11/12/2015 Planning Commission Special Meeting Adopted 01/07/2016DRAFT
Planning Commission
Regular Meeting
NOVEMBER 12, 2015
I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
II. REPORT ON POSTING THE AGENDA AND ROLL CALL
Georgina Sanchez reported the agenda was posted on Thursday, November 5, 2015 at
10:30 a.m.
Roll Call:
Present: Commissioner Steve Ashford; Commissioner Tom Fischer; Commissioner Paul
Kloecker; Commissioner Kai Lai; Commissioner Susan Rodriguez; Commissioner
Elizabeth Sanford. Chair Richard Gullen arrived at 6:38 p.m.
Staff Present:
Sue Martin, Planning Manager; Stan Ketchum, Senior Planner; Jolie Houston, Assistant
City Attorney; Kristi Abrams, Community Development Director; Ed Tewes, City
Administrator; Lee Butler, Development Center Manager; Christina Villarreal and
Georgina Sanchez, Office Assistants Community Development Department.
III. NEW BUSINESS:
A. The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) has completed review of the Draft
Gilroy 2040 General Plan Policy Text for recommendation to the Planning Commission
and City Council. At this meeting, city staff and consultants will present the Draft
General Plan Policy Text to the Planning Commission for their review and
recommendation to the City Council. Recommendation of the Draft Gilroy 2040 General
Plan Policy Text is exempt from environmental review under Section 15262 of the
California Environmental Quality Act
11-12-15 Item A – General Plan Policy Text
Senior Planner Ketchum presented the staff report for the Draft General Plan Policy
Text and proposed refinements to the Preferred Land Use Alternative. He said staff is
recommending the Commission conduct the meeting and then continue it to November
19, 2015 to allow additional time for the public and the General Plan Advisory
Committee to review the meeting materials, due to a late notification for tonight’s
meeting.
General Plan Consultant Jim Harnish presented an overview of the proposed General
Plan elements. He noted one proposed modification to the exterior residential noise
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requirements in the Potential Hazards element. He explained that the proposed action
on the General Plan Policy Text is an interim action to complete the draft General Plan
for use in preparation of the General Plan EIR.
Commissioner Fischer asked for more information on recommended changes to
response time for police and fire. He expressed concern that there is no numeric
standard in the General Plan and asked if the response times are dependent on city
budget.
Planner Ketchum answered that service levels provided for police, fire and other city
services are based on the two-year budget approved by the City Council. Community
Development Director Abrams stated that the fire and police departments use a variety
of measurements of service delivery that are contained in the two-year budget, which is
reviewed annually for performance. The existing General Plan language is not
representative of these more current service standards. The City Administration is
recommending that the General Plan contain higher level policy guidance and that the
service standards contained in the budget would be consistent with these.
Commission Sanford acknowledged that retaining the response times in the General
Plan was considered important by the GPAC, but felt the specific language involving
response times did not belong in the General Plan which is primarily a land use
document. She also stated that response time standards should not be based on the
budget.
Commissioner Kloecker expressed the need to retain the general numbers in the plan
and is concerned if we adopted language based on industry standards which may be
less then what we currently have.
Commissioner Rodriguez asked if wording could be changed from meet to exceed
industry standards. Planner Ketchum said that previous language referring to industry
standards had been removed because it could lead to different interpretations.
Commissioner Lai asked to hear from the police chief regarding the proposed General
Plan language. In the absence of the Police Chief, Community Development Director
Abrams responded that the police and fire chiefs are concerned with the current policy,
as previously stated, and that they are in support of the new policy language proposed
by staff.
Commissioner Fischer stated his concern that the proposed removal of the numeric
standards is because the city is not meeting them. He supports retaining the standards
as a benchmark for the city to strive towards in providing resources in the budget.
Planning Manager Martin stated that police has a strategic plan that they use in
achieving their performance goals and that the plan is available on the Police
Department website. Commissioner Sanford added that this website has much more
information that the public should referring to instead of the General Plan.
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Chair Gullen opened public comment.
Sam Bozzo, member of the Public Art Committee, spoke about fund raising for public
art, specifically referring to Parks and Recreation Element policy PR1.23, “Alternative
Financing Methods. He stated that the policy is a good start but that it should be
revised to include establishing an assessment on capital projects and new development
as a means to generate funding for public art, similar to that in other cities. City
Attorney Jolie Houston stated that there is a current lawsuit in progress in Oakland
challenging the legality of development fees to fund public art, but that the outcome is
not yet determined. She also said that in past similar cases the legality of such fees has
been upheld by the courts.
Walt Glines, a member of GPAC, stated that the five minute response language should
be included in the General Plan, regardless of the budget implications.
Rebecca Scheel, the Parks and Recreation Commissioner representative on the GPAC
pointed out that the Parks and Recreation System Master Plan” is supposed to be
updated every 10 years and it has not. She is concerned that typos, miss-labeled
pages and other inconsistencies in the Parks and Recreation Element of the General
Plan text may provide inaccurate information. General Plan Consultant Jim Harnish
explained that the Parks and Recreation System Master Plan update item in the
Implementation Programs is intended to recommend updating of the master plan every
ten years.
Carolyn Tognetti, GPAC Committee Member, gave a handout to commissioners that
summarized the LAFCO law enforcement services review in which Gilroy was listed as
averaging 12 minutes for priority 1 response calls. She feels this is unacceptable and
supports keeping the numeric response time standards in the General Plan so that
development projects will have to comply.
Bruce Morasca, Chairman of the Public Art Committee, also spoke in support of funding
for the arts. He explained the difficulties in raising funds for the statues installed in the
downtown. He also said he was glad to see that public art has been addressed in the
General Plan update.
Disclosure of Ex-Parte Communications:
Commissioner Fischer and Kloecker have discussed this topic with the community.
Motion on Item III. A.
Motion: Motion to continue the resolution to approve the General Plan Policy Text for
inclusion in the Draft Gilroy 2040 General Plan to the next Planning Commission
meeting of Thursday, November 19, 2015.
Moved by Commissioner Tom Fischer, seconded by Commissioner Elizabeth Sanford.
Vote: Motion carried 7-0.
Yes: Commissioner Tom Fischer; Commissioner Elizabeth Sanford; Commissioner Kai
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Lai; Commissioner Paul Kloecker;Commissioner Steve Ashford; Vice Chair Sue
Rodriguez; Chair Richard Gullen.
No: None
Abstain: None
IV. ADJOURNMENT to the Special Meeting of November 19, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
GEORGINA SANCHEZ,
OFFICE ASSISTANT