November 8, 2008 Meeting Summary

Preparation

E-mail reminder and phoning non-e-mail list.

Acknowledgments

Susan brought scones.

Attendees

8 members

Meeting

Agenda Items:

• Park Pedestrian Path update
• Park native plant area redo
• Baker’s Square replacement
• Urgent Care Center meeting report
• Water shortage planning update
• Residential zoning rules potential changes
• Slurry seal of streets happening soon
• Pasadena Marathon update
• Rose Parade & Rose Bowl ticket raffle
• anything else attendees wish to discuss
  • Thursday November 13 at 10 am is Southern CA wide earthquake drill

The meeting began at 11:20 am

• Park Pedestrian Path update
  • Fence next to current path
    • The city put up the fence just east of the pedestrian path
    • Edison had been complaining about people being all over their property
    • Still no way to lock the gate though, so it doesn’t keep anyone out
  • Park landscape design personnel are looking into how to make a path that would start at the originally designated pedestrian entry point on Avocado just south of Las Lunas and go north between an extended buffer fence behind the houses but east of the wires, entering the park where the white fence currently crosses under the wires.  They are looking into alternative non-conductive fencing that would not be opaque like the current white fence so there could be visibility for security and it wouldn’t be totally claustrophobic.  The path corridor would only be able to be 5 to 7 feet wide.   At the least their effort will provide a straw man for more substantive talks with Edison.
• Park native plant area redo
  • Native plant “buffer” area on east side of park is being redone
  • Watering changed from big sprinklers to bubblers.
  • 150 new native plants are to be put in and surrounded by wood chip mulch.  Looks like a few of the new plants have been planted.
  • Reportedly work so far was done by a county crew of some kind.
• Baker’s Square replacement
  • Got the name wrong last month, it is “Stonefire Grill”
  • Proposed operating hours are Sunday – Thursday from 11 am – 9:30 pm.  Friday and Saturday from 11 am – 10 pm.
  • Planning to increase the interior eating space by 1214 sq ft and add an exterior eating space of 1036 sq ft, resulting in total space of 7054 sq ft.
  • With that amount of space, the restaurant will be required to have 71 parking spaces.  Obviously some of the current spaces will be eliminated to add space to the restaurant.  But the city staff report says that is ok because the shared parking space for Trader Joe, Ethen Allen, Robyn’s etc has more then enough spaces for all of them.
  • The restaurant also has to add a 12’x30′ loading space.  (Hmm, if Trader Joe’s has a loading space that size it clearly isn’t sufficient for it.)
  • The building is reportedly going to get an “altered facade” which is to improve the exterior design.
  • The “Stonefire Grill” is applying to the city for a conditional use permit to sell alcohol (beer and wine) for on-site consumption with food.  There will not be a separate bar area.  The hearing is November 13.  The city staff report recommends approval.
• Urgent Care Center meeting report
  • Meeting on East Pasadena location for an Urgent Care Center held on Oct 23rd
  • Mayor Bogaard and Health Dept head Dr Takashi Wada were present
  • Mayor spoke for a little while to provide background, rest of it was answering questions.
  • Urgent care center is not emergency care. No ambulance or paramedic traffic.  Hours would be something like 7 am to 10 pm weekdays and more limited hours on weekends.
  • This Urgent Care Center is a joint project between the city, the city’s health department, CHAP (Community Health Alliance of Pasadena), and Huntington Medical Foundation.
  • This is initially an experiment.  Looking at 4 to 8 or 10 providers at most.
  • City is seriously looking at alternate sites.  In addition to that neighborhood’s complaints (mainly worried about traffic), it turns out that 3160 Del Mar site buildings have foundation issues – the soil underneath being sand fill (should not be a surprise given location next to Eaton Wash).  So it would be more costly to use the site then city had thought.  City wanted to use site because it already owns it.
  • Site requirements listed are:
    • 8000 to 10000 sq ft.
    • East of Allen Ave.
    • At least 4 parking spaces for every 1000 sq ft of space.
    • Easily accessible via public transit.
    • Must be able to put a sign on the building exterior.
    • Must be able to lease for at least 5 years.
    • Space must be ground floor street accessible
  • Health dept is leading the effort.  Dr Wada said many landlords do not want to convert space to medical use or make the alterations necessary for night and weekend operations.
  • City is looking at a building at 40 North Altadena Drive (second building north of Colorado on east side).  Also at the new buildings on the south west corner of Colorado and Kinneloa (previously ruled out because owner only wanted to sell at “exorbitant cost”, not lease, but apparently with current economic situation the owner has now indicated some flexibility.)
  • Much discussion of St. Luke’s.  Developer there has reportedly now filed with the city a development proposal which includes 350 assisted living units, another medical office building, and mentions an outpatient surgery clinic.  The proposal does not comply with existing zoning.  Expect it will be 3 to 5 years for a development scheme for the property to get through the process.  Further it was reported by one participant that the developer was supported by the failed Lehman Bros and that may cause them additional financial problems.
  • Mayor said is still possible that a future urgent care center could be located on the St Luke’s property, but what city and other groups are working on now needs to be up and working within a year.  Aside from being needed sooner rather then later, there is a large grant that will expire if not taken advantage of.
  • There was some discussion of the “has to be north of the 210 in case the freeway collapses” argument. Mayor says he has been assured by Caltrans that the freeway bridges will not all collapse in a major quake.  And if there is a quake that big, St Lukes will probably collapse too.  And even if there is an urgent care center, it would not be equipped to handle traumas even assuming it was open at the time of the quake and doctors were present.
• Water shortage planning update
  • When the City Council was asked to change the existing water shortage ordinances on Sept 22 (Water Shortage Plan II), they chose not to do so, instead directing the staff to come up with a new comprehensive plan for 10%, 20%, and 30% reductions within 6 months, with progress reports to the Council within 60 and 120 days.
  • On November 3 the Council received a report from Pasadena Water & Power outlining what they plan to do.
    • They are working on updating the water management plan with current water supply information.  Since it was adopted in 2005 the supply situation has gotten much worse.  One impact of the plan is that it is used by the planning department in evaluating impacts of new development.
    • Redesign the rate structure to better penalize waste and encourage conservation as well as increasing rates in general to cover costs.  Also provide better feedback to customers on their usage.  This would likely involve categorizing customers differently (currently it is only by meter size) and more rate tiers.
    • Replace the existing water shortage ordinance with a new one which will emphasize saving water all the time as well as having increasing levels of penalties and strictures as shortages are worse.
    • Evaluate and get alternative water supply resources.  Including:
      • more ground water cleanup
      • Reclaimed water for landscaping and the Glenarm power plant.  This is identified as having the largest potential impact at 5% of total system demand.  The anticipated project would cost $37 million.
      • enhance storm water capture
      • more groundwater storage
    • Transform water usage guidelines, processes, and conservation programs.  Including planning and permitting procedures and ordinances, construction, building, and landscape codes.
  • Stated goals for regulations and rates are:
    • easy to understand
    • easy to implement and administer
    • don’t penalize early adopters of conservation
    • recover water and system costs
    • support durable water use changes
  • Supply problems
    • Since 2003, because of drought, MWD has only been able to get about half the historic amount it took from the Colorado river.
    • MWD’s allocation from the state water supply (northern CA) has been cut by 30% this year due to drought and court ordered pumping restrictions.
    • MWD has been pumping from stored reserves for two years, depleting them by almost 50%
    • Ground water levels in the Raymond Basin are well below historic levels and it is expected that pumping rights will be restricted soon.
  • Financial issues
    • PWPs water fund reserves have been depleted because costs have risen faster then rates.  And as ratepayers conserve the deficit gets even worse because most of the system costs remain the same.
    • Pasadena must have anti-water-wasting ordinances in place to continue to be eligible for state grants for water  projects.
  • Council Discussion
    • There was a lot of talk about “water budgeting”.  This is where every water receiving parcel would be evaluated for the type of usage, landscaped area, number of occupants, and assigned a “budget” of what is considered reasonable water usage.  To the extent the usage exceeds the budget rates would rise dramatically and/or if extreme there might be other penalties.  As water shortages require usage reductions everybody’s budget would be reduced.  Councilman Madison is pushing this particularly heavily and refuses to accept PWPs explanation of why it is difficult and time consuming to do the necessary analysis and gather the data for every parcel.  (There are some planned communities which have done it, but their parcels are much more consistent in size and shape and they have more starting data about what type of usage is on the parcel.)  No one discussed how they would know how many occupants a house has.
    • The Council seemed to come to a consensus that due to the growing crises, maybe they should have adopted the requested ordinance changes even though they would expect to replace them in six months or so.  Believe they agreed staff should bring somewhat revised version of that back to them at their next meeting.
• Residential zoning rules potential changes
  • Partly due to conflict with Urgent Care meeting, the meeting at Victory Park was very poorly attended (2 people).  The meeting last week in north west Pasadena had one attendee.  Meeting this week in south west Pasadena had about 7 attendees.
  • Asked about Sierra Madre Villa / Sierra Madre Blvd corner development houses that seem so big for lots.   Planner said that the developer has used every loophole available and pushed to the absolute limit of building size for those lots.
  • Meeting slide presentation is now on web at
    • http://www.cityofpasadena.net/planning/deptorg/curplng/SingleFamilyUpdates/CommunityMtgPresentation.pdf
  • Changes being proposed include:
    • Additions to existing non-conforming (but legal) houses
      • Side yard setbacks
        • Currently additions can match a non-conforming house’s setback
        • Proposing that a maximum of 20′ additional non-conforming setback be allowed
      • 2nd story encroachment plane
        • Currently an added second story can align on the side setback with the first story for up to 40′ as long as the first story has at least a 5′ setback.   For a new house or beyond a 40′ addition, the second story has to be setback so it doesn’t cross an “encroachment plane” which is a line drawn at 30 degrees from 6′ above the property line.
        • Proposing a maximum 2nd story addition of 20′ aligned with the first story along the side setback.  New second stories, or additional second story beyond 20′ in length, must meet encroachment plane standards.
    • Height
      • Currently houses on lots less then 20,000 square feet (all lots in our neighborhood) have to have a top plate height of <= 23′ and total height <= 32′.  (Top plate is basically the height of the wall below the roof.  If the house is built on a slope it is measured from the lowest point of wall anywhere on the house to the highest point of wall anywhere on the house. )
      • Proposing to change height limits to be based on the lot width.  (Lot width is measured at the street frontage of the lot unless it is a exterior corner type lot in which case it is measured across the lot at the front yard setback, usually 25′)
        • less then 75′ lot would have top plate limit of 20′ and total limit of 28′
        • 75′ or more lot would have top plate limit of 20′ and total limit of 32′
      • Public comments by a house designer supported changing to basing on lot width rather then area (think of a big lot that is very narrow), but resisted reducing the heights from their current levels. Would be too limiting of design styles such a steeply sloped roofs.  Looking for way to specify limits that would be more flexible in allowing different styles of roofs.
    • Maximum floor area
      • Currently maximum floor area is 30% of the lot size + 500 sf for lots less then 32,670 sq ft.  So a 5000 sq ft lot can have 2000 sq ft of floor area.  A 7,200 sq ft lot can have 2660 sq ft of floor area.  A 10,000 sq ft lot can have 3,500 sq ft of floor area.
      • “Floor area” is enclosed area including 1st and 2nd story, garages, carports, and accessory structures.  Does not include porches and patios that are not completely enclosed.
      • Proposed change would establish a sliding rate for larger lots
        • Keep 30% + 500 sq ft for first 12,000 sq ft of lot
        • Reduced to 20% for all sq ft above that.
    • Lot Coverage
      • Currently lot coverage allowed is a 35% flat rate for lots over 7,200 sq ft (2520 sq ft) and no limit for smaller lots.  Lot coverage can be thought of as measuring the area of all the roofs.  So covered porches and patios are included in the calculation.  )Patios with trellis type covers that are at least 50% open are not included.)
      • The majority of lots in our neighborhood are less then 7,200 sq ft.  About half the lots on the south side of Las Lunas and Hermanos are larger.  Almost all the lots on the north side of those streets and on Orange Grove are larger.  One lot, north-east corner of Hermanos, is larger then 12,000 sq ft.
      • Proposal is for a sliding scale
        • Allow a higher lot coverage for medium sized lots in hopes that will discourage second stories.  (Since it is less expensive to build 1st stories and maximum floor area would remain the same.)
        • Reduce lot coverage for very large lots
        • Proposal would not change maximum coverage area for lots less then 7,200 sq ft – there would still be no maximum.  So there would be no difference for most of our neighborhood.
        • Proposal for lots 7,200 – 11,999 sq ft is to increase maximum lot coverage to 40%. (So 2,880 sq ft for 7,200 sq ft lot)
        • Lots 12,000 – 19,999 sq ft would remain at 35%.  Bigger lots then that would be reduced to 30%.
    • Private street and access easements
      • Currently count in the lot size calculations
      • Proposal would eliminate them from lot size calculations.
    • Flag lots
      • Currently the “pole” portion of the flag (ie the driveway) counts in lot size calculations
      • Proposal would eliminate the pole of the flag from the lot size calculation.
    • Attics & Dormers
      • There are loopholes here that the Sierra Madre Blvd / Sierra Madre Villa corner development has used to get more space by making much bigger  then normal attics.  Attic area is not included in the maximum floor area calculations.
      • Currently the depth of the top plate (distance from the top of the wall to the top of the roof rafters above the wall) is not specifically restricted.  Proposal would limit it to 18″.
      • Currently there is no limit to the width or height of “dormers” .  The proposal would limit their height to the top of the main roofline and limit their combined width to 40% of the roofline.  Public comment rejected limiting dormer height to the top of the main roofline.  Many styles would have them taller.  Suggested just not allow them to exceed whatever the maximum roof height restriction is and also have to comply with the encroachment plane restrictions.
• Slurry seal of streets happening soon
  • Avocado Ave between Alameda St and Las Lunas St
  • Estado St from Avocado Ln to Sierra Madre Villa Ave
  • La Tierra St from west end to Sierra Madre Villa Ave
  • Mataro St from Santa Paula Ave to Sierra Madre Villa Ave
• Pasadena Marathon update
  • All marathon events are sold out or close to it
  • Sunday November 16.
  • The fees charged by the city for figuring out traffic, coordination, policing, etc are much higher then organizers expected.
  • The marathon organization is sending out mailers explaining the route and detours.
  • It appears there will be little or no profits this year to distribute to the charities.
  • “Finish line festival” free to public 6 am to 2 pm at PCC.
  • “Health & Fitness Expo” on Fri 12-7 pm and Sat 9 am- 6 pm at Pasadena Convention Center.
• Rose Parade & Rose Bowl ticket raffle
  • All households in District 4, which includes all of our neighborhood, should have received a postcard from Vice Mayor Haderlein about this
  • Every year, each City Council member is issued a number of tickets for Rose Parade grand stand seats and option to purchase a number of Rose Bowl game seats.
  • In past years, these have been raffled off to district members at a community meeting.
  • This year for the first time the raffle entries are being taken via the District 4 web site:
    • http://www.cityofpasadena.net/district4
  • Entry registrations must be made by 5 pm on Sunday November 30.
  • Entrants must live within District 4 and have identification to prove it.
  • Each Parade raffle winner is limited to 4 free parade tickets.  Each Rose Bowl game raffle winner is limited to purchasing 2 tickets at $145 each.
• anything else attendees wish to discuss
  • Thursday November 13 at 10 am is Southern CA wide earthquake drill
    • It is supposed to be simulating handling of a 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault near the Salton Sea
    • Everyone is urged to practice “drop, cover, and hold-on”, imagine all the stuff that would be falling on you and take steps to secure them so they won’t actually, and get your emergency plans and kits in order.

Next meeting is December 13, 2008.

Adjourned about 12:20 pm