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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13B - COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTSCITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT Meeting Minutes May 17, 2007 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 12:10 p.m. in Room 831 of City Hall. ATTENDANCE`- The following Committee members were present: Miguel Pulido, Carlos Bustamante and Vince Sarmiento. Staff present were: Cathy Standiford, Assistant City Manager; Steve Harding, Deputy City Manager for Development Services; Jay Trevino, Executive Director Planning and Building Agency; Joe Fletcher, City Attorney; Karen Haluza, Planning Manager; and Ben Kaufman, Chief Assistant City Attorney. AGENDA ITEMS 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES -APRIL 5, 2007 SPECIAL MEETING A motion was made by Councilmember Bustamante and seconded by t Councilmember Sarmiento to approve the minutes and approved unanimously by a vote of 3:0. 2. YMCA -POTENTIAL REDEVELOPMENT Steve Harding reported that as a follow-up to the withdrawal of the Claremont Club proposal for the YMCA he had contacted nine law schools to assess their interest in the facility. Those schools that expressed interest were concerned about the cost to establish a satellite law school and for potential service overlap with the new law school currently being developed at UC Irvine. Councilmember Sarmiento discussed interest in other higher education facilities, such as Pepperdine University, to establish satellite facilities not specific to law education. Mayor Pulido recognized individuals from the audience to speak. Rosie Avila, Santa Ana School Board Member and founder of the Orange County Youth Commission, was recognized to speak. Ms. Avila requested that the YMCA building be used as a facility for the Youth Commission's headquarters. Ms. Avila explained that she believed that such a use would be in keeping with the building's original purpose as a place for youth mentoring and physical fitness. She stated that the area has a great need for such services and that they would expect funding for rehabilitation of the building to come from a fundraising campaign conducted by the Youth Commission. 13B-1 Councilmember Bustamante acknowledged the need for such facilities in the community, and expressed his desire to see what sort of proposals might be available from private developers also. David DiRienzo, developer with Urban West Strategies, presented his proposal to develop the YMCA building into a boutique hotel. Mr. DiRienzo described that his plan would retain the historic facade of the building while completely removing the interior and reconstructing it to include a 50 to 60 room all-suites hotel, commercial office, restaurant and roof terrace. He explained that by , removing and reconstructing the interior, the development costs of the project. would be substantially reduced and greater potential for more flexible use of the interior space created. He stated that he recognized the importance of retaining the historical facade. Mr. DiRienzo left a copy of his proposal, called Civic West with the Committee. He stated that he had favorable interest from a number of investment firms in his proposal Ben Grabiel, representing the Santa Ana Historic Preservation Society Board, stated that he would be submitting a proposal for an income-generating re-use of the property and that he would be contacting Steve Harding with further details. Councilmember Sarmiento stated that he was pleased that there was such varied interest in the property and that it would be important to keep an open mind about any proposals. , Mayor Pulido commented that, given the amount of time the building has been vacant; waiting a little longer is appropriate while we try to find the right use. He asked Ms. Avila to consider the Delhi Center as a potential location for the Youth Commission's programs also. The Committee and staff discussed the history of the City's involvement in the redevelopment of the property to date including such barriers as the cost to rehabilitate the building. Phil Brigandi, Yepresenting the Orange County Archivist, stated that his agency was interested in using the building for an Orange County museum and also to house the County Archives. Steve Harding stated that he would bring the previously established interest list back to the Committee for its feedback. 3. FACILITATING DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL LOTS Jay Trevino and Karen Haluza provided a presentation and analysis of barriers to development of small, vacant lots. She stated that it might be worthwhile to explore changes to the City's minimum lot size standards in certain zones and locations. Mayor Pulido expressed support for minimum lot size standards in single-family residential zones, but stated that he believed that the City's standards and necessary discretionary actions to vary from these standards make it too difficult to develop these lots. He stated that the presence of so many vacant lots act like "broken windows" in the City and detract from its overall appearance. He requested Development Council Committee Minutes May 17, 2007 13 B-2 that more vertical solutions for landscaping be explored in order to help reduce l required landscape setback areas. Councilmember Sarmiento stated that it would be helpful to have more flexible standards for small lot developments. Councilmember Bustamante stated that the City should be proactive in developing policies to deal with small lots and perhaps consider "t)" lot lines. The Committee discussed ways to communicate with the public, property owners and potential developers regarding any changes to small lot standards. 4. STATUS OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH Karen Haluza provided an update on the status of parcel acquisition for the church. Councilmember Bustamante recommended that a decomposed granite coating could be added to the interim dirt parking lot in order to keep dust down. 5. FOLLOW-UP TO REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND HOUSING ELEMENT POLICIES Jay Trevino provided a presentation on the current status of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process and the City's required Housing Element Update. The Committee discussed the need to balance the City's housing stock and to provide housing affordable to middle income working families. A study session with the City Council regarding housing policy will be scheduled during the Housing Element work effort. 6. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Ben Grabiel discussed ways to attract good tenants. 7. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS -None 8. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING A. High-rise parking standards ADJOURNMENT - 1.36 P M ~-~-t Karen Haluza Planning Manager Planning and Building Agency KH:rb rb:Council CommlDevel CC~Devel CC Minutes 05-77-07 17, 2007 13B-3 SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE PUBLIC SAFETY Minutes of Meeting May 15, 2007 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was convened at 5:43 p.m. at City Hall, 20 Civic Center Plaza, 8m Floor, Santa Ana, California. ATTENDANCE Council members present: Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, and Sal Tinajero. Staff. present: City Attorney Joe Fletcher, Police Chief Paul Walters, Fire Chief Phil Garcia, Deputy Chiefs Tony Harrelson and Pete Jensen, Executive Asst. to the City Manager Mark Lawrence, Deputy Fire Chief Critchfield and Randy Black. Public present: Stanley Fiala; Amy Taxin. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approved Minutes of the April 24, 2007 meeting. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ANIMAL SERVICES ORDINANCES CA Joe Fletcher reviewed the new animal ordinance. There were only two major changes, barking dogs, care and maintenance. Claudia Alvarez asked how the city regulates commercial kennels, particularly whether we distinguish by number of dogs housed. He will do that via memo. The council action on the proposed ordinance will be scheduled for June 18. 3. HELICOPTER CONTRACT STATUS Deputy Chief Jensen explained we would continue with a contract. There is not sufficient evidence to have a partnership. 4. FIRE DEPT. PERSONNEL CHART WITH COMPILATION OF NEEDS DATA Chief Garcia discussed his personnel chart.. Stated due to vertical buildings that are becoming more common, he has a concern with access ability. He would like to become afour-man department. Claudia Alvarez suggested Chief Garcia and Chief Walters do a study on the departments financial and staff needs. Joe Fletcher was going to research a mello roos tax. Chief suggested a sales tax because it doesn't have to be earmarked. 13 B-4 Deputy Chief Harrelson reviewed his grid map of active gang areas and explained how they were going to be targeting the gangs with special STOP teams. 6. POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL GANG INJUNCTION LOCATIONS Joe Fletcher said that even though Santa Nita has been very successful, we are still in the process of working the injunctions. We do not have the time and resources to even think of adding another injunction. 7. EPIC COMMISSION Chief Walters and Deputy Chief Harrelson believes the commission will be beneficial to the department due to the fact that it is a public and private partnership. 8. PROPOSED PLAN TO ADDRESS GANG VIOLENCE Deputy Chief Harrelson explained several different projects that the police department is working on to help with the gang violence. The department has just established Police Activities and Athletics League (PAAL) to mentor the youth. They have three tri-agency resource/gang enforcement teams (TARGET) and a Street Terrorist Offender Program (STOP). An increase in proposed funding would assist the Department in establishing a new STOP team and strategies for the 10 problematic locations. 9. PUBLIC COMMENTS Stanley Fiala spoke that we should work with the youth by letting them cruise and just charge them admission. 10. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS Committee Member Benavides stated that we should be targeting gangs and Committee Member Alvarez agreed. She also wants the police department to compile crime stats for 3 years. 11. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING A. Assessments -compile needs of the police and fire departments. B Weed & Seed Philosophy 12. NEXT MEETING DATE -June 26, 2007, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 20 Civic Center Plaza, 8~h Floor, Santa Ana, California. JO RNMENT - 7:35 p.m. PAUL M. WALTERS Chief of Police 13 B-5 TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 24, 2007 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:34 a.m. by Mayor Miguel Pulido at City Hall, Room 831. ATTENDANCE Members Present: Mayor Miguel Pulido Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez Councilmember David Benavides (7:40 a.m.) Members Absent: Staff Present: Guests Present: None Dave Ream (8:19 a.m.) Jim Ross Jill Arthur George Alvarez Souri Amirani Sylvia Robles T.C. Sutaria Toni Bates, PB Corp. Santa Ana Transit Plan Toni Bates from PB Corporation made a presentation to the Committee on the Go Local Program. She focused on Step 1 of the competitive process which is the initial planning. Her presentation showed various maps that illustrated the population and employment densities, along with areas that have the highest ridership. Further short/long term alternatives were also discussed. Mayor Pulido requested a presentation on the Orange Line, which is a Mag Lev System. Mayor Pulido would like to have color maps of the transit master plan, so that the Committee can review and reference back to. TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 24, 2007 1 13B-6 Residential Street Repair Strateav Jim Ross briefly talked about the strategy the City is considering for residential street repair. This includes spending $100 million over five years. He provided the Committee with a DRAFT summary of the strategy. The Committee requested a presentation on new technology for preventive maintenance and reconstruction. Mayor Pro Tem Alvarez requested a list of the five year residential repair plan previously provided. Jim Ross informed the Committee that the financing team for the bonds will be taken to City Council in August 2007. If approved by City Council, funding is expected in Fall of 2007. Mayor Pulido requested an estimate of miles that will be considered for the residential street repair strategy. The Committee is requesting that the Residential Street Repair Strategy information be passed on to the residents of Santa Ana. Councilmember Benavides requested aone-page flyer on the residential street repair strategy to handout at meetings. Committee Comments Mayor Pulido and Councilmember Benavides requested an update on the Quiet Zone for next meeting. Adjourned at 9:05 a. m. G: Ross ive Director Works Agency TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 24, 2007 2 13 B-7 13B-8