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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-01-06ADJOURNED CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 6, 1975 PALM DESERT MIDDLE SCHOOL I. CALL TO ORDER The Adjourned City Council meeting was called to order at 7:06 P.M. by Mayor Clark on January 6, 1975 at the Palm Desert Middle School. II. PLEDGE III. INVOCATION IV. ROLL CALL Present: Councilman CHUCK ASTON; Councilwoman JEAN BENSON; Councilman NOEL BRUSH; Councilman JIM McPHERSON; Mayor HENRY B. CLARK Absent: None Others Present: City Manager - Harvey L. Hurlburt City Attorney - Dave Erwin Dir. of Environmental Services - Paul Williams VI. PUBLIC HEARINGS Mayor Clark said the meeting tonight was concerned with the General Plan which had been approved by the Planning Com- mission who made some changes due to public in -put. He said the procedure is for the staff to make their presentation. Council will have an opportunity to ask whatever questions they wish of staff. Following that the meeting will be open for any member of the public who may wish to speak. The hearing will be in two parts, one will be the Environmental Impact Report which is really an outcome of what is in the General Plan. In other words, the Environmental Impact Report is the effect, the General Plan is the cause. After the En- vironmental Impact Report is acted upon by the Council and after public in -put, there will be a study of the General Plan itself, element by element, and everyone will have an opportunity to speak about each one as it is brought up. Mayor Clark requested those speaking to confine their state- ments to 3 minutes. Following the in -put from the audience the Council will have an opportunity to ask questions of any- one who has spoken. The public hearing will be closed and the Council will take up its deliberations leading to their deci- sion. A. Case GENERAL PLAN EIR - Consideration of the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the Palm Desert General Plan, December, 1974 The Mayor opened the hearing. Mr. Hurlburt said a 6-page summary had been prepared on most of the questions which had been asked the past four weeks. He gave a review of the background. He said if the Council wished more time they could have a second meeting, and recommended Monday, January 20. Mr. Williams gave a detailed explanation of the Environmental Impact Report and the General Plan. In summation, he recommended that the Council certify the Environmental Impact Report as being complete. Mr. Edward W. Peck, 73-610 Buckboard Trail, President of Concerned Citizens, read a letter for the record re- questing a target date for adoption of the General Plan be set ahead to April 1, 1975 so that the complaints may be analyzed, the Environmental Impact Report rewritten to comply with the law, and the General Plan changed .as requested to make it compatible and acceptable. Barbara Reynolds, Administrative Secretary, Palm Desert Property Owners Association, read a resolution from the Directors of the Association requesting low density. Lyman Martin, 73-986 Highway 111, requested delaying action on the first part of the agenda until the General Plan had been taken up. He urged not moving too fast, that more in -put is needed after February when more people are here. Gloria Greer, 73-437 Tamarisk, wanted a better under- standing and asked if there is a K-Mart will there be hotels nearby for the people who shop there. Mayor Clark thought this would be made clearer as we go through the General Plan. Mr. Edward Benson, 1106 Sandpiper, asked Mr. Williams what he meant by providing the services without taxation. Mr. Williams said one of the aims of the General Plan is to provide land uses which will be able to be served without the necessity of a tax rate established to provide the services. Mr. Larry Morrison of Wilsey & Ham said they were requested to evaluate the economic impact of the Environmental Impact Report. Through that study they con- cluded that the balance of land uses as shown would allow the City to provide services to the City and the Sphere of Influence area without taxes. Councilwoman Benson said regarding the Environmental Impact Report on the air quality that it bothered her that the first statement said that the air quality has been deteriorating in the Coachella Valley and further down it says one of the main causes is the oxidents from traffic and she did not understand why a more in-depth study was not made in that area. Mr. Morrison said there are tables in the Environmental Impact Report which identify the levels of oxidants which would be generated by the plan. There was no question but that air pollution would be increased. The Regional Pollution Control Board is not active here and cannot evaluate it. Mr. Paul Secord of Wilsey & Ham said the analysis they did used the worst case situation with the maximum residential areas and made projections of popula- tion at full development and they broke it down by each residential area. If a regional air pollution study is done, they could take the data and get some idea of the expected levels. It is complicated and something they (Wilsey & Ham) cannot do in detail. Councilwoman Benson said that to certify this En- vironmental Impact Report as complete, when the facts are not there, it does not seem to her to be complete. 2 Councilman Brush commented on the letter from the Concerned Citizens and said he thought that the information should have been made available to the City earlier so they would have had a chance to study it. Mr. Peck replied that he had tried to introduce it at the Citizens Advisory Committee on three occasions and that he had tried to introduce it on the floor at the Council, but was not permitted to do so. He said there was no hearing on the Environmental Impact Report so how could it be introduced? Mayor Clark said the Environmental Impact Report tells you what will happen if everything in the General Plan is approved. Should anything be changed in the General Plan, it might change some of the impacts in the Environmental Impact Report. Therefore, he asked which should be approved first. Mr. Hurlburt said the Council could by-pass the Environ- mental Impact Report and go on to the General Plan but would have to go back to the EIR and approve it, prior to taking formal action on the General Plan. The Council was in accord to go on the the General Plan. B. Case PALM DESERT GENERAL PLAN, DECEMBER, 1974 - Consideration of the first General Plan prepared for Palm Desert, covering a planning area of approximately 82 square miles and extending from approximately Interstate 10 on the north to the San Bernardino National Forest on the south and Bob Hope Drive on the west to Washington Street on the east. Mr. Larry Morrison, Wilsey & Ham, gave a 45-minute slide presentation on the General Plan. Meeting recessed at 8:52 P.M. Meeting resumed at 9:05 P.M. Mr. Williams gave a summarization of the action taken and recommendations made and approved by the Planning Commis- sion. He reviewed the Planning Commission recommendations item by item The following elements were discussed: Implementation Element; Public Facilities Element; Environmental Elements; Circulation Element; Housing Element; Population/Economics Element; Urban Design Element; and Land Use. Meeting recessed at 10:55 P.M. Meeting resumed at 11:05 P.M. Mr. Williams discussed the Kiley letter, the Dr. Rigby letter, the Bekins Management Co. request, and the high density request of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church. Comments were asked from the public on the land use element. Mr. Kiley spoke regarding his request on 640 acres south of the southerly boundary of the City. Dr. Rigby spoke regarding his 9 acre parcel at the southeast corner of the intersection of Portola Avenue and the Whitewater Channel. Mr. Lyman Martin spoke regarding the land use element. He said that in the preliminary unofficial and subject to change land use element 1G1 under objectives, was to maintain the character of Palm Desert as a low density residential community and 1G1 now is to maintain the character of Palm Desert's low intensity residential community. 3 He said this was talking about apples and oranges, intensity could be saturations, strength supports or energy, coming from Webster. In 1G1, under goals, is to develop a land use pattern, it takes optimum advantage of the City's natural assets, in- cluding the views, the mountain areas, the desert floor and he thought it should be referred back to E.14 thinking about the adverse effects on the environment if this plan goes through, keeping in mind this is what we want to try and preserve. The other reference is 1B4, speaking of commercial areas recommended in the plan, including a variety of commercial uses clustering in a series of regional, convenient and specified activity center. Number one under that is a full retail outlet serving the entire Coachella Valley which he thinks is in conflict with what we are trying to do - provide village type atmosphere. He lamented the poor turnout for such an important meeting and urged the Council defer adopting the plan until April 1975. • Mr. Hunter Cook of Wilsey & Ham spoke against the staff recommendation and Commission recommendation to designate the Ironwood property as medium density residential. Mr. George Ritter spoke regarding the land use element supporting the Planning Commission and staff recommendation to show the area within the Property Owners Association as low density residential. With no other comments being made on the land use element the Mayor asked if any citizen wished to speak on the total General Plan. Mr. Lyman Martin spoke regarding the total General Plan and recommended that the hearing on the General Plan be continued until at least April to allow further study of the plan. After finding that no other persons wished to speak on the General Plan, the Mayor inquired regarding whether any of the Council had any questions of the public or staff regarding the General Plan. A lengthy discussion then ensued regarding the F. T. Kiley request, the Dr. Rigby request, the Bekins Management Company request, and particularly the St. Margaret's Episcopal Church request for a high density designation. Re- garding the Church request, Mr. Bob Ricciardi and Mr. Robert Cummings of Huntington Beach clarified the request and answered questions from the Council regarding the specific proposal for a 100-unit housing complex for the elderly on the church property. Upon review of the request of the specific development proposed it was determined that in lieu of the indicated high density residential designation that a more appropriate designation would be institutional -general. Councilman Mc Pherson moved, Councilwoman Benson seconded that the hearing on the General Plan be continued until January 20 and that the following items be referred back to the Planning Commission for study and recommendation: 1. F. T. Kiley request 2. Dr. Rigby request 3. Bekins Management Company request 4. St. Margaret's Episcopal Church request Motion was carried unanimously. Regarding the St. Margaret's Episcopal Church request, the indication of the Council seemed to be that the institutional -general was a more appropriate land use designation for the site. 4 VII. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None VII. REPORTS & REMARKS A. City Manager - None B. City Attorney - None C. Mayor & City Council - None VII. ADJOURNMENT Councilman McPherson moved, Councilwoman Benson seconded that the meeting be adjourned. Motion carried unanimously and meeting adjourned at 12:21 A.M. Mary'Pai ter -Deputy City Clerk APPROVED: • HENRY B. 'LARK, MAYOR