24DATE:
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
April 12, 2001
MEETING DATE: 4/16/01
ITEM NO. 1
MAYOR AND TO COUNCIL
TOWN MANAGE
CONSIDER APPEAL OF THE DECISION OF THE PLANNING
COMMISSION TO APPROVE A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR A
MASTER PLAN OF HILLBROOK SCHOOL AND TO APPROVE AN
ARCHITECTURE AND SITE APPLICATION TO DEMOLISH AN EXISTING
CLASSROOM BUILDING AND TO CONSTRUCT A NEW CLASSROOM
BUILDING ADJACENT TO THE OLD BUILDING ON PROPERTY ZONED
HR -l. PROJECT APPLICATION PRJ -99 -062 (CONDITIONAL USE
PERMIT) PROJECT APPLICATION PRJ -99 -063 (ARCHITECTURE AND
SITE) PROPERTY LOCATION: 300 NIARCHMONT DRIVE PROPERTY
OWNER/APPLICANT: HILLBROOK SCHOOL APPELLANTS: MARTIN
D. DERMER AND MICHAEL W. TAYLOR
RECOMMENDATION
1. Hold the public hearing and receive public testimony.
2. Close the public hearing.
3. Uphold the Planning Commission's decision and approve Conditional Use Permit PRJ -99-
062 and Architecture and Site Application U -99 -063 and consider additional conditions
recommended by staff.
4. Refer to the Town Attorney for the preparation of the appropriate resolution..
If the Town Council determines that the Planning Commission's decision should be reversed or
modified:
(Continued on Page 2)
PREPARED BY : BUD N. LORTZ
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Reviewed by: Attorney Revised: 4/12/01 1:00 pm
J
Reformatted: 7/14/99
PAGE 2
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: CONSIDER APPEAL ON 300 MARCHMONT DRIVE
April 12, 2001
The Council needs to find one or more of the following:
(1) where there was error or abuse of discretion on the part of the Planning
Commission; or
(2) the new information that was submitted to the Council during the appeal
process that was not readily and reasonably available for submi$sion to the. -
Commission; or
(3) an issue or policy over which the Commission did not have discretion to
modify or address, but which is vested in the Council for modification or
decision.
If the predominant reason for modifying or reversing the decision of the Planning
Commission is new information as defined in Subsection (2) above, it is the Town's policy
that the application be returned to the Commission for review in light of the new information
unless the new information has a minimal effect on the application.
2. Refer to the Town Attorney for preparation of the appropriate resolution.
REMARKS
Town Council considered this matter on December 18, 2000 and continued the matter with the
following directions:
1. The Ann Arbor gate shall remain closed Analysis: The condition concerning the emergency
access road has been be amended to reflect this change (Condition #2 of Attachment 20).
2. Hillbrook School shall establish a quantifiable number of vehicles to identify a specific
number of trip reducti per day, or a percentage reduction shall be established if data can
be gathered to quantify this approach Analysis: Hillbrook School intends to establish a
carpool program that will include at least 50 percent of the enrolled families. At this time,
out of the 239 families registered at Hillbrook School, 148 families have signed up to
carpool. Based on the traffic counts that were taken by Hillbrook (including one spot check
that was performed by the Town), Hillbrook has approximately 150 vehicles that drop off
children between 7:30 0 8:30 AM.
Hillbrook School has stated that it has done the following to reduce traffic:
• Created a carpooling committee and created a permanent position of Carpooling
Coordinator on the Hillbrook School Parents Council. Hillbrook also created web
page www.hillbrook.org /announcements /carpool.
The website provides information which provides the distance between each family's
house and all other houses of Hillbrook families.
A mailing was sent to all Hillbrook families urging them to carpool with a list of
families within their immediate area.
PAGE 3
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: CONSIDER APPEAL ON 300 MARCHMONT DRIVE
April 12, 2001
Hillbrook School plans to implement the following plans:
• The Carpool Coordinator will reconvene the Committee each August to connect with
all new families to the school, generate mailings and continue phone contact with all
parents.
Each new family to Hillbrook will be accepted if they agree to carpool.
• Vanpooling by a private company is an option for the 2001 -2002 school year. -
Staff will spot check the number of car trips for the next three months Analysis: The
applicant worked with the Director of Parks and Public Works and hired Hexagon Traffic
Consultant to conduct the traffic counts at their expense. The counts were done between the
hours of 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM in January, March and April. Following are the traffic counts
by Hexagon:
ESTIMATED IN BOUND
IN OUT STAFF STUDENTS
January 2001 190 161 29 161
March 2001 178 145 33 145
April 2001 Not submitted yet
Town staff conducted a count on April 4, 2001 between the hours of 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM
(which was the same date and time Hexagon was conducting the April count) and counted
a total of 175 vehicles entering the site and 148 vehicles leaving the site. The neighbors
conducted a 24 hour video count on February 13, 2001 (counts are available in the file).
Between the hours of 7 :30 AM and 8:30 PM, they counted 183 vehicles entering the site and
145 trips leaving the site.
The Conditional Use Permit limits the enrollment for Hillbrook School to not exceed 315
students. There are currently 239 families which make up the enrollment of 315 students.
Based on the number of families registered at Hillbrook School and Hexagon's traffic counts,
Hexagon has estimated that 36 percent of the families carpooled in March. Using Hexagon's
analysis, approximately 29 percent of the families carpooled in January and approximately
35 percent carpooled in April.
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS
If Council determines that the Master Plan should be approved, staff recommends that Council
consider incorporating the following additional conditions of approval to Conditional Use Permit
PRJ -99 -062. These additional conditions should help reduce the traffic burden for the neighborhood.
The Police Department has found a vendor that sells speed boards that are a self contained
radar and speed display sign. The sign is designed to measure and display the speed of
vehicles and is permanently installed on streets where speeding has been identified as a
problem. These devices have been shown to be effective at deterring speeding (see
Attachment 21) . The boards can be mounted on electroliers and the electricity that is used
PAGE 4
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: CONSIDER APPEAL ON 300 MARCHMONT DRIVE
April 12, 2001
to power the street light may be used to power the "speedboard ". It is recommended that
Hillbrook School obtain two speed boards for Marchmont Drive to measure incoming and
outgoing traffic speeds. The boards cost approximately $4,200.00 each, plus $200.00 for
mounting brackets. The cost of the electrical connection is unknown at this time. Therefore,
the following condition is recommended and has been included as Condition #13 of
Attachment 20: RADAR SIGNS. At the applicant's expense, two radar signs shall be
obtained and installed on Marchmont Drive by July 31, 2001.
2. To ensure that the trip reduction is being met, it is recommended that traffic counts be
conducted twice a year. Hillbrook School has suggested that 50 percent of the families that
are enrolled in a specific year be used to establish the threshold for establishing a condition.
For example, if 300 families are enrolled, the threshold would be 150 trips. A letter from
Ms. Patricia Elliot (Attachment 36), a Marchmont resident, has stated that a vehicle limit of
150 trips would meet the neighbors concerns. This vehicle limit was met in March and April
and is therefore attainable. The following condition is recommended and has been added as
condition #11:
TRAFFIC COUNTS. At the applicant's expense, the Town shall conduct traffic counts at
the Marchmont Drive gate of Hillbrook School twice a year, during the months of March and
October. The maximum number of vehicles leaving the school during each of the hours of
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM and and 2:30 PM to 3:45 PM shall not exceed 150 vehicles.
Condition #3 concerning carpooling has been amended as follows:
CARPOOLING. The Town accepts the voluntary offer of Hillbrook School to maintain and
promote (at lemt- quarteriy) a carpooling program for their students. Hillbrook School shall
submit to the1own, avrittenxeport summarizing.the carpool participation. This report shall
be submitted. twice. &-,year forAhe months of February,: and September;.
4. Condition #5 regulates the maximum number of employees permitted on site after school
when there is an activity in the gym which draws an audience. Council may want to consider
the maximum number of employees permitted on site during school hours. At the writing
of this report, Hillbrook School was on spring break, and the number of employees could not
be verified. A message was left with the head of the school, Sarah Bayne, to obtain this
number for the hearing on this matter. This issue was also raised with the applicant's
attorney.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
This project is Categorically Exempt pursuant to Section 15314 of the State Environmental
Guidelines as adopted by the Town.
PAGE 5
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: CONSIDER APPEAL ON 300 MARCHMONT DRIVE
April 12, 2001
FISCAL IMPACT None
Attachments
1 - 19. Previously Submitted.
20. Revised Conditions of Approval for Conditional Use Permit.
21. Speedboard illustration and article.
22. Excerpt of Town Council minutes for the meeting of December 18, 2000.
23. Six petition letters with additional comments (Over 80 petition letters submitted (with no
additional comments) are available for review in the file).
24. Letter from Audrey Wright (one page) received March 15, 2001.
25. Letter from Diana Weissman (one page) received March 19, 2001.
26. Email from Douglas and Sally May (one page) received March 19, 2001.
27. Letter from Carolyn Warmington (one page) received March 23, 2001.
28. Letter from Kenis M. Dunne (one page) received March 27, 2001.
29. Letter from Mr. and Mrs. William Hobbs (two pages) received April 2, 2001.
30. Letter from David Hutchinson and Linda Shea (one page) received April 2, 2001.
3.1. Letter from John and Barbara Harriman (two pages) received April 2, 2001.
32. Email from Patricia Elliot (one page) received April 2, 2001.
33. Letter from Craig T. Cordova (one page) received April 4, 2001,
34. Letter from Sallie Calhoun and Matt Christiano (one page) received April 6, 2001,
35. Packet from Hillbrook School, received April 6 and 9, 2001.
36. Letter from Patricia Elliot (two pages) received April 9, 2001.
37. Letter from Jerauld J. Cutini (one page) received April 10, 2001.
38. Letter from Jean-Louis Delville (one page) received April 10, 2001.
39. Letter from Lucille Weidman (two pages) received April 10, 2001.
40. Letter from Martin Dermer (two pages) received April 11, 2001.
41. Letter from Rick and Lani Sutherland (one page) received April 11, 2001.
42. Letter from Dietrich and Lisa Rathjens (one page) received April 11, 2001.
Distribution
Sarah Bayne, Hillbrook School, 300 Marchmont Drive, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Warren Heid, 14360 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070
Elaine and Arthur Myers, 293 Marchmont Drive, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Martin D. Dermer, 255 Marchmont Drive, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Michael W. Taylor, 119 Ann Arbor Drive, Los Gatos, CA 95032
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