Loading...
1966-04-26 Regular CC MinutesADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ALAMEDA HEQJ^IUESDAY EVENING APRIL 26, 1966 The meeting convened at 8:00 o'clock p.m. with President Godfrey presiding. ROLL CALL: Noted present were Councilmen Bartley, La Croix, Jr., McCall, Rose and President Godfrey, (5)° Absent: None. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: l.— President Godfrey opened the meeting, which was called for the purpose of discussing the possibility of relocating the Webb Avenue Fire Station. He requested that City Manager H. D. Weller review the various sites which had been under study by the City Staff. Mr. Weller presented, with the projection of charts, maps, drawings and tabulations, the points set forth in his memorandum of April 13, 1966, on this subject. Be quoted the criteria considered by the Staff in attempting to determine possible sites for location of a new Main Station and commented thereon, as follows: (1) Location - in conformity with the regulations imposed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, the location must be within one and one-half miles of street running distance from any point in the so-called principal mercantile district, in this case the Park Street commercial-industrial area; (2) Size - the desirable size would be between I8,800 and 30,000 square feet; (3) Access - adequate street width and circulation were imperative; (4) Availability of the property; (5) Cost - the value of land in public versus private ownership; (6) Existing improvements; (7) Ancillary advantages - esthetics, values to the abutting properties and the hope that, because the location must be in the Park Street area, an attractive, well-designed, permanent public building would encourage the owners of private property to develop their own parcels to the general advantage of the entire area. Mr. Weller displayed a map of the City indicating the areas of one and one-half mile street distance served by each Fire Station which, he felt, provided an adequate and exceptionally good primary cover- age to the high value area. Be said, in pointing out the portion served by the Webb Avenue Station presently, the two primary factors to be considered in this connection were (1) control of the Park Street business area and (2) accomplishing the maximum overlap between stations serving the area. He named several of the twelve sites which had been inspected, with comments as to the lack of suitability of each for this purpose. The City Manager then presented his proposal that consideration be given to the acquisition of Off- Street Parking Lot "C", between Central and Alameda Avenues and Oak and Park Streets. This lot satis- fied the desirable criterion, he said, that it was already in public owuership. It provided good access and if the Fire Station was properly designed the emergency vehicles could be discharged onto Central Avenue, east or west, and could return to the Alameda Avenue side through a driveway, which would mean that they could be parked facing on Central Avenue, end to end. This had substantial advantage in moving heavy and sizeable equipment. The first thought had been to acquire and utilize the entire lot, something in excess of 26,000 square feet. The two problems presented were that the building would then have to be a box-type and that about seventy-five parking spaces would be removed if this were done. Therefore, a secondary consideration was to acquire the property on the west side of the parking lot, fronting on Central Avenue. This would provide additional frontage on Central Avenue and thus more architectural flexibility, and would permit leaving approximately fifty per cent of the parking lot to continue operation, fronting on Alameda Avenue. It had been pointed out that if it were necessary to close off the south half of the lot, a pedestrian access way could be provided along the east side, from Alameda Avenue to Central Avenue. The plan was presented that the Capital Outlay Fund could in effect acquire property which was already legally owned by the City. The reasonable value of that land could then be utilized to pay off the Off-Street Parking Bonds. Mr. Weller felt in this way there was a possibility at least that the City could acquire a fire house and retire and remove the restrictions presently existing by reason of these bonda. He then outlined the procedure for retiring the bonds and for financing the proposed project. Under the bond prospectus, there were two dates each year on which the bonds could be called - June 1 and December 1. Assuming this was to be done on June 1, 1966, necessary notices would have to be pub- lished within the next day or two. President Godfrey thanked Mr. Weller for his presentation and invited comments from the audience. Mr. Wayne McAfee, owner of the property to the west of the parking lot which it was proposed to purchase in connection with this proposal, was the first speaker. He said he had acquired his property approxi- mately one year ago and had completely refurbished the building. It now housed five businesses. Be said he had not been approached regarding the sale of his property. He expressed the opinion that the location was very poor for a fire station because of the pedestrian traffic, principally school children, and claimed also that the parking lot was heavily used by lodges, businesses and theater patrons. He indicated he was strongly opposed to the proposal, and requested the Council to reconsider its decision. Mr. Weller, upon request, stated no owner had been contacted in view of the many properties which had been under consideration. He also refuted the misconception regarding the activity and hazard features in a fire station, and pointed out that in the area involved it was probably safe to say there would be some kind of traffic problem in any location which might be selected. Councilman Bartley called attention to the fact that Mr. McAfee had recommended the Council "reconsider its decision". It was pointed out that this was the first presentation of the results of the study by the Staff on this matter and no decision had been made on it as yet. Additional speakers in objection to the proposal were Messrs. Gordon Matson, President of the Park Street District Association; Jack Fledderman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Eagles Lodge; Robert Bourgeois, 3262 Madison Street, owner of the Alameda Beauty College; and Frank Gottstein, 731 Haight Avenue. Mr. Robert E. McPeak, 1150 Bay Street, a Park Street merchant, raised several questions concerning operation of and revenue from the Parking Lots, and the proposal as presented. These were answered by Mr. Weller. Mr. McPeak expressed his approval of the plan in view of the possibility it presented for off-street parking sponsored by merchants in the Park Street area. Mr. Adolph Adra8na, 3108 Windsor Drive, partner of Mr. McPeak, agreed the plan was a good one, although he sympathized with the merchants and urged that further consideration be given to their position. Mr. McAfee again pleaded with the Council not to make a hasty decision in this matter. Mr. Donald F. Johnson, Planning Director, responded to his remarks, saying he was the only person who had partici- pated on both the Staff committee for study of the Fire Station location and the Off-Street Parking Committee. He defended the choice of the lot in question as the best site available under the estab- lished criteria and emphasized its ancillary advantage of Providing the possibility of retiring the Parking Bonds. He said there was no other site, of those studied, in this category. Mr. Johnson cnnnneo4ed the lot under discussion to the Council from a planning standpoint, from the land acquisi- tion cost standpoint and for the supreme ancillary advantage of giving the Park Street merchants the opportunity of developing their ono parking program. Councilman McCall, upon invitation by the President, expressed strong disapproval of the location under discussion for a new Fire Station. Be felt it would be a public nuisance in the midst of an educational area. Councilman Rose stated he had felt for a long time that the solution to the Park Street problem was to get rid of the parking metera. Be had understood that after the cost of the agreed value of the land had been paid back from parking meter revenue, monies from the meters could be used to assist in an off-street parking venture with the merchants. He felt this offered great possibilities but it now appeared that the merchants themselves were not in complete agreement as to whether they wanted this plan. Councilman McCall argued that providing off-street parking was the responsibility of the business man, not that of the City, that this should involve a parking assessment district. He approved the creation of a "super-block" composed of the area between Santa Clara Avenue and Tilden Way and from Everett Street to Park Street. Be also suggested that the present parking lot of the City Hall, with adjoining properties on Lincoln Avenue to be acquired, be considered for a site for a new Station. It was stated the location had technical disadvantages such as the very heavy commute traffic on Lincoln Avenue. Also, it was too far out of the southern response area. The size of this parcel was estimated to be about eight thousand square feet. Councilman Bartley commented on the difficulties he had encountered as a realtor endeavoring to find satisfactory properties for development by his clients. Be stated he would approve the proposal sub- mitted this evening, predicated on the removal of the Off-street Parking Bonds and the economic impact of acquiring another site and taking private property off the tax rolls. However, he would favor the location of the fire house on Alameda Avenue. Councilman La Croix expressed concern for the position of the Eagles Lodge and for Mr. McAfee. Nevertheless, he felt the proposed site was the only one which could be considered to accomplish all of the desired results. Councilman McCall again urged that the City Hall parking lot, with acquisition of the adjoining par- cels, be put to use for this project. Mr. Weller repeated the previous statement that this was not a good fire station aite. Be said again that the decision on this matter should be based on what was best for the fire defenses of the City, the decision would have to be lived with for a long time, and any expedient to avoid the negotiated purchase or even condemnation of private property must be subverted to the requirements, for the safety of the general public, that the fire house be properly located. At any point on the City Hall property, the response area, the access route, the size of the prospective site, and the traffic pattern were inferior to three or four other sites which had been studied. Be could see no economic advantage but very substantial operating disadvantages to its conversion for this use. He personally recommended against the retirement of the Off-Street Parking Bonds by the City without an offsetting advantage to the general public. At this point, Chief Ernest Servente was asked to clarify several questions of operation from the Central Avenue lot, and the traffic situation in relation to the theater and the students of Alameda High School, foot traffic, etcetera. Councilman Rose commented it was his impression that some of those present felt this matter was being rushed through, without full and free discussion. He suggested that action should not be taken at this meeting and inquired if the Park Street merchants would be able, if this were held over for one meeting, to have a further discussion during the interim period. He inquired also what effect the delay of one meeting would have on meeting the June 1 Bond Redemption date. Mr. Weller replied that the first date for publication would have to be within the next day or t=o. The June 1 date could be made almost only on the basis of the Council's arriving at a decision this evening. If the mat- ter were laid over for a week, the earliest possible call date would be December 1. Mr. Matson requested that no decision be made in this matter this evening and asked that the merchants primarily concerned be permitted to meet with the City Manager for discussion. President Godfrey questioned that anything further could be learned by a delay in resolving this mat- ter. meeting could be held later in the week and the June 1 Bond Redemption date still be fulfilled. It was determined this would not be possible. It was decided, there being no objections, that the City Manager would be requested to bring up the matter on the agenda of the Council meeting of May 17, 1966. Mr. Matson stated the subject would be taken up at the next meeting of the Park Street District Association's Board of Directors. Councilman La Croix agreed to attend that meeting, at Mr. Matson's request. 2. */ The City Manager stated that action which would now become routine should be taken by the Coun- cil to authorize the City Clerk to sign the Call for Redemption of four Bonds out of the sinking fund as of June 1, 1966. Councilman Rose moved this authorization be given. The motion was seconded by Councilman McCall and on roll call carried by the following vote. Ayes: Five. Noes: None. Absent: None. ADJOURNMENT: 3. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the Council adjourned - to assemble in regular session on Tuesday evening, May 3, 1960, at 7:30 o'clock. Respectfully submitted, 't �� ���,m=�� Deputy City Clerk