Upfront
Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to meet in closed session to discuss existing litigation, Schmidlin v. City of Palo Alto. The council is also scheduled to hold a hearing on the planned sale of the downtown post office and hear an update on Sustainable Community Strategy and regional mandates for housing. The closed session will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Regular meeting will follow in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to consider Lytton Gateway, a proposed five-story mixed-use building at 355 Alma St., site of a former Shell Station. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). COUNCIL REGIONAL HOUSING MANDATE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss the city’s response to Alternative Land Use Scenarios for the Sustainable Communities Strategy. The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss the Service & Efforts Accomplishment Report, 2012 commissioner assignments and commission priorities. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Downtown Library (270 Forest Ave.).
NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING of the Palo Alto Planning & Transportation Commission Please be advised the Planning and Transportation Commission (P&TC) shall conduct a special public meeting at 6:00 PM, Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in the Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Civic Center, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items. Staff reports for agendized items are available via the City’s main website at www.cityofpaloalto.org. and also at the Planning Division Front Desk, 5th Floor, City Hall, after 2:00 PM on the Friday preceding the meeting date. Copies will be made available at the Development Center should City Hall be closed on the 9/80 Friday. UNFINISHED BUSINESS. Public Hearing: 1.
335 and 355 Alma Street*: Request by Lund Smith on behalf of Lytton Gateway LLC for Planning and Transportation Commission review of a new Planned Community (PC) zone district (335 and 355 Alma) and Comprehensive Plan land use designation amendment (335 Alma) to allow a mixed use, five story building at a height of 64’ for enclosed floor area and 84’ for the unenclosed corner tower feature, on the 21,713 square foot former Shell station site zoned CD-C (P) and CD-N (P); including seven Below Market Rate housing units among the 14 rental housing units. Concessions for building encroachment into the maximum height and daylight plane standards are requested pursuant to California Government Code 65915. Environmental Assessment: An Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration have been prepared.
Other Items: 2.
Study Session to discuss the work of the PTC subcommittees on the Comprehensive Plan, Transportation, and Infrastructure and to define the role of the PTC in shaping the policies and programs for the Future Palo Alto. Ex-Planning Commissioners, community leaders and the public are invited to attend and provide comment. * Quasi-Judicial Items subject to Council’s Disclosure Policy
Tall Tree
News Digest
and business person. He is director of Stanford University’s Architectural Design Program and operates his own architectural firm. He was a founder of the Community Working Group, the organization that proposed and built the Opportunity Center, which provides services to the homeless and people in transition and subsidized housing for individuals and families. He was instrumental in the approval of the 49-unit very-low-income housing development now under construction at Alma Street and Homer Avenue. Barton served on the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education from 1997 to 2005, the Palo Alto City Council from 2006 to 2010, was president of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and participated in numerous community commissions and working groups. Whole Foods Market won the Tall Tree Award for outstanding business for providing downtown Palo Alto with a vibrant market at a time when other markets had closed and for its extensive support of community events and activities. Its community programs include Nickels for Nonprofits, which raises around $9,600 each year, and Community 5 Percent Days, during which 5 percent of the day’s net sales go to nonprofits, raising around $24,000 each year. Whole Foods has been a strong supporter of the Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit organization devoted to assisting the homeless that itself was awarded a Tall Tree in 2010, and helps many nonprofits by donating catering for events. Nonprofit honoree Foundation for a College Education helps East Palo Alto-area students of color from high school through college with tutoring and other support. It works with the students and their parents to identify colleges that would be a good fit, prepare for major events such as the SAT, navigate the application process, attain financial aid and scholarships, and keep on track to graduate. Many of the students in the program attend Palo Alto high schools as part of the Voluntary Transfer Program. Of the 122 students who have graduated from Foundation for a College Education’s high school program since 1999, 89 percent have graduated from college or are on track to graduate. East Palo Alto Mayor Laura Martinez, who went to Whittier College, is a graduate of the foundation’s program. N — Eric Van Susteren
Palo Alto to sell bonds to residents
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Questions. For any questions regarding the above items, please contact the Planning Department at (650) 329-2441. The files relating to these items are available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This public meeting is televised live on Government Access Channel 26. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org. *** Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment Page 6ÊUÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£Ç]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ
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Palo Alto residents will have a chance to buy city-issued bonds later this month as part of the city’s effort to refinance the bonds it issued a decade ago to pay for downtown parking garages. The council on Monday, Feb. 13, authorized the sale to the public of $33.48 million in parking-assessment bonds, which were originally issued in 2001 and 2002 to finance parking garages in and around University Avenue. The city is refinancing these bonds to take advantage of what staff called a “historic low” in interest rates. Joe Saccio, deputy director of the city’s Administrative Services Department, wrote in a report that “based on current market interest rates, the net present value savings resulting from the refinancing could exceed 5 percent of the outstanding principal amount of the 2011 and 2002 bonds.” The council voted 8-0 Monday, with Karen Holman absent, to authorize the bond sale. While the bonds will be available to the general public, Palo Alto residents will get first dibs. The bonds are expected to go on sale to investors and the general public Feb. 28 at 8 a.m., but Palo Alto residents can place advance orders now. The bonds are rated BBB by Standard & Poor’s and are tax exempt. Minimum investment is $5,000 and additional investment can be made in $5,000 increments, according to Saccio. They will be sold by De La Rosa & Co. and will have maturity dates from 2012 to 2030. Those interested in purchasing the bonds can get more information by visiting www.cityofpaloalto.org/buypabonds or calling De La Rosa at 1-866-361-3300. N — Gennady Sheyner
City hopes to lure industry to East Meadow Circle After seeing a surge of housing in several south Palo Alto neighborhoods over the past decades, city officials are now poised to transform these areas near the Mountain View border into enclaves of industry and innovation. The city’s focus is on areas just west of U.S. Highway 101, including the neighborhoods around East Meadow Circle and Fabian Way, a quilt of small parcels along San Antonio Road and the area around San Antonio and Charleston roads, near the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life. The city is putting together an “area concept plan” for the industrial and mixed-use neighborhoods as part of its effort to update the Comprehensive Plan, the city’s official land-use bible. The City Council on Monday night, Feb. 13, expressed support for the staff proposal to bring industry to East Meadow Circle and to lure large, revenue-generating businesses such as hotels or big-box stores east of San Antonio Road. Council members said they appreciated the plan, which would preclude additional housing developments in an area that lacks parks, retail and other residential amenities. The East Meadow area is one of two in Palo Alto — along with the California Avenue Business District/Fry’s Electronics site — that city officials have identified as ripe for major land-use changes. N — Gennady Sheyner
Palo Alto looks to strengthen massage law Palo Alto is plowing ahead with its plan to firm up regulation of local massage practices, but several City Council members said Tuesday night, Feb. 14, that the ordinance proposed by staff itself needs a little massaging. The new law would require all massage practitioners in Palo Alto to get certified in one of two ways — either by acquiring a city permit or by earning a certificate from the California Massage Therapy Council, a nonprofit corporation that the state Legislature created in 2009 to better regulate the industry. The city permit would require practitioners to go through 200 hours of training. It would also require massage practices to keep logbooks listing customers and the services provided. After numerous massage therapists cried foul about the logbook requirement, the city agreed to specify that police would need a court order to gain access to these records. The owner of Happy Feet, which provides reflexology services as well as fully clothed full-body massages, argued that the ordinance would harm his business. The council committee Tuesday agreed that the city should consider an exemption for reflexology establishments, much like other cities have done. Councilmen Sid Espinosa, Larry Klein and Greg Schmid directed staff to return at a later date with language pertaining to certifying these businesses. But the committee also agreed with city staff that Happy Feet itself is more than a reflexology practice, given that it also offers massages, and should not be allowed an exemption. The ordinance is driven by two state laws: Senate Bill 731, the 2009 law that established the California Massage Therapy Council, prohibits cities and counties from regulating the practice of certificate holders, said police Lt. April Wagner. Another law, Assembly Bill 619, went into effect this month, expanding the Therapy Council’s regulatory powers and adding new requirements for certificates to be displayed. The intent of the new law is to provide “uniform regulations statewide” and “eliminate the disparate treatment of massage establishments,” Wagner wrote in a report. N — Gennady Sheyner