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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/20/1992 Minutes - Regular MeetingMINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR OCTOBER 20, 1992 1. CLOSED SESSION: Litigation - Government Code 54956.9 Personnel - Government Code 54957.6 No reportable action taken. 2. CALL TO ORDER: M/Kim called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the AQMD Auditorium, 21865 E. Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, California. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: M/Kim led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Mayor Kim, Mayor Pro Tem Papen, Councilmen Forbing, Miller and Werner. Also present were: Terrence L. Belanger, City Manager; Andrew V. Arczynski, City Attorney; James DeStefano, Community Development Director; George Wentz, Interim City Engineer; Bob Rose, Community Services Director and Lynda Burgess, City Clerk. 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Red Calkins, 240 Eagle Nest Dr., commented that all individuals should show respect for the - American Flag by standing at attention during the Pledge of Allegiance rather than rushing the podium to congratulate someone on a new appointment or election to office. Don Schad, 1824 Shaded Wood Rd., expressed concern that heritage trees within the utility area at Heritage Park will be removed to provide additional parking when the Community Center is constructed. CM/Belanger explained that additional parking had once been discussed for the area referred to by Mr. Schad but that it was not approved and is not part of the current plans. William Gross, 21637 High Bluff Rd., representing Diamond Bar Citizens for Country Living, stated that the reason for the lawsuit against the City was to force the City to meet with the citizens in good faith and to accept the Referendum petitions. He accused the City Council of acting erroneously, misleading citizens and businesses and of making false accusations against good citizens. CM/Belanger confirmed that a lawsuit had been filed. He stated that the court will determine the correctness of the City Clerk's action. William Tinsman, 1014 Capen Avenue, requested that the following article published by the Highlander Newspapers on October 7, 1992 be read into the record: "It looks as though the General Plan referendum proponents were correct, City officials have been lying to residents all along. OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 2 'The lies have been numerous, causing harm to builders and residents while city employees tried to look for a way around the law. Now that the referendum has been defeated at the hands of the city clerk only a handful of people will be allowed to know for sure why it didn't succeed. 'As it turns out, the city never had any intentions of allowing the referendum to become eligible for a special election. City Clerk Lynda Burgess noted at least four insufficiencies in the referendum documents. 'These insufficiencies are on the same documents that she certified as being sufficient to warrant the Los Angeles County Registrar's office to count signatures for a month. 'If Burgess had noted the supposed legal errors in the documents she could have simply killed the referendum and construction within the city could have continued as normal. Instead the city tried to duck the issue and hoped the registrar's office didn't find enough valid signatures. There were enough signatures, so the city had to disqualify the referendum itself. 'City Council members have stated that if it is the will of the people they will let them decide with a vote. Apparently they didn't really mean that. 'Burgess also determined that a single letter from a resident accusing Max Maxwell of improper signature gathering, without having any tangible proof, made 833 signatures gathered by Maxwell ineligible. It appears that Diamond Bar's city government can act as judge and jury on an alleged case of perjury as well. 'The letter that Kim Peace wrote was not shown to four of the referendum's main proponents and her identity kept a secret. Burgess refused to release the letter until calls from this paper to the city attorney resolved the dispute. 'After releasing the letter, Burgess accused the paper of "taking your job too seriously" in trying to inform the public about information that is being illegally kept from them and would not have been released otherwise. 'The city has repeatedly taken the position that the less the public knows, the better for their political futures. 'If Diamond Bar residents wanted to be ignored and left in the dark they could have remained in the county. Instead of twisting legalese to fit its need, the city should do its work in the open." Lydia Plunk, on behalf of the Diamond Bar/Walnut Valley Women's Republican Club, invited the Council to their candidates' forum on October 26, 1992 at the AQMD. She OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 3 further expressed dismay with persons "impugning the integrity" of the City Clerk. Max Maxwell requested that item 5.7, Approval of Tract Map 31977, be removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion. 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS: C/Werner noted that the court ruling granted the City permission to continue to conduct business as usual, with the exception of a few areas of interest, such as vesting tentative maps. MPT/Papen stated that, because there was a lawsuit pending and City Council members cannot discuss the issues, public comments should address issues of concern, not attack individual Councilmembers. 5. CONSENT CALENDAR: Following discussion, MPT/Papen requested consensus to add a clause to the recommended action for item 5.7 directing that no lots be sold until the Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions (CC&R's) are recorded. The remaining Councilmembers agreed to this amendment. It was moved by C/Forbing, seconded by C/Werner to approve the Consent Calendar as amended. Motion carried unanimously by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COUNCILMEN - Forbing, Miller, Werner, MPT/Papen, M/Kim NOES: COUNCILMEN - None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN - None 5.1 SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: 5.1.1 Parks & Recreation Commission - October 22, 1992 - 6:30 p.m., AQMD Hearing Room, 21865 E., Copley Dr. 5.1.2 Planning Commission - October 26, 1992 - 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., Auditorium, 21865 E. Copley Dr. 5.1.3 City Council Meeting - November 3, 1992 - 6:00 p.m., AQMD Auditorium, 21865 E. Copley Dr. 5.2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES - 5.2.1 Meeting of September 1, 1992 - Approved as submitted. 5.2.2 Meeting of September 15, 1992 - Approved as submitted, 5.3 WARRANT REGISTER - Approved Warrant Register dated October 20, 1992 in the amount of $281,178.42. 5.4 TREASURER'S REPORT - Received and filed Treasurer's Report for month of August, 1992. OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 4 5.5 BOND EXONERATIONS: 5.5.1 PRIVATE DRAIN NO. 2145, TRACT 42564 - Exonerated bond posted by Bramalea California, Inc. for Storm Drain No. 2145, Tract 42564 (Leyland Drive) in the amount of $120,000 and directed City Clerk to notify principals. 5.5.2 PRIVATE DRAIN NO. 1862, TRACT 31850 - Exonerated bond posted by Bramalea California, Inc. for Storm Drain No. 1862, Tract 31850 in the amount of $230,000 and directed City Clerk to notify principals. 5.6 REDUCTION OF GRADING SECURITY BOND NO. 04000588679 - Approved reduction of Grading Security Bond No. 04000588679 posted by Hamendra Rana for 23107 E. Ridgeline Rd. in the amount of $15,920, leaving a remainder of $4,000. 5.7 APPROVAL OF TRACT MAP 31977 LOCATED GENERALLY ALONG HIGHCREST DR. AND GOLDRUSH DR. - Project involves construction of 22 residences with lots ranging in size from 20,000 sq. ft. to 109,734 sq. ft. submitted for final tract map approval. Adopted the following Minute Order entitled: Approval of Tract Map 31977 Located Generally Along Highcrest Dr. & Goldrush Dr. - Approved Tract Map No. 31977 and directed staff to stipulate that no lots are to be sold until the CC&Rs are recorded; authorized Mayor to execute the Subdivision Agreement; authorized Interim City Engineer to sign the map and directed City Clerk to process the map for recordation. 5.8 RESOLUTION NO. 92-56: A RESOLUTION GRANTING CONSENT AND JURISDICTION TO THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES IN THE MATTER OF COUNTY LIGHTING MAINTENANCE DISTRICT 10006 AND COUNTY LIGHTING DISTRICT LLA -1 CITY OF DIAMOND BAR ZONE PROJECT NUMBER 96-62 - Authorized granting consent and jurisdiction to County re Lighting Maintenance District 10006 and Lighting District LLA -1 for City Project No. 96-62. 6. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, PROCLAMATIONS, CERTIFICATES, ETC. 6.1 PROCLAIMING OCTOBER 26 THROUGH 30, 1992 AS RED RIBBON WEEK - M/Kim presented a Proclamation to Cathy Goodson and Shelley Faeder, Co -Chairpersons of Evergreen Community Club and Al Stone, Evergreen Elementary School Principal. 7. OLD BUSINESS: 7.1 VESTING TENTATIVE TRACT MAP NO. 47850 - Diamond Bar Assoc. requested approval of Vesting Tentative Tract Map OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 5 No. 47850 to construct a residential subdivision of 73 acres on Steeplechase Ln. which is within SEA No. 15. In April 1992, the applicant agreed to provide additional soils and geotechnical information for further Council review by October 31, 1992. Additional clarification of the new geotechnical information was requested by staff and the applicant requested an extension of time for this matter to November 17, 1992. Following discussion, it was agreed that this matter be continued to November 17, 1992. 8. NEW BUSINESS: 8.1 POLICY FOR FUNDING TRAFFIC SIGNALS AT PRIVATE AND PUBLIC STREET INTERSECTIONS - Through the Traffic & Transportation Commission, the City identified private and public street intersections that may be candidates for traffic signals. The Commission prepared a proposed criteria to be utilized in determining responsibility for costs for installation of traffic signals and recommended establishment of guidelines for determination of funding responsibility by various parties benefiting from public/private street signals. In response to questions by C/Aerner, ICE/Wentz stated that the Commission's intent was to have consistency in how to deal with these instances in the future. He further stated that the City would be responsible for on-going maintenance of said signals. MPT/Papen recalled that traffic rules are currently in effect imposed by AQMD and LACTC for traffic mitigation and expressed concern in attributing 100% of the cost to a developer when there might be other property owners, further back on the same street, from which the City has collected mitigation funds. ICE/Wentz explained that when a traffic evaluation or analysis is conducted, other properties that could potentially impact are also analyzed to determine the longer term impact on future signals. Conditions of approval are currently placed on tracts to require proportionate participation for any signal that may be warranted in the future. He indicated that language could be added to both recommended actions 1 and 3 to clarify that staff recommends a cost -share approach. C/Miller concurred with adding language to #1 but not to #3 due to avoid the possibility of discriminating against various taxpayer groups. C/Werner stated that the policy should be rewritten in the form of a policy statement to clearly indicate a process to be followed and that it is not binding. He OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 6 suggested that the matter be continued to the next meeting. CM/Relanaer exnlained that the matter is before the OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 7 William Gross stated that, based on current information, this appears to be the type of project the City should be working toward approving. In response to Clair Harmony's inquiry, CDD/DeStefano indicated that the density for the development itself will be approximately three units per acre which is proposed to be similar to those previously built by Bramalea in the City. Also in response to Mr. Harmony's inquiry, CM/Belanger stated that the blue line stream in the bottom of upper Sycamore Canyon will not be affected by the development. In response to C/Werner's question, CA/Arczynski stated that the MOU is in proper conformance with Ordinance No. 4(1992). Adopted the following Minute Order entitled: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH BRAMALEA CALIFORNIA, INC. - It was moved by C/Miller, seconded by C/Werner to approve the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Bramalea California, Inc. and the City. By the following Roll Call vote, motion carried unanimously. AYES: COUNCILMEN - Werner, Forbing, Miller, MPT/ Papen, M/Kim NOES: COUNCILMEN - None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN - None RECESS: M/Kim recessed the meeting at 7:45 p.m. RECONVENE: M/Kim reconvened the meeting at 7:55 p.m. 9. PUBLIC HEARING: 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as matters can be heard. 9.1 ZONING CODE AMENDMENT NO. 92-2: CONSIDERATION OF A HILLSIDE MANAGEMENT ORDINANCE (HMO) TO ESTABLISH PERMANENT STANDARDS FOR HILLSIDE DEVELOPMENT - CM/ Belanger reported that the Planning Commission had continued their discussion of the proposed Ordinance to October 26, 1992 and, therefore, it was recommended that the City Council continue the Public Hearing to November 3, 1992. Council concurred to continue this matter to November 3, 1992. 9.2 ORDINANCE NO. 6(1992): AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR AMENDING CHAPTER 22.28 OF THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY CODE, AS HERETOFORE ADOPTED, PERTAINING TO PERMITTED AND CONDITIONALLY PERMITTED LAND USES WITHIN THE C -M, COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING ZONE - CDD/ DeStefano reported that adoption of the General Plan and OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 8 pending expiration of the Interim Commercial Manufacturing Ordinance establishes the need to revise the existing permitted and conditionally -permitted land uses within the five acres zoned C -M. C/Werner requested that Subsection A be amended to read "The following commercial uses 'within an enclosed building"' and stated that several uses within the permitted uses may really need to be within conditionally -permitted uses. CDD/DeStefano stated that the County Code does not require a CUP for alcohol sales; it was not the Planning Commission's nor staff's intent to turn the C -M Zone into an industrial zone; the properties now zoned C -M based on the General Plan will receive a new commercial designation; the County Code does not distinguish between on-site and off-site alcohol consumption and all sale of alcohol is permitted by right. However, cabarets, bars or cocktail lounges are only limited when capacity of 200 persons is exceeded. M/Kim declared the Public Hearing open. There being no offers to speak, M/Kim closed the Public Hearing. It was moved by C/Forbing, seconded by C/Miller to approve for first reading by title only Ordinance No. 6 1992, entitled: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REPEALING SECTION 22.28.230 OF PART SIX OF CHAPTER 22.28 OF TITLE 22 AND ADOPTING AMENDED SECTION 22.28.230 AND MAKING FINDINGS IN SUPPORT THEREOF. CA/Arczynski pointed out that dates included within Paragraph ii of the Ordinance should be changed to October 16, 1990 and November 13, 1990. C/Werner suggested that the motion be modified to amend Subsection A to include "within an enclosed building" and to relocate all alcohol-related used to the portion requiring a conditional use permit. It was moved by C/Forbing, seconded by C/Miller to amend their prior motion as suggested by C/Werner. Motion carried unanimously. In regard to approval of First Reading of Ordinance No. 6 (1992), motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COUNCILMEN - Forbing, Miller, Werner, MPT/ Papen, M/Kim NOES: COUNCILMEN - None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN - None OCTOBER 20, 1992 PAGE 9 10. ANNOUNCEMENTS: MPT/Papen suggested that the Council ask the Planning Commission to appoint two of their members to participate in discussion with the Council sub -committee on vacant land as the need arises. Following discussion, the matter was tabled. CM/Belanger announced that Troy Butzlaff, Assistant to the City Manager, had volunteered to attend Water District meetings on behalf of the Council representative. CM/Belanger also announced that Southern California Edison had offered the City the use of their electric -powered shuttle bus on election day, November 3 to provide transportation to polling places to vote. Voters should contact City Hall to make arrangements. M/Kim stated that a recent article published in the Diamond Bar/Walnut News Gazette indicating that he had ordered buses for voters, was untrue and requested publication of a retraction by the paper. 11. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to conduct, M/Kim adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. ATTEST: C� 1 May 1 +LDAJBUING!�-,�SS,City Clerk