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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/09/1992 Minutes - Adj. Regular MeetingMINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR JUNE 9, 1992 1. CALL TO ORDER: M/Kim called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, AQMD Auditorium, 21865 E. Copley Dr. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The audience was led in the Pledge of Allegiance by MPT/Papen. ROLL CALL: Mayor Kim, Mayor Pro Tem Papen, Councilman Miller. C/Forbing arrived at 7:02 p.m. C/Werner was excused. Also present were Terrence L. Belanger, Acting City Manager; Andrew V. Arczynski, City Attorney; James DeStefano, Director of Community Development; George Wentz, Interim City Engineer and Tommye Nice, Deputy City Clerk. 2. PUBLIC HEARING: 2.1 DRAFT GENERAL PLAN. CDD/DeStefano reported that in October 1989, approximately 30 individuals began meeting as the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) to draft the General Plan. GPAC conducted several dozen public meetings over the past 2 1/2 years to review the various elements of the Plan and receive public testimony. The Planning Commission then began their formal review process in April 1992 andconducted eleven public hearings. From public testimony and comments made by the Parks & Recreation and Traffic & Transportation Commissions, revisions were made to the recommendations made by GPAC. He explained that a General Plan expresses in the form of text, maps and illustrations, the overall goals and objectives necessary to create and maintain a functional, healthful and desirable environment. The City's Plan will serve as a comprehensive strategy for the management of growth and change in the community for the next 20 years. Lloyd Zola, President of The Planning Network, stated that State law requires every city and county to adopt a "constitution" for local development in the form of a General Plan. General Plans are not intended to address in finite detail every issue that will come up in a community, but is meant to set general direction and to provide a framework by which the Planning Commission and City Council can review proposals for future growth and development. It is the lead legal document in the community. The City will have zoning, subdivision ordinances and other ordinances regulating development. State law also requires that each of those documents be consistent with the General Plan. Another purpose of JUNE 9, 1992 PAGE 2 General Plans is to define not only the types of land uses that are appropriate in a community, but to define the basic rules by which development will be reviewed. There are seven required elements of the General Plan: Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Open Space, Conservation, Safety and Noise. Besides these seven elements, the City Council requested another element dealing with Public Services/Facilities. All of those issues have been placed in six different sections of the proposed General Plan: Land Use, Housing, Open Space and Conservation (incorporated into a Source Management Plan), Safety and Noise (incorporated into a Public Health and Safety Element), Circulation (incorporated into Physical Mobility) and Public Services & Facilities. He explained that as the Planning Commission reviewed GPACIs recommendations, several major issues yielded very difficult decisions on the part of the Commission. One was the disposition of existing open lands in the commun- ity; another was Tonner Canyon and its potential as a regional roadway as well as its land use; and circulation issues and the disposition of Sunset Crossing and Beaverhead as a possible connection to the City of Industry. He pointed out that adoption of the General Plan starts a series of other responsibilities for the City including completion of updates to the zoning and subdivision ordinances and that the City conduct an annual review of the Plan. He further stated that each year, each of the public service agencies operating with- in the City should be submitting to the Council their capital improvement plan for review and a report by the Council regarding consistency of those plans with the General Plan. CDD/De5tefano stated that within the documents for review and adoption is a Master Environmental Assessment and an Environmental Impact Report which support the General Plan and were developed in concert with the California Environmental Quality Act and address the impacts of the General Plan itself. He further stated that there is a suggested review process for the General Plan along with a series of proposed public hearing dates. He outlined the process utilized for public announcements and dis- plays of the Plan. He further stated that the General Plan is not a plan to change the golf course into a regional mall nor a plan to change single family resi- dential neighborhoods into commercial uses and it is not a plan to down -zone existing residential neighborhoods or to destroy open space resources within the community. It is a plan to preserve existing residential uses, permit development, and manage growth and change that develop- ment creates. It balances growth and change with remain- ing open space resources within the community by detailed objectives and strategies outlining the desire for specific plans to finely detail what occurs within large JUNE 9, 1992 PAGE 3 areas such as Tres Hermanos and Tonner Canyon. It does that through "mixed uses," it does it through clustered development and the use of transfers of development rights. The Plan would also manage continuing traffic problems and attempts to manage those changes. It is a future action plan for the community and outlines, addresses and attempts to outline a strategy that will be proactive to physical, social, economic and environmental issues. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the General Plan as presented to Council. M/Kim opened the Public Hearing. Don Schad, 1824 Shaded Wood Rd., spoke on the overall General Plan and requested that wilderness areas be kept intact and not developed. William Gross, 21637 Highbluff Rd., spoke on the import- ance of the General Plan and public input. Max Maxwell, 3211 Bent Twig Ln., expressed concern about the fact that status of Tonner Canyon appears three times within the 45 pages of the Land Use Element. James Roberts, 23627 Bower Cascade, stated that he felt Diamond Bar should be an "anti -development" City. Steven D'Errico, 23631 Prospect Valley, asked how the downsizing of the Sheriff's Department, due to County budget cutbacks, would impact the City's agreement with them over the next 2-5 years and whether there will be a substantial decrease in law enforcement. He further asked whether the public will be expected to balance the funding for law enforcement by assessments or taxes on new development. Ellen Stipo, 501 John Ct., requested the City to oppose growth in Tonner Canyon. Beverly D'Errico, 23631 Prospect Valley, announced that an "Earth Summit" press conference would be held in the Pomona Unified School District Board Room on June 12th during which a conference call would be placed to Rio De Janeiro to speak with National Wild Life Federation President Jay Hare. She also indicated that she felt Tonner Canyon should be preserved in its natural state. Evil Walters, resident of Chino Hills, stated that she was auainst Growth in Tonner Canyon. With no further testimony offered, M/Kim closed the Public Hearing. C/Miller stated that Tonner Canyon is not part of Diamond Bar but is within an unincorporated area of L.A. County. JUNE 9, 1992 PAGE 4 The City does have a "sphere of influence" extending over part of the Canyon but if the owners of the property, the Boy Scouts, choose not to become part of the City and determine that development of the property is in their best interest, they can do so. MPT/Papen explained that the General Plan indicates that low income housing does not provide sufficient revenue for the City to provide required services. A plan would need to be development specifying how revenues will be generated to cover services for affordable housing. Currently, the City is comprised of approximately 71% single family residences and 28% multiple family housing consisting of mobilehomes, apartments and condominiums. M/Kim pointed out that a conceptual plan has been con- ducted for Tonner Canyon showing a four -lane highway reducing to two lanes into local streets due to increasing traffic congestion in the City. ACM/Belanger responded to redundancies in the Plan commented on by Mr. Maxwell regarding Tonner Canyon by stating that there are certain elements in the General Plan where the issue of Tonner Canyon would fit; i.e., land use, circulation and open space. CDD/DeStefano further stated that not only is Tonner Canyon discussed several times within the document but also other issues are also mentioned several times. CA/Arczynski stated that many issues which the Council must deal with are generated as a result of State law requirements and, therefore, internal consistency is a necessity. Mr. Zola pointed out that State Law requires each city to absorb a share of low and moderate income housing. The General Plan proposes to establish a housing fund to be assessed against new development to provide funds for the creation of low and moderate income housing. The goal is for 114 units to be constructed over a period of five years. The Housing Element has been reviewed by the State, comments have been made and incorporated into the General Plan. RECESS: M/Kim recessed the meeting at 8:25 p.m. RECONVENE: M/Kim reconvened the meeting at 8:40 p.m. 2.1 DRAFT GENERAL PLAN (CONT'D.) Mr. Zola stated that the goal of the Public Health and Safety Element is to make individual developers respon- sible for paying for the services and facilities necessary to support their development. In regard to JUNE 9, 1992 PAGE 5 financing, two basic strategies have been developed: (1) maintenance of a fee structure to ensure that costs of new facilities are placed on new development and (2) financing techniques beyond development and construction fees consisting of possible assessment district financing for new development where new residents would pay for the facilities they would require. One major strategy is the construction of a high school in the Tres Hermanos Ranch area and is being considered as a potential community recreational facility. He further indicated that GPAC wanted to see the provision of different kinds of ser- vices and facilities in the City such as museums, per- forming arts facilities and cultural centers. In addition, Strategy 1.4.3 mentions the possibility of exploring the construction of a major institution of higher learning in the City. In order to pay for services and facilities needed, one strategy is to look at sales tax and identify ways to generate more tax out of the same land. Another strategy is to determine how sales taxes are distributed by the State and lobby the State to distribute tax revenues not only based on where the money is spent but on who is spending it (popula- tion). Another strategy is the municipal cost benefit model which is a method whereby the City can look at individual new developments to determine whether they are generating money for services or whether they are not self-supporting. The basic strategy to accomplish the objective of efficiency in public services and facilities is for an annual review of "user" charges, development fees and impact mitigation fees to make sure that the City is recouping costs for services provided. objective 2.3 discusses possible public/private partnerships as a means to financing services and getting facilities in place without the City funding the entire cost. C/Miller stated that Page 2, paragraph 4 regarding Flood Control provided by the County refers to flooding near the intersection of Brea Canyon Rd. and Lycoming. He believed that in late 1989 or 90, Ron Kranzer and Associates reviewed this intersection and due to the improvements, it had been removed from the Flood Hazard area, and requested confirmation of it. He further suggested that flooding problems at Brea Canyon Rd. and Diamond Bar Blvd. should also be included in the text. In addition, he stated that on page 6, Section 2.1.1 should include language to intensify the sales tax generating potential of existing and future commercial and office"areas within the City. He complimented the GPAC on ddillg.an excellent job with the wording in this document. MPT/Papen r�aquested that strategy 1.4.3 on Page 5 be removed regarding locating a major institution of higher learning due to -the need for approximately 2,000 acres of land which does not belong to the City. JUNE 9, 1992 PAGE 6 In response to C/Miller's question, Mr. Zola stated that the Circulation Element is currently based on the Land Use Map on file with the City. The concept of exploring the possibility of a college does not currently address traffic problems associated with it. Further studies would have to be conducted. He suggested wording such as "monitor plans by the Cal State Universities and University of California to establish new campuses in Southern California." M/Kim asked about construction of a civic center and how it could be done by a joint effort between private and public entities. Mr. Zola stated that some cities have done this by joint purchasing of land, land exchanges, purchase sale, purchase lease back arrangements, etc. Al Rumpilla, 23958 Golden Springs, stated that he felt that the City had adequate funds and/or property available for projects included on Page 5, Section 1.4.2. MPT/Papen stated that one of the comments made was that the City has the right to ask every agency in the community for a list of capital improvement programs and felt that it should be done. CDD/DeStefano stated that if the Council shares a difference of opinion on 1.4.2, that strategy does not need to be within the General Plan and can be removed. C/Miller suggested that that item be removed. C/Mi11er moved, MPT/Papen seconded to tentatively approve the Plan for Public Services and Facilities and direct staff to prepare the final document for future Council review. With the following Roll Call vote, motion carried: AYES: COUNCILMEN - Forbing, Miller, MPT/Papen, M/Kim NOES: COUNCILMEN - None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN - Werner 3. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to conduct, M/Kim adjourned the meeting at 9:12 p.m. TOMMYE City Clerk