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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council/PCDC Minutes 06/11/2003June 1 1, 2003 Vol. 39, 'Page. 7 6ALU a ~ City of'etaclua, Calif'®~°n~a SPECIAL BUDGET WORKSHOP - zss8 OF THE PETALU'MA CITY COUNCIL ANb PETALUMA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COAAMISSION City Council/PCDC Minutes Tuesday, June 11, 2003 - 6:00 P.M. Budget Workshop 1 CALL TO ORDER 2 3 A. Roll Cdll 4 5 Present: Members Canevaro, Harris, Healy, Moynihan, O'Brien, Tarliat't 6 and Mayor Giass 7 8 B. PI'edge. of Allegiance 9 10 C. ~ Mornerif of Silence 11 12 13 PlJ'BLIC COM'M'ENT -~ 14 15 John Hanania, Petaluma, addressed the City ,Council and presented pictures of 16 vehicles ~parke'd in his neighborhood that need abatement. He indicated some - 1 T of them had been tagged some time ago and should have been removed 18 already. He provided a list of 11 sites. where ve ,hides should be removed. 19 - 20 Richard. DeCarli, Petaluma, addressed the City Council indicating he owns 21 properties in the downtown where sidewalks have been marked for trees. He 22 ,commented he would like to have input as to where th:e trees will be placed as 23 well as the-size of the trees to be placed there.. He asked who will be responsible 24 -for t:he maintenance of the trees and for any sidewalk and/or sewer interference 25 .they may cause.. He also commented on the possibility of the trees causing a 26 visual clearance issue for street signs. 27 28 Council Member Torliatt asked to. Mr; DeCarli to see Mr. Marangella, who is in the 29 audience, and he would assist him with the issues that were raised. 30 31 32 33 Vol. 39, Page 8 June 1 1, 2003 1 CITY COUNCLL COMMENTS ,2 3 Council Member Canevaro recognized two co-workers; Joe Horrick an'd Vince. 4 Marango, fo.r their contributions to the program for spinning bikes of Kenilworth S Junior High School. b 7 Council Member Healy commented on -the- .downtown scree#' trees- and 8 indicated. he `feels .they will .benefit the community ds a whole and will. make the 9 downtown. attractive:. He indicated his support-for the. program, l0 1 1 Vice: Mayor O'Brien stated he agrees that.. f he downtown tree program was. 12 envisioned#or the common good, but there is a need to coo more outrea.ch..,. He 13 would like to see staff work wifh the businesses for the siting of'the trees. 14 15 Council Member Torligtt commented on a recen , Metreipolit.an. Transportation 16 Committee Meeting where ways to protect LAIF (Loc<~I Agency Investme'nf 17 Funds) were discussed. 18 19 Council Member Moynihan indicated he hds received other comments like Mr: 20' D.eCarli,`s regarding benches and trees for 'th'e .downtown. He also mentioned 21 'bike racks ore being: proposed. ~He shared concerns with. who will ;be 22 maintaining, them and requested a report form staff regarding `this issue. 23 24 Council Member Moynihan -.continued by commenting on an article iii the Press . 25 Democrat dated 'today regarding, the State's budget. He uggested a prudent 26 course of action would be to adopt two budgets for Fetdluma, one with VLF 27 funds included, and one without VLF fu"nding avdilable. 28 29 Council Member Torlatt commented with.. regard, to the downtown streetscape~ 30 improvements,, benches are utilized. by the comrnu,nty, as well as bike racks.:She 31 noted. Sand Reed, has been looking at different types of bike racks; specifically 32 post racks. ~ - . 33. 34 Council Member Canevaro stressed the downtown plan was a comp. rehensive 35 and cdreful)y thought -out plan. 36 37 Mayor Glass indicated his support for Elie plan, pointing out Petalu-ma is a Tree 38 City USA. He indicated he shares concern with the State budget, but would 39 encourage the State Legislature to come to agreement and to protect the 40 cities.. He concluded by stating Petaluma h,as taken a conservative approach 41 by building u,p the General' Fund reserves. ' 42 43 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS 4.4 , 45 The. City`Manager noted 'the City does have. a scenario in place should thefC'ity 46 lose Vehicle License. fee funding. 47 48 June 11, 2003 VoL, 39, Page 9 1 `'2 A. Co,ntinu,ation of Depgrtrnent Presentations re: Propos'ed` FY 2003-2004 3 Budget. 4 5 1. Community Development 6 7 Mike Moore., .Director of Community Development, gave an overview 8 of the department's proposed budget. 9 -10 Council Member Torliatt stated he is excited about on-line permit 1 1 databases and clarified with staff that. it should be implemented in the 12 near future. 13 14 City Council discussion regarding fees dnd subsidies ensued. 15 16 Council Member Canevaro commended Community Development 17 for(heir use of technology. 18 19 Council Member Healy commented on Council's approach last year 20 in being proactive in addressing the subsidy issue by way of instituting `21 fhe fee study. 22 23 With regard . to the Sidewalk Program and GiS System, .he clarified 24 Sonoma State students are participdting in the data collection for the 25 condition of the sidewalks.. If was noted the survey is expected to be 26 completed by. the end of July with a Sidewalk Program proposed in 27 the fall. 28 29 City Council discussion ensued regarding buildings in fhe downtown 30 that are .still in need of retrofitting. 31 32 Council Member Moynihan concurred with Council Member Healy's 33 comments and questioned if they are looking at streamlihing 34 processes in conjunction with the reduction of staff time needed for 35 these processes. 36 37 Council Member Moynihan continued. by commenting on the amount 38 of staff time being spent with the staffing of various boards. and 39 commissions. He noted he continues to be concerned. with increases 40 in salaries and benefits and suggested relying more on contracted 41 workers to roll more easily with. the ups and downs in the economy. He 42 concluded by stating there is a need to look at the cost of service from 43 a holistic point of view. 44 45 2. Petaluma-Community Development Commission.(PCDC) 46 47 Paul Marangella, Director of Economic Development and 48 , Redevelopment gave an overview of the proposed. budget for PCDC. 4 Vol. 39, Page 10 June 1 1, 2003 1 2 Cornmisso,n Member Harris, pointed out the necessity to .adjust the 3 budget for a Leakage Study; expressed he has been ge ting a of of 4 concerned citizen's feedback regarding the Keller Street Garage;. and 5 confirmed with staff there is a meeting, nex#' week with the merchants 6 to discuss the issues. I't was noted that, clearly, ~some:thng, is not 7 working and staff will be making recommendatians based on the input 8 received. It was-also noted staff would be bringing forward, an update 9 on revenue projections-for fle:garage. 10 11 .Commission ~Nlernber Cane~aco indicated he ,is excited about where 12 . we are: going and' clarified "the merchants in ~rhe downtown are on 13 board with the streefscape plan. 14 15 Cornmissio,n Member Healy commented he is anxious to see ,a .report 16 on the Keller Street Garage and what ;is being. done in .the `way of 17 vector control; commented on the Caulfield. extension;. anal 18 concluded by commenting on .the 'Water Street and Turning Basin T9 River Walk Improvements Phase I. He indicated his- desire to see the 20 Phase 11 improvements for the- River Trail Enhancem°ent; on :the 21 backside; be `deferred until it'is clear'what the Golden Eagle properties 22 will be doing. 23 24 Commission ;Member O'Brien clarified how staff has been working with 25 the merchants on the downtown streetscape plan and that letters had 26 been sent requesfin_g merchants °fo call with any issues they may have. 27 He suggested there. might be a need for more outreach, citing. Mr. 28 DeCarli as an example. 29 30 Commission Member O'Brien also expressed concerns with Phase JI 31 River Trail Enhancements, as well as the Gateway Landscape 32 Improvements 33 34 Bonne Gaebler; Housing Administrator; gave an overview of the 35 Housing. Programs,: 36 37 PCDC Discussion. ensued 'regarding the decrease in property tax 38 revenues and revenues. aril expenditures in the Central Business 39 District. 40 41 Commission Nlecnber M°oynihan stated. 'his concerns with the way 42 .PCDC is growing. He~ pointed out fhere; will now be four engineering 43 :departments. He noted there is a need to be integrated, as how it has 44 been broken out in the.past is .not working. He indicated he does not 45 fee6 this department should be 'taking on newpositions at this time and 46 indicated he 'unders`tands the. City Manager may be making some 47 organizational changes. 48 June 1 1, .2003 vol. 39, Page 1 ~l. 'The City Manager indicated' he wilt be considering some restructuring 2 and that most- likely economic development will be differenf. He 3 indicated there would be reorganization in other areas too, notjust the 4 redevelopment area.. 5 6 Commission Member Moynihan expressed his desire to see the vision. 7 of the City ;be a reality. With regard to the CIP Projects in the bud'gef, 8 he in.dicate_d he only sees redevelop`menf money, and developer -. 9 contributions and grants, should be shown also. He would like to see 10 the Council re-evaluate the level of funding, from redevelopment. He 1 1 concluded by referencing 'the memo he had- submitted: dated June 12 1 1, 20.03 regarding street reconstruction: Fie pointed out a Press 13 Democraf article from June 2002 entitled "Petaluma to pledge $15 14 million for roads." 15 16 PCpC discussion ensued regarding funding for street improvements 17 and how monies should beshown in the budget.. Commission 18 Member Moynihan stressed the importance of showing transfers in anal 19 providing a funding source trail. He feels that information should. be 20 incorporated into the final .budget to provide an audit trail. 21 22 Commission Member Torliatt commented she would assume the 23 redevelopment agency would be actively seeking a site for ari 24 appropriate parking structure. 25 26 With regard to -the Central Petaluma specific Plan 27 Jmplementaton/CBD Area„ Comrnis3ion Member Moynihan noted the 28 ~ Commission never agreed to underwrite costs for infrastructure. He 29 voiced concern that the project would` get adopted and others would 30 be caught holding the bag. to pay fo.r infrastructure costs. He stressed 31 the need for the implementation of the CPSP to be laid out prior to the 32 adoption of the budget. 33 34 Commission Member Torliatf stressed what is before the City 35 Council/PCDC is a budget. She clarified expenditure of those 36 budgeted funds still need to be approved and supported. seeing the 37 proposed funding in the budget. _ 38 39 Commission Member Torliatt continued by commenting the PCDC 40 .Budget is a lot more difficult to read this year than in the past. She 41 stated she would like to see more detail on PCDC projects. She also 42 expressed a desire to see a report on the Keller Street Garage, would 43 also like to see in the 2005-2006. budget some funding for the trestle 44 replacement, and added the need to be looking at grants for the 45 replacement of the trolley. 46 47 Commission.Member Torliatt commented on the Design Phase II of fhe 48 River Trail and the importance of completing that segment; Vol. 39, Page T2 ,June 11, 2003 1 commented on street improvements in the downtown being building 2 fo buil`ding rather than .curb t'o: curb;. and ,stafiE~d d desire 'to see the 3 materials created for economic development promotion prior to them 4 being distributed. 5 6 Commission discussion ensued regarding, the Buckelew and Cedar 7 Grove projects, qs well as the house on Rocca Drive for Vietnam 8 Veterans. 9 10 Commission Member Torliatt concluded by stating she is very excited T 1 'that' we are; in the construction phase of the downtown, as .the 12 u timate goal is being achieved! 13 14 AAdyor Glass thanked Mr.. Marangella for his presentation and 15 indicated these are exciting times for Petaluma as the Central 16 Petaluma Specific Plan is implemented. Fle added .comments 17 regarding the Tong-term ~ benefifs of economic development and the 18 posifive situation the, bond market is currently in. 20 Cornms_sion .Member O'Brien ~ commented on the 'Rives Trail 21 Enhancement Project and indicated he does riot. 'see h`ow it relieves 22 blight or provides incremental tax deferment. He feels this project 23 should be deferred. 24 25 Following ,Council/PGDC discussion of the 'various projects, a majority 26 of the .Council/ PCDC were supportive of Ve.ctor'Cont~ol funding; that 27 CIP 38 be deferred and come back to 'the. PCD;C mid-term;:'fhat fhere 28 is a need 'to deal with the trestle; acid that ahe Theafre District Project 29 funds would go to repairing streets. 30 31 The City ~ Manager stressed the need to make the River Trail 32 Enhancement Project happen and Commission Member Torlidtf 33 indicated her desire, to 'see the link to the downt6wn completed. 34 35 Council/PGDC direction. w.as to have staff :bring back a full staff'rep.ort 36 wifh all aspects of the project to a future meeting so a' full .discussion of 37 the River Trail Enhancement Project could. be held. Commission Member Moynihan .indicated his desire to see the Old Redwood Highway and Cross-town.Connector Highway Interchanges be added to the CIP Budget. 46 47 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 June 11, 2003 ADJOURN `The Budget Workshop was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Vol. 39, Page 13 David Glass, Mayor ATTEST: ,. G yle Peet rsen, Gify Clerk ******