Attachment 5 April 22 PC Minutes1
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A P P E A R A N C E S:
Los Gatos Planning
Commissioners:
Community Development
Director:
Planning Manager:
Town Attorney:
Transcribed by:
Kendra Burch, Chair
Charles Erekson
Melanie Hanssen
D. Michael Kane
Tom O'Donnell
Joanne Talesfore
Laurel Prevetti
Joel Paulson
Robert Schultz
Vicki L. Blandin
(510) 337 -1558
ATTACHMENT 5
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/22/2015
Item #2, Capital Improvement Program
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P R O C E E D I N G S:
VICE CHAIR BADAME: We'll be moving on to new
other business, which is Item 2, consideration of the
proposed five -year Capital Improvement Program for fiscal
years July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020.
Have the Commissioners had an opportunity to
review the program for consistency with the General Plan
and Hillside Specific Plan? I see a nod of heads. Are there
any disclosures by Commissioners for this item? None.
Mr. Morley, I understand you'll be giving the
staff report this evening?
MATT MORLEY: I will. Thank you very much. Good
evening.
As was mentioned, California government code
requires that a town that has an adopted General Plan hear
the Capital Improvement Program for the fiscal year and
make a finding and report to Town Council on the conformity
of the program with the adopted General Plan.
With that, I'm going to highlight a few of the
projects in our Capital Improvement Program over the coming
year, and they to connect those for you to the General
Plan, and certainly am available for questions at the end.
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1 1 Specific to the Environment and Sustainability
2 JElement in the General Plan, we have a couple projects
3 there that connect nicely.
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We are proposing an LED streetlight program that
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would convert our town's current streetlights to an LED
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implementation. There is significant energy savings from
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that to the tune of about $50,000 in operating costs on an
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annual basis that would a savings to the general fund. It's
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to a very short payback period of about four years when you
11 compare that across the costs of the project. Currently the
12 design standards for new developments include the use of
13 LED streetlights, so it's nothing new for the Town. It's
14 certainly been experienced in other locations. Note that we
15 are not adding streetlights to the mix, simply replacing
16 the existing streetlights. If you're looking for that
17 project, it's on page C -74 of the Capital Improvement
18 Program.
19 We also are looking at additional energy
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efficiency projects; page E -24 if you want to follow along.
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This will create ongoing savings to the general fund. These
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range in size and scope from simple projects, equipment
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replacements that are needed over time to keep up with
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zs technology and make sense from an economical standpoint.
We'll take these projects on as they come forward, but some
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examples might include lighting replacements, motion
sensors, or similar improvements.
Specific to the Open Space, Parks, and Recreation
Element of the General Plan, we'll continue last year's
efforts to dedicate dollars to park infrastructure with the
idea of renewing our aging infrastructure.
We're adding a park this year at Worcester, on
page D -18. Worcester Park is largely open space, there's
not a whole lot of improvements there, but there's a trail
that runs through the park that we've heard needs some
improvements, and on inspection concur, so we'll do some
improvements there to make that more accessible to the
residents.
In addition, we are partnering with Los Gatos
Little League to replace the backstop of Blossom Hill Park.
It's an outdated backstop that doesn't meet the current
needs of Little League or the Town, so we're cost sharing
on that particular project on a 50/50 basis to make that
improvement.
And of course the drought will play a significant
role in the parks projects in the coming year, and we'll be
bringing a drought item to the full Council on May 5th for
discussion at that point, and that will guide some of our
direction.
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1 Specific to the Transportation Element of the
2 General Plan, we have several projects outlined. Some of
3 the highlights include Almond Grove, which is on page C -8,
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a project long in the works. We are at the final stages of
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design, now working through last bits of that, and we'll be
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coming back to Council for award prior to the end of the
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fiscal year. That would start construction on our current
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9 schedule over the summer on the first phase, Phase 1 -A as
10 we're calling it, and provide for construction by the end
11 of summer, before winter, in that particular neighborhood.
12 We also have a series of sidewalk improvements
13 and sidewalk infill projects. These projects will serve to
14 meet the needs in some of the areas where we're missing
15 sidewalks or have less than ideal conditions for
16 pedestrians and other multi -modal transportation methods,
17 such as bicycles. These include crosswalk installations and
18 the like. We of course focus on our priority around the
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most exposed areas, generally school areas, and try to
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maximize the infill in those locations.
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And finally, in this particular element we are
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doing a project at Winchester and Lark that will be paid
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24 through traffic mitigation fees for the improvements to
25 that intersection and the addition of a receiving lane on
Winchester that will tie in with Albright development, the
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widening of the road that Albright will be conducting, and
transition into the wider pedestrian crossing that will be
installed across Highway 85 on Winchester.
And finally, in the Community Design Element we
have begun a project this year for undergrounding of some
of our PG &E or utility services; larger than PG &E includes
all of the utilities on the poles. We've identified a
location on Los Gatos Boulevard from Lark to (inaudible) as
our initial phase of that. PG &E collects on a regular basis
what are called Rule 20A funds. These funds are targeted
for use in local jurisdictions for undergrounding of
utilities. The project is led by PG &E, but with significant
partnerships from the local jurisdiction. We are allowed to
accumulate those dollars over time, and it certainly takes
a fair amount of those dollars to implement a project.
We're at a point now where we can begin that work. The
projects tend to take quite a long time to develop, so
we're looking at probably a seven -year cycle on this from
the get -go, which is about now, as we work through the
processes associated with that. Our next step is to meet
with the associated utilities, and we'll be doing that in
the next couple of weeks to identify any significant
hurdles on that particular stretch that we've identified
for undergrounding, and move forward. One key point on the
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I Rule 20A funds is they have to be used in an area that is
2 beneficial to the entire jurisdiction, so really precludes
3 a smaller residential neighborhood and focuses on an
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arterial type of a use.
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With that, that concludes my report, and
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certainly I'm available for questions.
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VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Mr. Morley.
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Commissioner O'Donnell.
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10 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I have two questions.
11 One relates to the water. You have the capital
12 items before us tonight, but then you also said that you're
13 going to bring something to the Council, I think it's
14 shortly, to deal as far as we can with the drought. So I
15 guess I'm kind of curious. I assume that those suggestions
16 will cost money? So where will that money come from, just
17 out of general funds?
18 MATT MORLEY: Yes. If there are capital
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improvements that the Council desires associated with
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drought mitigation, those would be what we call "general
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fund allocated reserve," which is our capital fund for
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projects. We do have several parks projects now that
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24 include capital dollars that could be allocated for that
25 kind of work. In fact, we have an Oak Meadow allocation
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that is specifically for irrigation modifications at that
particular park.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And then the other
question, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves, but we,
as you may know, have a Desk Item tonight. We can come back
to you after I hear some representations, but just to kind
of catch up on this. One of the comments in the Desk Item
was that your item, as attached, is the same as it's been
for the last couple of years, notwithstanding the recent
storm of interest, and I was wondering what does that
indicate if you have not changed the capital items over the
last several years, notwithstanding what apparently looks
like a serious question of asphalt versus concrete?
MATT MORLEY: We've had the discussion on
materials on that particular project with the Town Council
and have direction from Town Council on where they'd like
to see the project go. We're continuing to move forward in
that direction. We'll review it again prior to award of a
contract and be able to review the discussion again at that
level for discussion. We have done significant outreach,
including meeting with members of the neighborhoods,
polling to see what was a preference in those
neighborhoods, and cost analysis, all in an effort to
provide the best information possible for decision makers.
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I COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Does that particular
2 page then not assume a decision on concrete versus asphalt?
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MATT MORLEY: The Council has given us direction
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to pursue concrete at this point and have not given us any
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direction for the pursuit of asphalt. Of course the Council
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is always welcome to change their mind and give us
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different direction, but at this point we're pursuing a
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concrete option.
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10 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay, that's what I
11 wanted to know. Thank you.
12 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Commissioner
13 Talesfore.
14 COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Before we move to
15 another subject and before the speaker comes up, I was
16 curious as to why Massol was not included in the streets
17 that I consider Almond Grove. In fact, Massol to me is
18 almost the gateway street into the Almond Grove area, and
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the beginning of that street, from Highway 9 to the stop
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sign at Bachman, is very heavily traveled by trucks, by
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cars, by everybody in any kind of a vehicle, and it's
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cracking. I mean it's deteriorating I guess is a better
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24 word. Plus it also has, I don't know what you call them,
zs those little triangles that are yellow so that the cars
don't go over them, which cars do all the time, and they're
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deteriorating as well. That's a long way for me to explain
why wasn't that part of Massol, or all of Massol, I know
some of it's okay, included in this street program for the
Almond Grove.
MATT MORLEY: The larger Almond Grove project
includes all of the concrete streets in the neighborhood,
so those will all be replaced ultimately, although
currently there is a very limited funding, so we have just
shy of $4 million that will not at this point fund the
entire neighborhood reconstruction.
COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: However, that street is
just so heavily... I mean I can't imagine that you would not
reconsider. Or may I suggest that you reconsider that part
of the street specifically from Highway 9 at least to the
stop sign at Bachman? There is so much construction
happening between that area and way past Glen Ridge, so I
would just like to have that reconsidered.
MATT MORLEY: Understood. We'll bring those
comments forward.
COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Commissioner Kane.
COMMISSIONER KANE: Thank you for your report,
and thanks to you and your staff for this remarkable
document that kept me up half the night.
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I I didn't see a total number in here. Is it
2 correct that it's around $25 million for the three
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p $21 million for streets, $1 million for parks,
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and $2.8 million for...
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MATT MORLEY: Yeah, that's roughly correct.
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COMMISSIONER KANE: It may not be our mission,
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but I think it's interesting to know. $25 million dollars,
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where does that come from?
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to MATT MORLEY: Our funds come from several
11 locations. The large preponderance comes from our general
12 fund savings from previous years. As the Town stays within
13 budget those dollars are allocated to two priorities per
14 the Council. One is for capital projects. The other is to
15 increase any reserves that we may need to bring it back up
16 to the approved level. Our reserves are currently fully
17 funded, so the excess goes to our capital projects.
18 The other funding sources include impact fees
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from various sources, including traffic mitigation fees,
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and grants or other solutions such as them.
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COMMISSIONER KANE: I didn't mean so much assets
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on the books as I did revenue income, and I was thinking
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24 what, that's mostly real estate and sales tax, and I think
25 Commissioner Talesfore said parking tickets, is that
accurate?
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MATT MORLEY: I probably wouldn't group parking
tickets into that, but yes, that is correct.
COMMISSIONER KANE: But the first two are where
the money comes from?
MATT MORLEY: Yes, they are.
COMMISSIONER KANE: Now, on the Little League
program we found a partner, and so we've budgeted $50,000
and they've offered $25,000. If it's a $50,000 project,
which would be a heck of backstop, they put in $25,000 and
we put in $25,000. Do we seek other such partnerships when
there is clear mutual benefit?
MATT MORLEY: we do pursue partnerships, and that
was a main reason that the Little League backstop was
brought forward, because they were so willing to partner
with us to make that a reality.
COMMISSIONER KANE: I was thinking specifically
of the old library. It's an enormous facility, and that has
been gifted to the Museums and to whom else?
MATT MORLEY: To the Friends of the Library.
COMMISSIONER KANE: Friends of the library. So
giving them that asset, that property, is one thing, but in
this budget there are a number of allocations for
substantial repairs and maintenance. Do we get any
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I assistance from either of those other two entities to help
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MATT MORLEY: The direction of the Council is
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significantly invested in the success of those individual
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organizations and has made a significant contribution to
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them to be able to house them here at the civic center. You
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could argue that a significant amount of those improvements
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would be needed regardless of the use, so even if it were
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10 Town Staff you would have some use there. And those
11 organizations are doing some of the tenant improvements
12 themselves, so it's not fully funded by the Town; they are
13 participating to some extent. They will also pay their
14 share of operating costs, for instance, utility costs
15 associated with their spaces. But indeed, the Town is
16 making a significant investment in those spaces to make
17 them vibrant and successful for those organizations.
18 COMMISSIONER KANE: Thank you very much.
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VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hanssen, you had
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your hand up?
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Yeah, I had a few
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questions. And thank you also for the document; it was very
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thorough and there was a lot of information here.
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zs I was trying to put this together in my mind,
like having worked on the General Plan and kind of bridge
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the gap of how things get from the General Plan to this.
That was one question I wanted to ask.
And I realize this is probably because I'm new to
the Planning Commission, but I was just curious what the
process is of taking the goals and policies in the General
Plan to get to here? That was one question. I have other
questions too.
MATT MORLEY: We review the General Plan as we're
creating our Capital Improvement Program on an ongoing
basis and look for opportunities to address projects that
are identified in the General Plan through the Capital
Improvement Program. So we do have several projects
highlighted now, and we'll continue to look for
opportunities to weave those into our Capital Improvement
Program.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I'm not asking you to do
it, but if you had to, say, put a little chart next to
every one of these and say what goal or policy it is tied
to in the General Plan, you could do that?
MATT MORLEY: Yes. Not every capital project is
going to tie directly. For instance, we have a capital
project to do aerial photography that would provide digital
aerial photographs of the Town at a super high resolution
that we use for development, and it doesn't really directly
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1 Itie to a General Plan item, but certainly facilitates a
2 wide variety of them.
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Well, it could. I mean we
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have things about the Town image and our presentation and
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things and that.
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MATT MORLEY: Yeah, correct.
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: But okay. I was just
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looking for that kind of reassurance, because that's what
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to we're being asked to do, to say that this complies with the
11 General Plan, and so then I kind of wondered. I was like
12 Jweil, and I'm not asking you to do it. I mean I was trying
13 to in my mind go what part of the General Plan? So that's
14 one question.
15 The second question was about the different parts
16 of this thing. At what point, if any, do, say, the
17 transportation parts of this, and the trails and parks
18 arts of this, go to the commissions. Is that later, or has
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it already happened?
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MATT MORLEY: That is an ongoing process, so at
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the regular meetings of all of the commissions that Parks
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and Public Works staff, we bring our capital project
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24 update, how we are progressing on our capital projects, and
zs provide them an update at those meetings, whether they be
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the monthly or bi- monthly meetings of that particular
commission.
In addition, as we reach the end of the calendar
year we agendize an item for identifying the next fiscal
year's worth of capital projects so that they have an
opportunity not only to hear an update of Vhere we're at on
our current projects, but an opportunity to provide input
into not only what Staff is thinking, but what they're
thinking in terms of what additional capital projects might
be.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay, so it's not a
specific like once a year thing? when this is presented
it's an ongoing thing where you're going over those with
the commissions?
MATT MORLEY: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So this document should in
fact reflect the priorities of the commissions that are
involved with this?
MATT MORLEY: Absolutely. We actively seek their
input.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: On that point,.I was
really glad, for example, to see, since I (inaudible)
putting some sidewalks in on Shannon, because that was one
of their hot spots that entailed a capital improvement
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1 versus something from the Police Department. And then it
2 made me wonder about other partnering opportunities, just
3 for example on the hillside
P proposal that was made at
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Council last night, and it was also in here, to make some
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improvements on Shannon Road. I know from my past
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experience that Shannon Road is one of those roads that's
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partly owned by the Town and partly owned... And maybe it's
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9 not appropriate for this document, but I wondered like if
to we're going to go make Shannon Road all nice up to Suview,
11 is there a way to talk to Santa Clara County, and maybe it
12 lisn't in here, but hopefully convince to do something
13 (parallel, because at the end of the day it's all in Los
14 JGatos, even if we don't own it.
15 I MATT MORLEY: I agree with you on that. I can't
16 Isay for sure whether we've actually reached out to the
17 County this year. We do work with them on a routine basis,
18 and in fact have done partner projects, for instance, with
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the City of San Jose on Blossom Hill where that road is
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half owned by the Town and half owned by the City of San
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Jose, and we partner with them to do the improvements at
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once. The County has a large number of rural roads and
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tends to be not as flexible as others in how they can spend
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zs their money. But we do look for those opportunities as we
can.
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The other area that is significant is in our
partnership with our utility companies, and we reach out to
them. San Jose Water is a great example where we coordinate
our capital projects so that we're not repaving a road and
having them come through and digging it up the next week.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: That project on Shannon
was partly funded by OBAG. Can you identify what part of
OBAG that's coming from? Is that the noncompetitive part of
the funding that we always get, or did we apply for a
grant?
MATT MORLEY: That is the noncompetitive element
that we're receiving there.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So how did we decide that
it needed to go there? I'm "just curious.
MATT MORLEY: The dollars are used for street
resurfacing. That particular stretch of road was applicable
to the requirements of the grant, and so we selected that
as the opportunity. It also fit nicely from a timing
perspective in a broad effect, because Shannon gets so much
use.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Great, okay. And I
wondered, getting back to the whole school discussion and
when we were talking about the green bike lanes and
everything, one intersection that I didn't see listed on
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1 funded or unfunded that I think has a lot of opportunity
2 for improvements towards more complete streets, bike and
3 pedestrian friendly, y, would be the intersection of Blossom
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Hill and Los Gatos Boulevard, because it's situated right
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by our newest mixed use development as well as three
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schools, and so I wondered why that wasn't on the radar
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screen?
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9 MATT MORLEY: From a vehicular traffic
to perspective that intersection functions well according to
11 Town standards. From a multi -modal perspective, we looked
12 long and hard at that intersection where we were doing the
13 green bike land pilot. Certainly it would have been an
14 ideal intersection, however, with the funds that we had, we
is had $100,000 allocated for green bike lanes, the
16 reconstruction necessary to make bike lanes fit at that
17 intersection would have eaten up the entire pot of money
18 and then some. We would have had to move islands and move
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some signal poles to make that happen at that particular
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location. Certainly it's on the radar, and a big connection
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point from my perspective of Blossom Hill to Blossom Hill
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School, and a big intersection that could use some help.
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24 COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Well, I just was
zs wondering, because I noticed there was a project to put an
additional sidewalk over at Santa Cruz and Blossom Hill,
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and I understand there was no sidewalk at all on the north
side, I think, so then it made me think of the Blossom
Hill /Los Gatos Boulevard thing, and I would feel better if
I saw it on there unfunded, just that it was on the radar
screen for when we get enough money.
MATT MORLEY: Thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: One of things we do, I
guess, in reviewing this and making a motion about it is
determine that it satisfies the General Plan. That's kind
of an amorphous thing, but on the streets program at C -8,
et cetera, the Town has made a decision that the scope of
streets that we would have to address exceeds the amount of
money available, and in particular when we come to the
items discussed in C -9. That's inherent in a decision that
we should spend X dollars on concrete versus what I think
might be X plus Y dollars on asphalt, but I don't know. One
of the comments that I think we're going to hear tonight is
that it isn't simply a matter of asphalting, because if
you're asphalting on top of cracked concrete, maybe it
isn't so easy to do. But I'm just wondering, in coming up
with this budget and determining that the limited amount of
money that we have would be better spent on a more limited
number of streets, I assume that's economically based? In
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1 lother words, inherent in that is that asphalt would somehow
2 not be cheaper than concrete, because of the conditions of
3 those streets, is that correct?
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MATT MORLEY: We've provided a pretty detailed
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report to the Council on the engineer estimate costs of
both asphalt and concrete. The asphalt solution is somewhat
cheaper than the concrete solution. But we can do an
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9 overlay on the concrete with asphalt; there is a solution
to that works for that. We brought those discussions forward
11 to Council and have received some clear direction on which
12 direction to move at this particular point.
13 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Can you give me an
14 approximation? I'm trying to get a feel for that, because
15 whatever the Council decided, we're supposed to decide
16 whether this I assume maximizes the General Plan's goals.
17 So if it's a marginal difference between concrete and
18 asphalt, it probably doesn't make a difference. If, on the
19
other hand, let's say 20% more of the roads could be
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improved with asphalt, then it probably does make a
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difference. Can you give any sense of the difference
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between asphalt and concrete insofar as the amount of the
roads we could take care of?
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MATT MORLEY: We've gone round and round with the
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numbers, and a large amount of it depends on what the cost
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of oil is at that particular time. Oil is cheap now so that
the cost savings would be increased quite a bit at this
point. We would expect at this point maybe in the 15% range
for savings on asphalt over concrete, however, we haven't
priced either of those out in a competitive market, and
that would be the ultimate determining factor. In order to
move from where we're at today in asphalt design, it would
require some additional expenses with our design consultant
to reach that point, and we're not funded for that
particular effort at this point.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So this particular
capital item essentially does not take into consideration
the cost of savings so that more of the streets could be
covered?
MATT MORLEY: An additional element is the
historic nature of the Almost Grove district. The
resolutions that establish the Historic District require
the roads have the appearance of concrete at the particular
date that the Historic District was established, so there
is some limitation in terms of not only the material, but
also the aesthetic element of the Historic District.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you, Mr. Morley. I'm
going to open the public portion of the public hearing
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1 because I believe we have one speaker, and it's involving
2 the Almond Grove project that we've been spending a lot of
3 time on. We will call you back up later, Mr. Morley. I'm
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now calling Angelia Doerner. You'll have three minutes.
s
ANGELIA DOERNER: Hello, I'm Angelia Doerner, a
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very proud resident of the Almond Grove, and I only have a
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few comments this evening in addition to what I had given
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you before. I do look forward at the end, if Mr. O'Donnell
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to and Ms. Talesfore would love to ask me questions, I can
11 provide a little bit more detail than what is allowed in my
12 three minutes.
13 But you're absolutely right. If you haven't
14 visited the Almond Grove recently, next weekend is the
is Cat's Hill Classic. Please come on down to the Almond
16 Grove. It's a great family event. It's a wonderful cyclist
17 race. People come from all over the world for this thing,
18 and it's all throughout the Almond Grove: up Cat's Hill and
19
around Bachman Park, et cetera. It will give you an
20
opportunity to walk on these streets, walk on these
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sidewalks again. It may be a little bit of time since
22
you've done that and that might give you more perspective
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24 and feel for what we, the neighbors, are dealing with with
zs this project.
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You're absolutely right in that only three
streets —which doesn't show up very good here —but only three
streets are targeted to be used with this $4 million
dollars, which is Broadway, which is not in the Almond
Grove, and also Bachman and Tate. The rest of these streets
will not be done. The pictures that I'm showing you here
are from Bean, Nicholson, and Wilder. They are in much
worse condition than even Massol. These streets are not
going to be funded at all, nothing improved, for a minimum
of five years, as it shows in front of you, and some people
are saying it won't be funded for another ten.
So the neighborhood from the get -go, when they
heard $4 million was being spent, was looking for
opportunities to how effectively can we use this $4 million
to get more done of what's mostly necessary to be done? And
unfortunately we just keep getting these three streets, and
I think I have an idea as to why that is happening. They
are narrowing our streets, which is requiring an awful lot
of additional work.
This is a slide from a PPW presentation to the
Town Council. They're showing why trees in narrow strips
are ripping up our sidewalks and streets. These three
pictures, ironically the two on your left are the same
tree. It's at the top of Broadway; they're just taken from
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I different perspectives. That is the only broken curb and
2 sidewalk on all of Broadway. It's at the top of Main. The
3 other is on Wilder, and Wilder is not being fixed.
4
But what is being done is they're narrowing our
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streets. What does that require? It requires taking out all
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the curbs, whether they need to be done or not. They're
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also taking out all of the sidewalks, whether they need to
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9 be done or not. They only thing that I can come up with is
10 that they're trying to maximize getting rid of impervious
11 materials from a sustainability standpoint. And there goes
12 my time.
13 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Your time is up. Thank you.
14 ANGELIA DOERNER: All right.
15 I VICE CHAIR BADAME: Do any of the Commissioners
16 have any questions of Ms. Doerner?
17 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I do.
18 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
19
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I'm sure others will ask
20
other questions, but let me just start by saying I looked
21
briefly at your multipage report this evening, and it
22
wasn't clear to me where you came out on concrete versus
23
24 asphalt, because it was like on the one hand there's this,
zs and on the other hand there's that. Do you have an opinion
on what the Town should be doing?
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ANGELIA DOERNER: I absolutely do have an
opinion. There were actually three alternatives, if you
want to look at this. Go down to the dirt and redo it in
concrete. Go down to the dirt and redo it in asphalt. And
then do what is called overlay, which is to put asphalt on
top of concrete. However, the biggest issue with that
alternative is that if a slab is shattered, then the
asphalt will not work on that shattered slab. So you have
to take out the shattered slab, replace the slab with
concrete, and then cover it over with asphalt. The only two
options that were presented, or recommended, by PPW to the
Town Council was go down to the dirt and with concrete, or
do the overlay. They didn't say go down to the dirt and do
concrete or go down to the dirt and do asphalt. These would
be apples to apples; you would truly have a cost
comparison. And there are no differences in the
specifications required between these two alternatives.
In order to get that alternative, the overlay,
you do need to have someone figure out how many of the
slabs have to be replaced and taken out and repoured and
then covered up, and what other work has to be done so that
you don't end up with a composite street, which is what
Pennsylvania, part of Glen Ridge, Royce, all of those were
done that way. They have asphalt poured over the top of old
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/22/2015
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I concrete. Didn't last, didn't work, and they ended up
2 having to be totally ripped up anyway and asphalted.
3
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So your point is not
4
that you favor one over the other, you're point is there's
s
not enough information to be able to compare one versus the
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other?
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ANGELIA DOERNER: At this point, there is not
8
9 enough information that has been provided to Council or by
10 PPW. I personally have done a lot of research and have
11 tried to share that with a lot of different people in the
12 Town, and my personal preference is to see how far our
13 money can go, because going another five years with what we
14 have is really unacceptable, even though the cement is a
15 light color that everybody likes.
16 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: But your personal
17 preference doesn't involve the information you say you
18 need, that is to say how much of the concrete can actually
19
be over - poured asphalt until you do further studies?
20
ANGELIA DOERNER: I'm sorry?
21
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You're saying you can't
22
put asphalt on some of the concrete because it's shattered,
23
24 right? But somebody would have to analyze that and find out
25 what percentage of the concrete would have to be removed to
put in asphalt, right?
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ANGELIA DOERNER: Mmm-hmm.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And you don't know the
answer to that?
ANGELIA DOERNER: I would not spend any time even
considering that option, because it's just not an effective
option. If you're going to just go, just go down to the
dirt and put down asphalt. Get rid of the concrete. Get rid
of all of it.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So then the only
difference is the cost per yard of concrete versus the cost
per yard of asphalt, but not the preparation work?
ANGELIA DOERNER: The preparation work would not
be any different. In addition, you would also have the cost
of time. The curing time with the concrete, the time
compared to asphalt, you're talking probably three to four
days with the asphalt being poured compared to seven to two
weeks for concrete, and you're talking that that's the
amount of time that people won't have access to their
driveways. There are a lot of incendiary consequences to
that as well.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, is it fair to say
if the costs were identical, you would be in favor of
asphalt?
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I ANGELIA DOERNER: If the costs were identical,
2 personally, I would do asphalt, because I think it's easier
3 to maintain in the long run. Concrete will crack sooner or
4
later, and as soon as it is compromised in any way as far
5
as cutting in a square to do any repairs or anything else,
6
it will be compromised and it will crack.
7
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay. Thank you very
s
much.
9
10 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Any other questions? I have a
11 question. I'm looking at your Exhibit 2, and there's a
12 statement in there that's pretty strong, and it talks about
13 that, "Public Works is trying to balance competing goals,
14 and unfortunately they are using and abusing the Almond
15 Grove project to encompass other hidden agendas." So when
16 you talk about hidden agendas, can you elaborate on that?
17 ANGELIA DOERNER: I sure can. Thank you so much.
is This was my last slide that I just put together this
19
afternoon, and this is what I refer to.
20
Narrowing the streets. For your information, Tate
21
is going to be narrowed 4'. That is the width of a normal
22
bicycle lane. Why would we be narrowing our streets so
23
24 significantly? And this question has been asked ever since
zs (October of 2013 when they came up with this idea, and they
say to save the trees. Well, we're going to increase the
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planter strips. So initially they said we're going to
increase the planter strips 61. Everybody went bonkers on
that, okay? Now they came back and said we're going to
increase the planter strips up to 4' unless that makes the
road less than 36' wide, then we'll do less. So it still
makes no sense. What strips are 41? Look at all of the
trees in Santa Cruz, et cetera. It's just that wrong trees
have been put into these strips in some areas.
The competing goals that I'm referring to I
believe all come down to sustainability. Narrowing the
streets 4' on Tate, 1' on each side of Broadway, 6" on each
side of Bachman. Come on. What are we doing this for? Six
inches. Just by doing that and having that additional space
in the strips gets rid of that much impervious material,
which used to be concrete, or if it was asphalt, used to be
asphalt. You get that out of the way. That's not
historical, because our streets are no longer wide. That's
not bicycle safety or pedestrian safety, which is what we
have now. Bicyclists will doored like crazy.
The dollars to redo the curbs and the sidewalks
and everything that doesn't need to be done. Just the cost
of those curbs, I've measured them, and I'm using the
prices that came from bids that were received on April 10th
for some of the same work, that in itself will be $650,000,
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1 because we're going to rip out all the curbs in order to
2 narrow those streets. I call that competing goals.
3 Removing all the hardsca a kind of
P Y
an pavers or
4
anything at all that someone has put into that strip, even
s
if it's just a 2' thing to walk from the sidewalk up to
6
their front gate, that's being ripped out as well. All
7
a hardscape is gone. That would be livable if you could at
9 least have a little path to your front gate where you
to weren't walking on mulch and on dirt.
11 They're going to be removing a ton of established
12 trees and planting noninvasive trees, which is wonderful,
13 but all brand new trees. Just between Bachman and Broadway
14 there are going to be over 60 brand new trees that are
is going to be planted. That would be wonderful if it wasn't
16 a drought year. It's going to be guzzling water.
17 I'm trying to figure out, all of the neighborhood
la is trying to figure out, why are we doing some of these
19
things when it's only coming down to three streets? How
20
much further can that $4 million go if we only use it on
21
places that are necessary?
22
23 one of the ideas, we talked about Massol. That
24 was brought up in October 2013. Do that part of Massol. Do
zs the inner sections. That's where most of the slabs get
shattered, because of the turning and everything on that.
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Wilder, one block of it, is horrible. But we could live
with the other half of that block not being done. Broadway
is horrible down by Santa Cruz, but once you get up past
the worst part of the commercial area around the church,
it's not that bad all the way up, and then you turn on Main
and you're on asphalt.
So there's just a lot of opportunities, we
believe, that could make this $4 million go an awful lot
further. A lot of it just doesn't make any sense,
especially with the narrowing of the streets and having to
rip everything up that doesn't need it.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hanssen.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So in glancing at your
presentation, it sounded like one of the issues you had is
that there hasn't been enough community outreach to discuss
the design proposal, would that be correct?
ANGELIA DOERNER: I started my talks with the
Council in October of this past year, and since then there
has been a better attempt for community outreach. They had
two meetings, one in October and one in November.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the information that's been
provided, as well as the information provided to Council,
it's not anything that you can on the surface work with to
make any other kind of an educated decision.
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I COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I'm just struggling with
2 how to help you.
3
ANGELIA DOERNER: For instance, they say minor
4
narrowing. I mean all they have is a memo. The HPC has only
5
been given a memo and they said minor narrowing. I don't
6
think taking 4' out of a street is called minor. So the
7
neighbors heard minor at the last two outreach meetings,
s
9 which they were repeat meetings, so call it one. They heard
to minor. They didn't hear 4'. That's a big difference. I
11 would say.that it is incomplete information. I don't want
12 to say that we've been lied to, but I do want to say that
13 part of it is part of information by omission, or
14 misrepresentation by omission.
15 COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: So looking at the matter
16 that's at hand in the Planning Commission tonight, we're
17 being asked to decide whether or not the Capital
19 Improvement Program is consistent with the General Plan,
19
and all it says in this document here is that there's so
20
much money that's going to the Almond Grove. So relative to
21
your concerns, like if you could have your concerns
22
addressed the way you want, what would the Town do? Would
23
24 they give you more information? Would they change the plan?
25 Like how would you see that working?
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ANGELIA DOERNER: My suggestion was that the most
serious thing I see is that every significant project, $4
million is a lot of money. It's a lot of money, and I don't
see anyone from the Council who has been actively involved,
like an advisory committee. Why don't we have an advisory
committee to review? Two of you, or one of you and one from
the Council, to participate and who understand the General
Plan, who understand land use, who understand all of the
other things that we're trying to do in town. And just walk
with a couple residents through the neighborhoods and say
if I had to red tag a couple of slabs or a couple of
intersections I would red tag that, red tag that, red tag
that, and leave that alone, leave that alone, and see what
we have, and say what could be done with the $4 million,
and I'll guarantee we'll have money left over.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Well, it sounds like if we
had some kind of community input similar to like we... I was
on the General Plan Advisory Committee, and so when we're
try to decide on like what the (inaudible) were, at the
community meeting there were like these different options,
and then people could give input on what was the best. It
sounds to me like something like that is what you're
looking for, kind of a more engaging dialogue.
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I ANGELIA DOERNER: Yeah, there has been none of
2 that really. First, I do want to say that this all got
3 started before Mr. Morley came onboard, okay? I have
4
recognized that from the start and I have said that all
5
along, and the same with Lisa Petersen.
6
However, starting from the very first meeting in
7
October 2013 we were just told this is the way it's going
e
9 to be, and we were told it will be concrete because the
10 Town Council says it will be concrete, and it will this and
11 it will be that, and I mean it's pretty much been that
12 approach.
13 I went to PPW and said could I at least see all
14 the comment cards that came in from that meeting, because
is at the following meeting none of those thing were
16 addressed, all the things that people brought up: great
17 ideas, wonderful ideas, traffic studies, all different
18 things. The cards were
g just rubber banded together and in a
19
manila folder. They couldn't even find them. So I think a
20
walk around the block with a couple of people in the know
21
would really just get this thing back on track.
22
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: Okay, thank you.
23
24 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Did that answer
zs your question? Any other Commissioners have questions?
Commissioner Talesfore.
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COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Just to follow up on
that, to give the Town maybe a little heads up, how active
are the residents in this area? I mean I've seen you at a
couple of meetings, but are you the only voice? I mean are
there other voices?
ANGELIA DOERNER: I have 71 emails from people
who are very interested and want to know what's going on. I
don't believe there are people that have a lot of
confidence or trust in the process, not just for this
project but others, and they told me that I was wasting my
time.
COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Okay, thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Any further
questions? You may sit down now. Thank you.
ANGELIA DOERNER: Thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: I will invite Mr. Morley back
up to the podium. I do have a question for you, and that is
Ms. Doerner was talking about 4' of the street, that it's
more than just minor. So what is the width of the streets
in that neighborhood? They look wider to me than the
average street.
MATT MORLEY: The streets vary in width. Some of
them are fairly narrow and some of them are extremely wide.
And as Ms. Doerner stated, we have tried to maintain the
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1 width. There are some streets where the width is changing
2 to accommodate.
3 One of the other important aspects of the Almond
4
Grove area, which is the tree canopy, is part of what makes
5
that such a desirable neighborhood. So we are widening
6
streets, and I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but up
7
to probably 4' on Tate, where it's a fairly wide street.
8
9 Other streets are not being widened at all. Certainly the
10 narrowing of the streets does not change the costs at all,
11 because we're removing the curb and gutter. The curb and
12 gutter need to come out anyway; it's not something that can
13 withstand a rework of the streets. It's a substandard curb
14 and gutter because of the age of the infrastructure.
is I would like to point out that one of your goals
16 is to align the Capital Improvement Program with the
17 General Plan. Goal TR -8.2 of the General Plan is to,
18 'Create and maintain a safe, efficient and well designed
19
roadway network," so if you're looking for a synergy or
20
connection there, that would be good for it.
21
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you. Commissioner
22
Talesfore.
23
24 COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Thank you. I have a
25 follow up question to the 4'. When you say 4', is that 4'
total or 4' on each side?
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MATT MORLEY: Four feet total width.
COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: Four feet total width.
Tate is a very busy street with bicycles and cars, but the
other thing that makes that street important to the
residents that live there is that that's sometimes their
garages, that is their parking places; they don't have
garages. So I'm thinking that that 41, 2' on each side, to
narrow that is going to... I think we need to consider that
as not maybe being the...
MATT MORLEY: One of the primary concerns was
maintaining a street width that is adequate for two -way
traffic and for parking on both curb sides, and that does
that.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: This I think is
irrelevant, but it won't be the first thing I've said
that's irrelevant. I just wanted to say that I drive on
Tate every morning, and many mornings I have to pull to the
side of the road to let cars go by. Now, if you take 4'
away I guess I can drive up somebody's driveway, but it's
really tight in there, and if the garbage folks are coming
down, there's just nothing you can do. You just back up and
go another road. So if they're going to take 4' away from
Tate, which is right by St. Mary's, which get's fairly
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1 heavily trafficked, I'm just amazed at that. And I don't
2 response, expect a res but
p p you can give one if you want to,
3 because I do think what I just said is irrelevant.
4
MATT MORLEY: I think Tate is a good example of a
5
street that changes in dimension through the length of the
6
street and where it's broader at certain locations and
7
narrow in others. Certainly our goal is to retain, as I
8
9 said, two -way traffic with parking on either side. Where
10 that is challenged already we would not be narrowing the
11 street, including on Tate.
12 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, let me suggest you
13 take a look at that block between St. Mary's straight on
14 down. Thank you.
15 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Erekson.
16 CHARLES EREKSON: I apologize from the beginning
17 if this is an unfair question, and I'm looking for an order
18 of the magnitude, not precision.
19
If you were going to address all of the street
20
and sidewalk issues in the Almond Grove area and in the
21
Broadway neighborhood, that total number is?
22
MATT MORLEY: I'll know more once we get the
23
24 first cycle. Ten million, perhaps, would be a round number
for you.
25
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CHARLES EREKSON: So the funding in place now
would fund about 40% of the total work roughly?
MATT MORLEY: Roughly.
CHARLES EREKSON: Okay, thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Any other questions?
Commissioner Erekson.
CHARLES EREKSON: The work being done represents
400 of the cost. What percentage of the work or... I'm trying
to figure out how to ask the question, Matt, another way.
In other words, I could spend 40% of the money to achieve
10% of the goals, because some things are more expensive
than other things to accomplish them. Do you have a sense
of the 40% that's available now —and I get that it would
make your job a lot easier if Steve Conway came to your
office tomorrow and said the Council just told me to write
you a check for $6 million more; that's likely not to
happen —how much, in your judgment, gets done by this 40% of
the funding, I mean of the 100% of the goals that need to
be addressed?
MATT MORLEY: All of the identified streets in
the Almond Grove are in significant need of reconstruction,
not just repair, reconstruction, so I think we've
identified the full matrix of streets. There have been
others in past years in the surrounding neighborhoods that
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1 (have been redone with asphalt. There are even additional
2 (concrete streets. For instance, North Santa Cruz north of
3 (Highway 9 was concrete with an asphalt overlay. So there
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are solutions that have taken place throughout the Town,
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but the Almond Grove and Broadway areas that we've
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identified are in need of reconstruction.
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VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Hanssen.
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I don't know if this
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to number resonated at all with you, but when I was chairing
11 the Transportation and Parking Commission, this is when
12 this project first came up, and what I recall was the total
13 (project to fix everything was going to be something like
14 I$15 million. I'm not positive of that, but that's what I
15 1heard.
16 I Getting back to the issue at hand then, and that
17 (number was at the time, and I think still is, such a huge
18 Inumber relative to the possible amounts that we could raise
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for capital improvements in any given year that it would
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take many, many, many years. So then getting back to the $4
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million, I guess the question at hand is are we spending
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the 3096 or 4096, or whatever the percent of the total, in
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24 the best way, and it sounds like there's a proposal on the
25 (table for that, but maybe not everybody agrees with it.
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MATT MORLEY: I think the process has been an in
depth process. We've rolled the preliminary design drawings
out across the back wall there and walked through them with
individual neighbors on a property -by- property basis. We
put door hangers on the properties, on individual doors, to
alert neighbors of meetings. We've done multiple community
meetings, including one -on -ones, to talk about everything
from the most trips the to street trees with individuals to
see how it would affect them directly.
So the outreach has been significant, and I would
say that the characterization that there is a split is
probably accurate. The polling that we did showed a 60/40
split for a preference of concrete, and certainly there are
vocal folks on both sides of that.
We're doing what we can to provide all of the
information that we can possibly provide, not only to the
neighborhood, but also to the Council so that they can have
that during the decision making processes.
COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I heard that there was all
this outreach, and so the nature of that outreach, did it
include like should we focus on this street versus this
street, or was it concrete or asphalt, or was it both, or
more than that?
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MATT MORLEY: It's been an iterative process, and
some of it occurred prior to my time with the Town. The
discussion has been, while I've been here, the option of
asphalt versus concrete, and the result of that was a poll
to figure out what the neighborhood would prefer. The
initial direction to pursue concrete was made some time ago
by Council, and I think even prior to that when the
ordinances for the Historic Districts were set.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: There was a statement by
the speaker that apparently since she's been involved it's
always been we're going to use concrete because we're going
to use concrete. So I'm kind of wondering, in doing the
numbers, which is set forth in C -9, those numbers are
solely dependent upon using concrete, right? Did we ever do
an in depth study of what it would cost to use asphalt as
necessary? In other words, what I'm saying is you may have
to go down to dirt sometimes and not other times, you may
be able to overlay them sometimes. Did you ever do an in
depth study of how much it would cost to stack the
concrete, which you've got numbers on, versus the asphalt?
MATT MORLEY: We've done engineer's estimates to
2ompare a complete concrete reconstruction with a complete
asphalt reconstruction. Now, keep in mind with an asphalt
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reconstruction that the curb and gutter and the sidewalk
will still be concrete, there's still a concrete element
associated with it, so you don't get a full savings on a
per ton savings of concrete over asphalt. We recently
brought the option back to consider looking at an
additional design option of doing an asphalt overlay, and
Council wasn't ready to pursue that.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: What were the comparison
numbers?
MATT MORLEY: Again, these numbers were run, the
comparison was run, when oil prices were somewhat higher,
but that was the 15% savings on asphalt over concrete.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: So today it would be
more than 15 %?
MATT MORLEY: It would be I would expect in the
15 -20% range.
COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Kane.
COMMISSIONER KANE: I'm prepared to make a motion
that the Capital Improvement Program, the CIP, is
consistent with the General Plan and Hillside Plan and that
the Commission should forward a recommendation of approval
to Town Council for the five -year Capital Improvement
Program for fiscal years July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020.
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I VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Erekson.
2 CHARLES EREKSON: I'll second the motion with a
3 couple of comments.
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I agree with the maker of the motion that it's
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consistent with the General Plan and the Hillside Plan. I
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would also like to say I find it very responsive to issues
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which have come before the Planning Commission over the
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last two, three, four years, and also issues which have
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to been brought forward by parents in the school districts, so
11 I think it's very responsive in terms of choices that are
12 made. Choices are always difficult to make when one doesn't
13 have full funding for all of the things, and that rarely
14 happens in a capital project, so I think in addition to
15 being consistent with the General Plan and the Hillside
16 Plan that it's very responsive.
17 VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner O'Donnell.
18 COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I'm debating whether
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I'll support the motion or not. Were I making the motion I
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suppose what I would have said would be that as proposed it
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does all the good things that both of you have said, with
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the exception of the proposal on the Streets Program. I do
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believe our duty is not to simply say is there something in
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25 the General Plan that one can argue is consistent with it,
if you believe what is in the capital budget is not done
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correctly or completely, then you're implicitly approving
something that you either don't have enough information on
it or that you disagree with. And as near as I can tell,
the proposal now outlined on C -9 is maybe it's going to
accomplish 20% less than if they used asphalt, and I find
it very hard to sit here and say oh good, this is a
wonderful thing they're doing, they're going get 20°% less
bang for their buck, and therefore I can support everything
else, but I can't support the Streets Program. That's it.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Any further discussion?
Commissioner Talesfore.
COMMISSIONER TALESFORE: I can support the
Capital Improvement Program. It hits all the topics that
are in the General Plan. The however is I think that we
need to maybe send it on with some type of considerations,
and I would add, maybe going along with Commissioner
O'Donnell, that I think that the Streets Program somehow
needs to be revisited.
It just doesn't seem like it's complete enough
for me anyway, that we haven't considered enough of those
streets. I mean I drive those streets, but seeing them in
photographs on Bean and wilder, there are some really huge
issues there. I really would like to have more reasoning
behind taking 4' off of Tate. I mean one of the things
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1 about that street is that it is wide, because that was
2 historic.
3 Anyway, so I just don't think that this has been
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ferreted out and vetted enough. I don't know if it means
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you have to do more consideration of that, but that's my
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comment, and I will support the improvement program just
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because it hits all the headings of the General Plan, but
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it goes with those comments from me.
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to VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you for your comments.
Commissioner Kane.
11
12 COMMISSIONER KANE: I appreciate the comments of
13 the Commissioners. Regarding the money spent, the project
14 identified on C -9, I watched two lengthy Town Council
15 meetings regarding asphalt versus concrete and feel that's
16 been vetted adequately. Council discussed it back and
17 forth, there was great input from the neighborhoods, they
is made a decision, Staff supported it, so that's why I made
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the motion that I did.
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Now, if Council watches this tape or reads these
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minutes, they'll pick up the concern we have that that item
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maybe should be revisited.
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VICE CHAIR BADAME: Commissioner Erekson.
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CHARLES EREKSON: I concur with Commissioner
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Kane. I seems like to me that that particular issue has
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been vetted. My sense from having watched those is that a
consideration —and I apologize to the Council if I'm
attributing something to them that they don't attribute —
that redoing the streets from concrete to asphalt would
change, in their judgment, the character of the historic
neighborhood. At least that's where I would also fall, that
that would change the character of the neighborhood. So
while I would always want to be sensitive to the cost
difference, on in capital projects needs to look way down
the road, and a long way, so I would do that.
I have one other comment for Mr. Morley. This is
a suggestion. I think with a situation like the Almond
Grove paving situation your interests might be served if
you could figure out a way with Mr. Conway and others to
reflect the full cost. While I understand you have to
practically break it down in a five -year period of time,
but to reflect in the record the estimated full cost of it
while you might not even have a source of funding so that
people understand that you're seeing it in the whole, but
you only have funding, or your recommending funding, for a
period of time, that would I think allay people's concerns.
It also might help, or it might fuel rumors about, it
getting done sooner than it otherwise would get done, but
that's okay. I mean you can manage that kind of thing, so I
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1 think sometimes while this is obviously not in itself a
2 discrete project, it's part of a larger whole, and it might
3 be helpful to have the reflected.
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MATT MORLEY: We're hearing several comments I
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think from the Commission, and we'll certainly take heed of
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those and package them for our next appearance before the
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Council and be able to discuss them as a whole with the
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Commissioner Erekson, you brought up Mr. Conway
11 and the work there. The preponderance of the work on the
12 capital project to Mr. Conway and his amazing Staff, and
13 certainly a bunch of work amongst that and the operating
14 budget that they deserve credit for.
15 VICE CHAIR BADAME: I'll just make one quick
16 comment, and then I'll call on you. I'm going to concur
17 with the reasoning provided by Commissioner Kane and
18 Commissioner Erekson, so I will be supporting the motion.
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And Commissioner Hanssen, go ahead.
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COMMISSIONER HANSSEN: I just wanted to make the
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comment that I also will support the motion, because as it
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stands right now this is really about whether the Capital
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Improvement Program is consistent with the General Plan,
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25 and the General Plan is pretty general, not specific, about
concrete or asphalt or anything like that. Having heard all
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these concerns, I don't have a problem with the motion, I
would support it, but it does seem to me that since this
Almond Grove project is the single largest single project
that we have had, that there is some ongoing need for
community input and involvement on every step of the way,
and I hope that will continue.
MATT MORLEY: Absolutely.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Any further comments? Are we
ready for a vote? All in favor? Opposed? Commissioner
O'Donnell. Passes. Thank you, Mr. Morley.
COMMISSIONER KANE: Madam Chair? I'm sorry, what
was the vote?
VICE CHAIR BADAME: It was five in favor, with
Commissioner O'Donnell opposed, the single vote opposed.
COMMISSIONER KANE: I'm sorry, I thought I saw
another hand go up. I just wanted to be sure.
VICE CHAIR BADAME: Thank you.
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