general approach
developers must use to fit into the general mode of the community.
Mr. Johnson, on question, stated the staff had the capability and had made extensive studies on this
subject, including the sign problem, and was prepared to proceed on restrictions.
On a question raised by Mr. Matheson, President La Croix suggested the City staff should consult with
the merchants' associations and Chamber of Commerce people and get the feeling of the community on its
desires as to the type of signs to be permitted and possible elimination of signs.
Councilman Longaker said he felt sure other communities had had similar experiences in this field and
he would like to hear of their experiences, that existing conditions had prevailed for too long.
Councilman McCall inquired of the City Attorney how restrictions of this kind could be made retroactive
to force removal of a sign and how much time a business would have to amortize the cost. Mr. Cunning-
ham said he felt there was not too much problem with signs projecting out over the sidewalk. However,
on larger installations the owner must have time to reasonably recover his investment, regardless of
aesthetics. In talking of implementation of the General Plan, he saw this as no problem, insofar as
time was concerned.
F. Historic Preservation.
President La Croix commented that there were groups in the City which were concerned with the preserva-
tion of historical structures and about a year ago he had appointed a committee to make a study of the
subject. He said he would like to form a permanent historical commission to function in this respect,
cooperating with the Planning and other concerned City departments.
5
Mr. Johnson said this was the type of thing which required strong citizen support, there were certain
techniques available to the City and there were certain ordinance provisions elsewhere with preserva-
tion zones which the Planning Department could go into if so directed. He said this could be part of
the Design Control legislation.
Councilman McCall raised questions as to who would pay for what, who would maintain properties, and what
protection the neighborhood would have that the structures would be maintained.
Mr. Cunningham said he wanted to reiterate that the City could not tell a property owner or a commission
that a certain property must be kept in a certain condition, without paying for it.
Councilman McCall raised the question of whether there could be a tax incentive if the property owner
was willing to preserve his property. Mr. Cunningham said he would have to look into the matter.
G. Civic Center.
President La Croix inquired as to the progress of the space study on which the Council had requested the
City Manager to report.
Mr. Weller said when the budget for the next fiscal year and the "meet and confer" recommendations had
been forwarded to the Council he hoped to be able to report on this subject, possibly in the next month.
President La Croix said the Council felt this was a top priority item and he assumed the Board felt the
same way. He said the Council hoped to get into the studies within the next two years.
Chairman MacNeill said the Board would like to have an active role in the development of the proposed new
civic center complex. It was stated the intent was for the Board and staff to be involved in the planning
of the project.
H. Mandatory Medium Range Programs.
It was stated requirements had recently been enacted by the State Legislature wherein public access was
required in coastline subdivisions and providing for use variance prohibition restricting cities from
issuing variances for uses not permitted in the underlying zone.
On request, Mr. Johnson said it was not felt that these items would involve time- consuming studies. He
explained that the use variance ordinance could be a simple amendment but it would involve a re- indoctrina-
tion of the public as to the basic purpose of the variance. The shoreline access matter, he said, could
be a difficult one for the City because of the extent of its shoreline. He said he did not know what form
it would have to take but the requirement was now mandatory for all subdivisions bordering on water and
compliance would be required by 1972.
Mr. Weller pointed out the Bay Conservation Development Commission purported to have jurisdiction over a
100 -foot strip around all land. He said there were several bills in the State Legislature which might
impose further restrictions or give further jurisdiction to BCDC.
It was stated the matter would have to be taken care of and the staff should proceed as expeditiously as
possible on it.
Councilman McCall requested that the City Attorney submit a legal opinion relative to the Act.
II. Long Range Planning Tasks - A. Waterfront Plan.
Chairman MacNeill said the Board would like to have in advance some pretty specific plans on the way the
City would like to see the industrial property on the Estuary developed, rather than to react to developers'
concepts.
There was discussion with regard to height limits on the shores, whether the shoreline should have inter-
spersed green areas, promenades, bicycle paths, et cetera, and the expense involved.
In connection with public access, Mr. Cunningham pointed out that developers in the shoreline- coastline
subdivisions preferred to provide for such access as this relieved them of maintenance and operation of
public access ways.
This item was considered No. 1 in Long Range Planning.
B. Housing Element.
President La Croix remarked that for years the City of Alameda had avoided assistance from both the Federal
and State Governments and just recently had allowed a certain amount with regard to recreation projects.
He said he felt the Council was of the thinking that when assistance was available the City should proceed.
Mr. Johnson explained that this element was mandatory in the General Plan under State legislation and the
jurisdictions had no choice but to comply, although they were not held accountable for housing elements
except when applying to State or Federal agencies for various types of programs or assistance. He said he
felt it was extremely important not only if the City were to qualify for certain funds but it appeared to
be increasingly a measure of a community insofar as the State was concerned. He said the State was now
more concerned with the social interactions among citizens and the social ramifications of housing than
physical plans.
Mr. Johnson said the Housing Element was rather involved and it would take considerable time but it was
something which must be tackled and initially the attempt would be made to accomplish it with staff. He
said the sooner it was completed the better the City's standing would be in many ways; this depended on
other programs also. He said he did not know what other City departments might envision in the way of
applications but this was the type of thing where one's house should be in order to be an applicant for
programs which the City might find desirable.
Chairman MacNeill said the Board would undoubtedly work with the staff in developing some objective
completion dates.
On request, Mr. Aspinall explained further that the Federal and State Governments had stated Housing
Elements were needed as a prerequisite for certain types of funding. Each had approached the problem
in different ways, the Federal Government providing outright grants with instructions for the cities to
prepare Housing Elements for review by the Government. The State Government, he said, was holding
public hearings throughout the State to provide input so that the staff of the Department of Housing and
Community Development could actually produce a fairly definitive set of guidelines. This Department,
he said, would cease to exist in another year so it was aiming to complete the guidelines by that time.
Presumably, by the time the City was ready to work on the Housing Element it would have the benefit of
the Federal and State programs as definitive guidelines and the time necessary to prepare the Element
would be somewhat less than that spent by the guideline cities.
C. Commercial Areas.
Mr. Johnson said the Board was concerned, following the demise of the Redevelopment project in the City,
that the opponents would come out with some kind of alternate and that there would be some sort of
program beginning and continuing to replace the project envisioned at that time. He said this category
was not placed at a high priority except that he felt it should be working along with the other programs,
with concern about the lack of revenue, sales tax revenue, et cetera. He said he felt this should be
an economics type of study and at the moment the Department was not prepared to provide the staff for it.
President La Croix suggested that the major business associations in the City should be most aware of the
necessity to upgrade the commercial areas as they would benefit the most from the improvement. He
expressed the thinking that the business district and the Chamber of Commerce would have to be a moving
force.
Chairman MacNeill expressed the hope that with the adoption of design control, sign ordinances, et cetera,
a certain impetus would be provided to the merchant associations and the Chamber to work with the Board
for a revitalization. It was stated that there seemed to be a lack of leadership from the business
community, and this might have to come from City Hall.
Mr. Weller said he felt the leaders would have to be realistic in their goals. He questioned statements
in the letter and pointed out the City was not a commercial center and probably would not ever be one,
nor an industrial center. With the City's problems of property values, access, et cetera, it certainly
would not attract industry nor a first line shopping center as the business was simply not available.
Mr. Weller said the City did not have the sales potential which was claimed by Daniel, Mann, Jophson, &
Mendenhall nor what many of the merchants thought the City had. He said he felt it was advisable to be
realistic about the City's potential and aim for that potential, but trying to demonstrate leadership
for an unrealistic goal was not going to be helpful at all and this essentially was what the City had
been confronted with. He said he felt the City of Alameda was a badly underfinanced community, and it
would always be that way, partly because of the lack of industrial potential, partly because the City
was not a commercial shopping center and partly because of the Naval Air Station and other reasons. He
said the fact would have to be faced that the City's income from all of the basic municipal tax resources
would always be low.
The thinking was expressed that it was vital that the Chamber of Commerce and business be enlisted in
leading the effort to improve the appearance of the community.
D. Additional Elements to the General Plan.
It was stated that the three categories under this heading - Conservation Element, Waste Disposal
Element and Open Space Element - were dictated by recent legislation and there was no choice but to
proceed to implement them with some haste.
Mr. Johnson said the Waste Disposal Element was not actually a Planning Department responsibility but it
was called for. Certain investigations were being made, he said, in solid waste disposal and some had
already been done in open space. He said the Conservation Element subject, hopefully, could be included
in other things which had been listed.
E. Zoning Ordinance Revision.
Chairman MacNeill stated this was probably the ultimate in the Board's desires - to get an updated and
effective zoning ordinance in the City. Many of the previously discussed subjects were necessary to
complete before coming to the point of revising the Ordinance.
Mr. Johnson said the Zoning Ordinance had been stretched, amended and modified to the point where it
was difficult to do anything further with it. He said the Department would very much like to rewrite it
but this was something that would also take a lot of work and would require two years' time. He said
the personnel had no illusions about it but would very much like to proceed with a land control document
patterned after that recommended in the General Plan instead of the traditional zoning ordinance.
In reply to questions, Mr. Johnson said he could envision a better community, more control, lesser
density in many areas, preservation areas, development sectors, et cetera, adding that he anticipated
much reaction from the citizenry to the change.
President La Croix expressed the opinion that the Council would concur in this thinking. He suggested
that the staff proceed and if it was found impossible to handle the volume consideration could be given
to additional personnel.
Councilman McCall inquired if it would be possible to get someone to supplement the staff under some
kind of grant. Mr. Weller stated the Planning staff was using such a person at the present time. He
explained the financial problems of the City at this budget time, adding that he could not recall an
instance where there had been a substantial, needed and recommended proposal coming before the City
Council which had not been met and he said he felt when, as and if the time should come that additional
staff was needed or consulting expertise was required it would come up through the normal course and the
need would be met.
President La Croix said the Council and the Board had gone through the entire letter - the Overview he
felt was understood. He said he felt the meeting had been a very productive session and he hoped the
others present felt the same way.
Councilman McCall said he felt the Council should be made aware of developments coming before the Board
so it would be fully informed of what was transpiring.
Chairman MacNeill expressed the thinking that the Board should submit to the Council a regular progress
report on these projects. President La Croix said this would be very much appreciated. He extended
compliments to the members of the Board for the amount of time and effort expended in the City's interest.
ADJOURNMENT:
2. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the City Council and the Planning Board,
meeting jointly, adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
City Clerk