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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-09-04MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 9:00 A.M. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES CONFERENCE ROOM I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor/Chairman Kelly convened the meeting at 9:16 a.m. II. ROLL CALL Present: Excused Absence: Mayor Pro-TemporeNice Chairman Jean M. Benson Councilman/Member Councilman/Member Buford A. Crites Jim Ferguson Councilman/Member Robert A. Spiegel Mayor/Chairman Richard S. Kelly Also Present: Carlos L. Ortega, City Manager/RDA Executive Director David J. Erwin, City Attorney, arrived at 10:05 a.m. Sheila R. Gilligan, ACM for Community Services Justin McCarthy, ACM for Redevelopment Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk David Yrigoyen, Director of Redevelopment Ruth Ann Moore, Business Support Manager Lauri Aylaian, Development Manager Kristy Kneiding, Marketing Manager III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None IV. OLD BUSINESS A. DISCUSSION OF THE ENTRADA DEL PASEO PROJECT LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 111 AND EL PASEO. — Note: The following is a verbatim transcript of this portion of the meeting. MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 JM Justin McCarthy, ACM for Redevelopment BAC Councilman/Member Buford A. Crites RSK Mayor/Chairman Richard S. Kelly RAS Councilman/Member Robert A. Spiegel LB Leon Bennett, Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce member JMB Mayor Pro-TemNice Chair Jean M. Benson LA Lauri Aylaian, Development Manager SRG Sheila R. Gilligan, ACM for Community Services RY Reuel Young, Architect RAM Ruth Ann Moore, Business Support Manager RDK Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk DJE David J. Erwin, City Attorney CLO Carlos L. Ortega, City Manager JM Mayor Kelly, members of the City Council, the items before you are basically two. One is the location at Entrada Del Paseo for the proposed Chamber of Commerce facility. That is broken down into basically two subsets: should that facility be constructed on a pad out there on the site along 111, called the "restaurant pad," or, two, should it be integrated as part of the Visitors Center with two possible decision points there, that being the size of the facility that the Chamber will need. The second item is really to discuss and get some direction from the City Council with respect to the architectural motif for the Visitors Center. With that, I would like Lauri to kind of take you through the Chamber options so that we can seek your direction. Yes, sir. BAC JM BAC JM On Item 1, the issue of whether it ought to be, will be, at the Visitors pad at Entrada Del Paseo or at the old location or at yet another location is not here. No, sir. Based on our understanding, there has been no formal action by the City Council with respect to locating the Chamber at another location. We have looked at other facilities, we've looked at the Visitors Center, we have looked also at potential office buildings and things of that nature. So we have looked at them, but the last direction we had is that basically the Chamber would be located in Entrada Del Paseo, while there is confusion as to whether it be in the Visitors Center or as a separate building. So we are trying to stay within the parameters of the decisions as we understand them. That's our understanding. You're welcome to that, but at least for me, all this doesn't mean a darned thing until other things are tended to. Yes, sir. 2 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK What do you think we need to tend to first? BAC Whether it is on that site or not. SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK My memory is that we made that decision, but if there's a doubt about it, well, then let's make that decision. BAC I think we made a decision, I think we've had recommendations from the subcommittee at various times about whether that decision needs to be revisited or not revisited and various and sundry things like that, and so at least until we have an either affirmation of that or else we don't, to me all of this is not particularly useful. RAS Could I suggest something, Mayor? We have Susie Harvey and Leon Bennett with us today from the Chamber. Leon is in charge of deciding on a new facility from their standpoint, not from the City's standpoint but from their standpoint. Maybe Leon would like to address the group and tell us what their feelings are. Fair enough? BAC Yeah. RSK Okay, Leon, you may do that. Step to the podium and give your name and address. LB Leon Bennett. I live in Palm Desert, and I'm on the Building Committee for the Chamber of Commerce. I'm not on the Board right now. Also involved with Classic Party Rentals in Palm Desert. I guess I probably have the longest history about the Visitors Information Center and the Chamber building. I probably started this process off years ago when I wrote Buford a letter saying the current site on the corner of 111 and Monterey was a terrible site. I suggested at that point that maybe we ought to take a look at the bank building where Gateway is right now down across from the mall. At that point, he brought that to the Council, and the Council did decide, yeah, we probably should be looking at a new site, and that's when you guys went and decided that actually you didn't want to be a tenant, you wanted to have your own building. So you went out (unclear) process. At that same time, well about a year later, is when we actually had the separation of the Chamber and the Visitors Information Center. That was shortly after Bob Leo left, and it was a very painful process. I was the President of the Chamber at that point in time, and that was a very painful process because we hoped to get things going back for you but I think it was probably a good decision. For me personally, it was a very painful decision. But during those meetings in Ray Diaz's office with Jean Benson and Mr. Spiegel, Councilman Spiegel, we were basically promised that at some point in the near future, we would be back in the same building with the 3 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 same kind of arrangement, although we would have separate operations. I can't speak officially for the Chamber and say exactly what the Board wants to do, but I can tell you our definite first choice would always be together with the City. I think it makes sense from a lot of standpoints, and I won't go through all those points, but I think that from a referral standpoint and other things, it makes a lot of sense. Plus the history says that that's what we thought we were promised years ago. So, I think that is our top choice. I know there are a lot of other options available. The current offices we're in right now, it's my fear when we moved to the office building over here that we did not have good visibility and we would be hard to find and that type of thing. And Susie coming new on as an Executive Director said, "That's all right, we'll make it do for a year or two." It's been four years now, and our businesses in Palm Desert have a hard time finding us, namely, new businesses have a hard time finding us when they want to start business in the City. So I think it really makes sense for us to be together. If I can answer any questions, I'II do that. RSK Any questions? Thank you. RAS Well, I guess we'd better decide on where the Chamber is going to be before we look at anything because then probably we'll have to decide whatever else is done with it. My commitment to the Chamber was and still is that when we break them up and put them over in the Brothers Building, it's a temporary process because we're going to build the new Visitors Center. And after that Visitors Center is built, they would join the Visitors Center, not necessarily in the same building, but they would join the location of the Visitors' Center. And that's pretty much what I've stood by for the last four years because of that commitment. So, as far as I'm concerned, I would prefer that the Chamber be either adjacent or adjoining the new Visitors Center. JMB Well, since I was the other one in on that meeting, I do admit that we said that we would put them back together, but in four years I think a lot of things have happened. And I think one of them that made me think of changing my mind, and maybe they shouldn't be together, is the fact that when I met with Susie and they were requesting 2,600 square feet because they needed room for expansion, I began to think well maybe the Visitors Center needed room for expansion as well if we were going to have a new building once and for all, that we weren't going to be moving. So, I kept looking at it and thinking maybe it's not as feasible to have it in there together when we do have a perfectly good building on the corner of Monterey and 111 that was built for the Chamber, it's never been used primarily all for the Chamber alone, it's always been combined with the Visitors Center since that was part, as I understand it, the Redevelopment law, that we had to have some use of the facility in order to use Redevelopment money on it. So they've never totally had that whole building. And also, now, with the remodeling of 4 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 Westfield, we have the opportunity to get more parking in there, and that was one of the main things that was wrong with the building. It was perfectly all right for the Chamber when they didn't have a place to go. When we built it in 1983, it was an ideal location to be on the corner of Monterey and 111. Nobody raised the issue then that it was a bad location. They were happy to have a free space of rent. So I don't agree that it's a bad location. The access hampers it somewhat, but then by the same token, it never was a problem. People got in there alright, and that can be improved with the help of Westfield on that side of the parking lot. That is the reason that I changed my thinking on putting it in there and then the fact of how much it would cost to build a separate building there. I didn't feel it was fiscally responsible to spend a million and a half for one building for one entity that doesn't represent all the businesses in the City, not even half of them, so I just don't think that's good fiscal responsibility. And I'm perfectly willing to use the building that we have on Monterey and 111 and help them get inside and get the things they need done for it so they'll be up and running. That's my stand and answer to what Leon said. I did say that, but I reserve the right to change my mind in four years when I look at the dollars and how we spend them. RSK Mr. Crites. BAC I've listened to Leon and I know you have a point of view. I was curious after the last Chamber Board meeting. I talked to the Chamber Board members, and most of them said, but don't quote me, there is less than unanimity of opinion internally. Some like...no one likes where you are. Some want to be on the Visitors Center site, some of them don't want to be on the Visitors Center site. Some of them think the corner is better, some of them don't care one way or the other, and so on and so forth. I personally am in agreement with Jean. So here we are. RSK Well, I might as well state why I feel strongly that it ought to be near the Visitors Center. First, going back to that place on the corner, it never was...it's always been a difficult place to get to. And to try to work out parking when you have to go across Denny's access there, and Denny's was different than the mall. I was very much involved when it was put there. It was put there to solve a problem that the El Paseo people didn't want the Chamber of Commerce to be located in the mall. The Chamber of Commerce had an opportunity to have a place in the mall, and so the City had that little odd piece of property left because when they took the service station for the mall, there wasn't enough property left there to do anything else with, so they stuck something in there that we wouldn't approve today because of the parking. And I just think that the Chamber of Commerce works...whether everybody agrees or not, the Chamber of Commerce does actually work at the same objective as the City works at. Their objective is the same as the Visitors Center is. Many, many...I would say most people, when they want to find out something about a city, they think of the Chamber of Commerce. 5 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BAC SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 I've been at locations on my vacations, and I've found a Chamber of Commerce. They were right in the middle of town, they had a sign, and I found them. And I just think we have an opportunity to use the Chamber to assist us in the betterment of our city in the same kind of objectives that we're looking for. It makes sense to me to have the Chamber somewhere where visitors and potential business people can find it and where it can be seen. If there is some reason that staff can't get along, then there could be a separation between the walls or something, if that's a problem. But to me, a successful Chamber of Commerce is a real asset to not only the business community but the tourist community. And I know they get lots and lots and lots of calls looking for hotels, even though that should go to the Visitors Center maybe, but all the people out there that want to find out something about Palm Desert you're not going to change their ways. I mean, that's the way it is. In the United States, the Chamber of Commerce is the well-known place to go to find out about a city, so I feel it ought to be visible, it ought to have good access, it ought to have good parking, it ought to have a nice landscape. People are going to come there and visit the City of Palm Desert. Oh, you have a Visitors' Center. Yeah, it's right next door. Oh, I wanted to talk to the Chamber. Well, they're right next door. So it just makes sense to me from a business standpoint of the City to have the Chamber and the Visitors Center at the same location. I don't think anybody disagrees about the success of a business community, the success of a Chamber. But to show that different people come to it from different perspectives, after our last chat about this, I went and asked people that I know. Out of that group of, I don't know what I asked, a dozen people or so, one of them said they had dropped in a Chamber office to look up anything about a community when they were visitors. The point is, and it's not to argue, but your data is from your point (unclear). RSK I have a hard time buying that. BAC Well, and my point is...I'm not asking you to buy it. I'm just telling you from other perspectives that for a lot of people, that isn't the case. RSK It'll never sell in Bakersfield. BAC Well, I'm just telling you the other side of it, and you can agree or not, but for a lot of people that isn't the same thing at all. RAS Mayor, let me ask you a question. Is Councilman Ferguson's conflict such that he can't vote on this kind of issue? 6 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK Well, this doesn't have anything to do with that other issue. I don't understand. I think the City Attorney said he couldn't enter in this kind of conversation. JMB It's because he represented Tim on other properties, and Tim is looking at restaurants. That's the conflict. BAC And it would be until a year goes by or some such thing. JMB Why, we don't understand with the Chamber. It's on the same lot, but it's like being in the same town, you did something in Palm Desert, so you can't do anything else, it looks to me. BAC Anyhow, what good advice does staff have for us now? JM It would only be with great trepidation. However, I'm going to take some risks here and cast wisdom to the wind. I think from staff's perspective, we have looked at other options, options that might be viable candidates for the Chamber. I mean, the Hooters restaurant was vacated, the owner of that building is contemplating repositioning those towards office. That is a reasonably visible, very close to El Paseo site. RSK Where? RAS Hooters. JM That is one site that we looked at to see if that could be viable. There is an issue with respect to the Visitors Center that I think the Council needs to be apprised of, and that is based on our discussions with Westfield, additional parking could be problematic because it's our understanding...I understand...that's why I threw in the trepidation part. RSK Instead of letting... BAC I didn't say a word. RSK You didn't say a word, but your body language was big time. BAC I was just thinking of our esteemed representative from Westfield. I apologize. JM I saw that as an invitation to openness. So basically, that land would be encumbered by the Sears parcel, and we're asking for verification of that. So just wanted to give you that information. 7 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY JMB Just let me ask one question. JM Yes, ma'am. SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 JMB How about Macaroni's? Who are they covered by, because the parking that we would be talking about is down farther than the Monterey side...more JC Penney than Sears. So maybe that's... JM We would have to look into that. That's the communication that we received today. JMB Okay. JM And that would have to be, you know, verified and confirmed. BAC Whatever happens on that corner, whether it's the Chamber or not a Chamber or anything else, that issue ought to be resolved. And I would hope that our close friends at Westfield would approach that in a cooperative fashion to facilitate that. JMB Go ahead. I'm sorry, I didn't think it was by Sears because it wasn't where it was looking to add the parking. JM I mean, from staff's perspective, there's obviously numerous locations that would be viable candidates, that would provide visibility. You have the Hooters restaurant facility, you have the existing Visitors Center, and then you have the proposed Visitors Center. All are reasonably visible, and all are reasonably accessible for the type of demands that, you know, that you're anticipating. So, you know, this does boil down to policy issue, and I guess with that I will volley it back. RAS Question. JM Yes, sir. RAS Mayor Pro-Tem Benson mentioned a figure of a million and a half per building. Is that what a building 2,600 square feet would cost? LA When we were looking at building the new building on a separate pad, there was a discussion as to what size should the building be, should it be sized just for the Chamber or should there be other community uses. And the kind of direction from the Council at that time was the size it adequately so that other civic groups and similar users could take advantage of the facilities. So we were looking at a 6,000 square foot building. 8 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RAS 6,000 square feet? LA And for that we were looking at a price tag of $1.2, $1.5 million. RAS 6,000 square feet is a lot bigger than 2,600. JM That was a multi -use facility, though. That was not exclusive to the Chamber. LA We've also looked at the...you have a spreadsheet there that shows the costs of providing increased space in the Visitors Center building; it also lists an option expanding the Visitors Center building to be the full 4,600 square feet that the Chamber has requested, and we did look at another number, and that was for adding the second floor onto the existing Visitors Center. That information was not on here, but the cost of that was roughly equivalent to including the Chamber in the existing shell for the Visitors Center. So it was about $460,000. RAS That includes an elevator? LA Yes. BAC What's the square footage of the existing building on Monterey and 111? LA 1,760 feet, around there. JM You've got a million and a half here for a new building. How much of that would be, just for an apples to apples, how much of that would be allocated to the 2,600 square feet. LA 2,600 square feet would probably be about $500,000 to $600,000 worth. JM Okay. Just to try to keep it a fair comparison. BAC But a lot of the cost of the separate building is in the building of the building, and it gets cheaper per square foot as it gets bigger. Is that fair and correct? JM Yes, sir. BAC So there's a certain "doing it" amount and then... LA Bringing the utilities to the... JM You have a lot of economies of scale with a bigger building. 9 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK Well, it looks like we have a problem before we get anywhere. What else can we discuss if we don't settle this problem? RAS I guess the question is how can we ever settle this problem? RSK Well, we have five people here. JMB But if Jim can't vote... RSK Well, yes, but after 12 months he can vote. BAC Not after 12 months from now, but after... RSK No, but in a month or so, he will be eligible to vote. And I suspect that if we could take a look at this, we'd find that he can vote right now, if we had the City Attorney here, but it's too bad he's not here. And I suppose we could ask a couple of questions about whether or not he could vote now. BAC He's here? LA He's here. I've seen him go past a couple of times just since we've been sitting here. BAC The 6,000 square foot "new building"...what purposes, other civic groups, what... LA The only...we tried to nail that down. The only needs that were quoted out there were the... RSK Excuse me a minute. LA ...CVEP. BAC Huh? LA CVEP. There's also a new business improvement district, the Cook Street...some group that I believe does not exist yet. SRG The Historical Society was one. BAC They've got a building. SRG Yes, but it was to give them an opportunity to display... 10 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 BAC I'm trying...I mean I know we could find the folks, but CVEP's got an office, and 1 assume a fairly decent grant. JM Yes. BAC The other is Cook Street something? LA Cook Street Business Improvement District. BAC If we had such a thing, wouldn't that be nice to have them on Cook Street. RA May I remind you that we already have a Portola Community Center (unclear) LA It was thought to be similar to that. JMB We've already got one, and we (unclear) RAS We could always...the committee that looks at those things could probably work things out on a monthly kind of basis meeting or something. BAC In other words, the Portola building satisfies the need? RAS Could be, it could satisfy the need. The Library is a potential...I mean, we've got a lot of places to meet here in the City. BAC Well, what I'm looking...is this about meeting space or about office space or about... JM I think it was a little bit of both. I think there was some thought of a community room, but there was also some thought of integrating other non -profits or community -oriented groups that have been mentioned in that space. 1 don't know how much in terms of legs that concept ever really got, but it was bandied about a little bit. BAC I suspect if we build free space, they will come. JM Yes, sir. RAS We did that with Portola; we did that with the Library, and they came. BAC But there's no pressing need in terms of that, simply being if you build a separate building, it's silly to build a 2,000 square foot building. 11 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 JM That's fair. BAC Okay. That's a fair way to put it, then. RAS We could look at the architecture of this. Let's look at the architecture. RSK Jim's on his way. So we'll have him and the attorney both here. We can discuss whether we could or not, I would think, all of us. LA So we should talk a little bit about the architecture while we're waiting for a decision? BAC Yes. RAS Might as well. LA The reason this was brought back to you was we had actually gone through a year, year and a half, of programming space, identifying what was going to be used. We started from the interior and identified what needs we wanted to fulfill with the Visitors Center as far as retail space and alcoves for displaying information as far as how their operation and back -of -house areas would work. RAS Refresh my memory. How many square feet in the Visitors Center? LA The whole building is about 8,150 feet. And at that time, or starting from the use of the building and how we envisioned that people would make use of the space, the architecture developed around that. We actually went through a couple of different iterations of the architecture before we got to one that was reviewed and approved and accepted by...there was a subcommittee for this building, and then there was the steering committee that reviewed and approved it, and it came to the Council and the Architectural Review Board and Planning Commission. What you're looking at here is the architecture as it stands having been approved by those groups. We were concerned at the last Study Session because there were some reservations expressed by some of the Councilmembers that indicated they were not satisfied with the architecture, and they wished that we could revisit it and see what to do or have a second chance at it. Staff wanted to see if we could expand on that a little bit more. There was not enough of a discussion to be able to determine if there was dissatisfaction with the architecture with the internal space, the way it worked, the different areas, having the theater and the alcoves and retail spaces and galleries in there or if the dissatisfaction was merely, "What does the exterior look like?" A couple of comments that were distinctive indicated that there might be some concern or dissatisfaction with what is the tower element here. I brought this just to show what had been one of the previous versions that 12 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 we had looked at that had a little bit of stronger front and did not have that tower element. The tower element was added in response to some specific concerns about the design and identifying where the entry was. So we are looking for some feedback. Is there, indeed, some dissatisfaction, or is this a building that we are pleased with and would like to go ahead with? If we do want to go back and revisit the architecture, then it would really help for us to have some specific guidance or direction from the Council because we've gone through the committee process, and if that has produced something that people are not satisfied with, then we need to figure out how do we get to something that will meet the satisfaction of the Council. RAS One of the things I think we talked about the last time we took a look at this was that we very much like the look of the City Hall. And if that could be adopted for our Visitors Center, I think that's one of the things we discussed. JMB I don't remember...I know we all said we liked the looks of the building...I don't remember... RAS You and I, I think, talked about the guy that came in here and designed the City Hall and something like that and that he was still alive here in the desert (unclear) JMB The architect that did it is one, I think, from Arizona. RSK We fired him. RAS But you brought somebody else in (unclear). SRG Charlie Martin. RSK Maybe he acted as project manager. He managed what was already architecturally done. RAS I remember some of that conversation. JMB Yes. And also, I believe in, Justin or somebody, in costing out the building, looking to bring it down, that that tower element was reduced about three feet from what is shown in that picture. LA The whole parapet came down about three feet from initial, here. BAC What are the height elevations? What is the highest height? RY It varies; 36 feet at the peak of the tower. 13 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 JMB Now? RY As it's drawn. So it would be 33 feet. JMB 33, yes. BAC And what's code? LA I believe it is 32, or is it 40? I'd have to revisit that. It has been approved by the... BAC I know, and Architectural Review tends to, at least by my bias, approve taller things than perhaps some of us would...but I'm just curious, are we...l mean I know there are exceptions and you can have belfries and all the rest of this stuff, but is this thing within the land use? LA Yes, it is. Our greater concern...in fact, we stay conservative because the neighbors at Sandpiper didn't want it to go too high, so we stayed even less than... JM One thing about the design, as you can see, I mean it wasn't entered in process. And I think the intent of the committee and everybody's intent was to try to create an architectural statement that was warm and inviting as opposed to an institutional type of look. It's also going to be in a setting where it's adjacent to a garden. It's also going to be in somewhat of a commercial orientation where you've got restaurants and possibly a hotel around it too. BAC As one person, having looked at it a number of times, I'm happy with the architecture. So my bias is to get on with building it. JMB I think in looking at the new architecture that we did approve prior and the modernistic element of it just brings to mind our new furniture store on the corner of Fred Waring and San Pablo, that we didn't like it at first, and Jim and I worked with them to bring it where it is today; and I don't think of any building that we've built in a long time that I get more compliments on, or the City gets more compliments on as being different. LA It is atypical of most of the construction in the City, and one of the things that we looked at is we didn't want it to fade into the site such that it looked like another restaurant or could be confused with some other commercial development that was going on. So it is more civic in nature, and it does make a statement. But if the statement is not the statement we want to make, then now is the time to address that. 14 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY JMB SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 Well, I can't see much difference between the two; if you took the tower and put it on the other building, it would look the same. And it looks just like another Sandpiper or something right along there. RSK This one? JMB Yes. RSK It looks more like a convent to me. BAC I respect very much my colleagues wanting to take another look at that. I think...at least I always remind myself that at one point I wished we had, or I'd had, the sense to take another look at our Library. I will always live with not having done that, and we have the art gallery on 74 that at least some of us are lacking in enthusiasm about. On the other hand we have some like the one Jean points out that are new and different. And I think you're right, that building...I love that furniture store building on the corner. I think that really adds to our... RSK It would be better if it had a sidewalk, though. BAC Apparently, we couldn't have a sidewalk there according to (unclear) RSK Oh, come on. We had a whole parking lot to move out to. RAS Hopefully, he'll be successful. So far, it's touch and go, very touch and go. It might be a new pharmacy. BAC Anyhow, it's always a dice roll. I think I would roll the dice on this one, personally. RSK You would what? BAC I think this is a go. RSK The one over... RAS The one on the left. BAC As long as it's low enough to not be exceeding any of our...I don't want anyone coming in saying "if you guys have built stuff that high, why can't I?" stuff. JM Subject to consistency with Code. 15 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 Well, I'd like to make a comment now that everybody's had a chance. It seems to me it's gone through all the process...Architectural Review...did it go to the Planning Commission? LA Yes it did. RSK It's been through the whole process? JM Did it go to the Planning Commission? LA Yes, it went to Planning Commission. RSK It went to the Planning Commission, Architectural Review, and so I suspect maybe when it is done and built, it will be something different and special. RAS Was it unanimous at Architectural Review? LA I believe so. RSK It's okay with me. I think our clubhouse at Desert Willow is different than most other things we have in the City, and I think it's wonderful. So I think...if somebody asks me "what's the best looking building you think in the City", I'd say Desert Willow clubhouse. And this is more on the order of the Desert Willow clubhouse. JMB And if they asked you what was the best golf course, you'd probably say Desert Willow. RSK That's what they said on TV yesterday. BAC Quoting the Mayor. RSK Yes, the Mayor was on too. JMB Oh, I thought you went home to see the Subaru. Now I know. RAS It was on Fox2. RSK Fox2. Well, I don't have a problem with it. LA Then, the next time you would see this would be when we come and ask for authorization to put it out for bid. That's probably three months' worth of design yet to be done. 16 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK My reference was strictly for the design and not... LA External. RSK We still have that problem, evidently, to decide whether we are going... LA Yes, and notwithstanding what happens if we do expand this or we use part of this building for the Chamber (unclear) RSK But I suspect the architect is here? Adding 2,000 or 2,600 feet on, you could do... JM It would only be necessary to add 600, I believe. Is that correct? RY If the plan were to commit 2,600 square feet to the existing building for use by the Chamber and retain the basic use for the Visitors Center, then there would be about 600 square feet, a little more because the configuration was changed slightly, but less than 1,000 square feet needed to be added. RSK But it would blend right in with the architecture. RY Yes. If you were...is it proper to venture into the mine field...I would caution adding 2,600 square feet to this building. I would propose that if you wanted to keep yours as it is and add 2,600 independent, that would be an impact on the site in terms of the scale of the building in relationship to the other buildings on the site. So I would say that the Chamber can be accommodated by slightly enlarging, but if you want to keep 8,000 for yourself and add another 2,600, I would urge you... LA We would have more issues to revisit. BAC That doesn't fit. RY It does not fit. BAC But 600 more with... RY We can do it. BAC ...a reduction of the use by the Visitors Center and so on...that fits. JM Let me clarify something. This building has 2,000 feet of unencumbered space as yet, correct? 17 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 LA At this point we have gone ahead and identified uses for it because the indication was that there would be growth needs for the City staff in the future. JM Okay. LA So we have gone ahead and identified more office areas, gallery areas, and things like that. It is relatively flexible. We haven't identified who goes in what offices (unclear) but these areas could be reworked to accommodate the Chamber. RSK Councilman Spiegel has a comment or question. RAS Comment. The first, current Visitors Center is less than 2,000 square feet. This one is 8,150. If you took a couple thousand off, then there's 6,000 square feet for the Visitors Center. That certainly seems like more than adequate...it's three times what we've got now. BAC And one could make the same argument on the Chamber issues. Sharing half of 1,700 square feet and doubling that to full, etc., etc., and so on. I mean, we could make that argument regardless of our perspective. RAS No, I understand, I was just suggesting that going from 2,000 to 8,100 is a pretty good-sized chunk of space for the Visitors Center. RSK Well, it seems to me that's a tremendous...8,000 square feet, wow. SRG But I think it was done because we want to accommodate the merchandising program. We need...that's very crimped at the Visitors Center; we wanted a way to show off the different attractions in the City, hotels, and we wanted an open space for the gallery, and we wanted to look to the future. Our main industry is tourism, and I think when we took over the Visitors Center, it was for that reason. It needed to be expanded; it needed more advertising, we needed to get databases going, and we wanted to increase the activity to increase the flow of tourism and to make the Visitors Center a place where tourists could go, not just for information but also for the merchandising. But I think the reason we wanted the extra space was looking at the future. Look at City Hall. We built for what we needed then, and actually, we cut it back, and we are also taking staff out of City Hall because we're cramped here. It means that the art program will probably go over there, the marketing program will go over there. So you're freeing up space inside City Hall. RSK But they don't have to. 18 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 SRG No, they don't have to. But it's a good fit from a staffing standpoint for them to be together. (Unable to hear a portion of the tape at the beginning of Side B) RY ...(regarding the Amphitheater Renovation)...The second kickoff meeting is taking place, I believe, next Friday. That's the time when we're taking all the consultants to bring them together to review what progress has been made, confirm the calculations on the structure, and then proceed with the construction documents. RAS So the finish date is still... RY The finish date of drawings? RAS No. RY Of the building itself. RAS The tree. RY We had a conversation, I believe, with the Mayor and Mr. Ferguson, and you, 1 believe, at the opening for Hovley Gardens. At the time I said, if we went full -bore, it is conceivable the construction could start in April or May. RAS And we said no, wait a year. RY So we have assumed that that is the method of going. Candidly, during the summer, there were two months in which people were on vacation, we felt that because of that time frame we were not pushing. So we had that assumption that it would disrupt the summer, and it was not acceptable, so the anticipation is it goes to bid in May or June, construction starts in September. BAC A year from right now? RY Correct. BAC And it takes how long, then, to... RY We think that there's six to eight months in construction. There's a reason I stretched that, is that there is a great deal of work that will be done... BAC So fall and summer. 19 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RAS Spring, actually. BAC But I mean for concerts and what have you the following spring. RY Correct. RAS We could have it for SpringFest. RY When does that take place? RAS April. RY That's a very tight schedule. RAS Okay. RY The thing I commented at that meeting was that we...I'm hedging on time because this has never been done before, so if we commit to a time frame in which you have to expect everything to go smoothly, I think that that leads to disappointment, and I prefer not to set that tone. Our assumption has been that we would start in September and be ready for summer (unclear). RSK September of? RAS 2003. JMB Well, there's not reason for it to go smoothly and disrupt the process, so... RAS I agree with that, always. Should we vote? BAC Yes, let's vote. RAS So, not next summer but the following summer when we start with the concerts and the movies or whatever. RSK 2004? RAS 2004, the summer of 2004 we will have our tree. BAC Let me ask a question as long as have some time to use. I noticed on this week's Entrada Del Paseo agenda a restaurant, Mimi's? LA Yes. 20 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BAC They've applied? Are they still interested? LA Yes. RAS Did they get kicked out of Rancho Mirage? LA No. SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 BAC Is their architecture something that we are happy with? I saw one in Newport Beach or somewhere over there a couple of years ago. I think Richard told me to go...he had eaten at one and you said go look at it, and so I went. RSK There's one in Temecula I've eaten at several times, and there's one in (unclear). JM We have some information that appears to be more current that we'd like to introduce. BAC I guess...you've got four people on the Council. If we've all seen these restaurants, without arguing the architecture or something, if they're ready to go and we're happy... LA I think you need a clarification about them still being interested. JM Go ahead, Ruth Ann. RAM Well, spoke to our...they have been for quite a while negotiating a site over in Rancho Mirage also, and I did speak with our planning group yesterday, and they mentioned to me at five minutes to five that the Planning Commission in Rancho Mirage has approved a site for Mimi's. We may not be able to work with them on this. LA BAC What their broker has told us in the past is yes, they are going ahead with Rancho Mirage because they don't see much opportunity here that they have with Rancho Mirage. But if we were to approve them, they might undo that deal... Rather than fooling around Thursday and then fiddling around two weeks from now and so on and so forth, without arguing the architecture looks like the architecture, I guess my question... JMB I've seen them in many settings, so... BAC Then, my question would be, do my colleagues have any positive, negative, or any other kind of feeling about that being a restaurant on this site? 21 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RAS SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 No, unless we have to get in a bidding war on the price of land and that sort of thing. I mean, I think that they've got to pay fair value the way Cuistot did, and if they're willing to do that, I'd have no problem with Mimi's. RSK I concur. JMB Yes, I do too. BAC There. JM So we have direction to basically tender a proposal to Mimi's? RAS That's right, based on... RSK On a unanimous motion by Spiegel. LA At fair market value. JM We will do so. BAC Councilman Crites. RAS It would be a good combination with Cuistot. JM At fair market value. LA At fair market value. BAC At whatever deal that you've made with the other folks. RSK It would be excellent for all around. LA Okay. RSK Have we got our? RAS He just left. LA Hey, don't go. RSK What did you turn around and start to go for. LA We were killing time waiting for you. 22 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 BAC No, we weren't killing time, we actually made a decision. LA There we go. We were eating donuts waiting for you...I was. JMB While we're waiting for Jim... RSK While we're waiting, could you stay right there and do one more thing before Jim gets here? What about the hotel. What is the status of the hotel? JMB Could I just make one comment before...shouldn't we have added that to our Agenda. RDK Yes, I was going to point that out. BAC My apologies. I would move that we add... RDK We didn't even have Entrada Del Paseo on the last agenda, so I don't think that has even been added yet. BAC I would move that we add the issue of authorizing staff to negotiate with Mimi's, Inc. RAS Second. RSK All in favor...or any opposition? Unanimous. BAC Okay. I would move that we authorize staff to negotiate with them on the same terms that we have used in dealing with other properties, restaurant properties, on that site and with appropriate attention to architecture and other issues of concern. RAS Second. RSK And that's unanimous. And add to the agenda the hotel. BAC I would so move that we add a discussion of that. RAS Okay, second. RSK Is there any objection? That's unanimous. Now you give us...well, we could have just...I guess we would not have had to add it for a report, would we? Anyway, we did. 23 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY LA SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 We had been communicating regularly with the proposed developer of the boutique hotel. He has preliminarily submitted a proposal. Staff began reviewing it, taking a look at the numbers on it, and based upon new concerns that he has regarding SB975, which requires payment of prevailing wage, he wants to revisit his proposal, revise the numbers, and submit a new one. We think that's appropriate. We're finding that the new prevailing wage law on any projects that involve contributions or participation by redevelopment agencies is impacting a lot of things, and we're not trying to coax him into making a deal without knowing what he's getting into. He wants to revisit those numbers and revise his proposal, which he expects to have done within the next couple of weeks to us. We'II be taking a look at that and coming to Council with appropriate (unclear) in a Closed Session when we get those numbers. JMB Is the one in Salt Lake the Little America? Is that the one he has? LA I believe it's called the Grand America. JMB Grand America. BAC Nothing little about America, it's grand. RSK Okay. Dave, maybe you could come around here and sit at the table. We have an issue that we've discussing, and that is whether to locate the Chamber of Commerce adjacent with the Visitors Center. And we're having trouble figuring out why Mr. Ferguson would have any conflict of interest in making a decision about the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Center. DJE JMB Basically, with regard to that particular project, at one point, and I assume he still is, Mr. Bartlett, Tim Bartlett, was involved and had a potential of receiving from some financial benefit from the development of that particular project. Mr. Ferguson provided legal services for him within the last year and received funds from him, and my advice to him is until one year has passed from that date, that he should abstain from any participation. But why does the Chamber, when the person he represented has nothing to do with the location of the Chamber or the Visitors Center; other properties, yes, I could understand that. But... DJE I understood that this was a discussion of the entire project. RAS No, no. JMB No. 24 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK This one discussion is...basically it has to do with the Chamber and the Visitors Center only. JMB On that lot, There are other things on that lot. DJE So long as Mr. Bartlett is not involved in that, then I certainly have no particular problem. RAS He's not involved. JMB He's only involved in the other two. DJE Okay. RSK So there is no problem with this. DJE I would think there would not be a problem with that. RSK So, Jim was supposed to be... CLO He's here. He's in his office. DJE I was going to go talk to him. BAC 1 would still do that. DJE If you would like for me to. BAC And you two decide. RSK On the basis of our question and what we're doing here. DJE Okay. BAC While we're on...1 don't know...do we need to add to the agenda...I notice that on Thursday's meeting you're also looking at landscape design and stuff. Is that just stuff that's moving forward from Architectural Review...without asking you to go through it today. LA Yes. I don't have the presentation here, but it is... RSK What agenda is that? 25 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BAC SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 I'm just looking at the Entrada Del Paseo meeting on Thursday and seeing if there...one of things was Mimi's, and we've just taken that off that committee and gotten it done by us. RSK Oh, this is the committee agenda? BAC Yes. And I'm just looking if there is anything else that this body... RSK I'm not privy to that, so I don't have any idea what you're talking about. BAC That's why I'm bringing it up. Is there anything that the entire body needs to know about this? LA Just a quick status update is that the landscaping design has progressed to the next stage. We're ready to start getting to the working drawings for the landscaping for the Eric Johnson Memorial Gardens. And we will be presenting in committee meeting tomorrow drawings that show detailed plant species and the layout and everything. Those, if they're approved by the committee tomorrow, will go to the Landscape Beautification Committee for their September meeting for their review and approval. We're really excited about this. We think the design is coming along nicely, and I think the Council will be pleasantly surprised by it too. At this point, and with City Council/Agency Board concurrence, the City Council/Agency Board observed a brief recess period, awaiting the return of the City Attorney and/or the arrival of Councilman/Member Ferguson. BAC JM Curiosity...on the new building on the second restaurant pad...you know, one of the options for the Chamber, etc. or in the community building. If we now put a Mimi's on that, then do we, if we choose that option, do we then put another pad...how do we do that now? Not arguing that we shouldn't do it, or anything else. Well, I think you...we'd have to look at the site plan and look at how much space that Mimi's would encumber, and if you have a hotel, that may preclude a second building option. We really have to site plan it and take a hard look at it. BAC Or we could put a building in there and say the hotel needs to fit in with that if they want to be there. JM You could do that, but that...the site is getting tight. RSK I've seen enough hotels around this city to not get excited about any hotels. 26 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 BAC That's what I mean. We figure out what we want to do and then we let the hotel know by my bias. RAS Unless he wants to put in on Desert Willow. JM Lauri, maybe you can help out here. I think the question was asked...if we indeed pursue the Mimi's and we're successful in securing it on the second restaurant pad, what are the implications to that to a separate Chamber facility on the site. BAC Or a public use facility. JM Or alternative use. Do we have other room if we... LA And the hotel or no hotel? JM Well, either/or. LA Okay, if we secure Mimi's, the issue is kind of two -fold. If we secure Mimi's, their location...we've talked to them about this, they're not interested here; they want to be on Highway 111, so I'm assuming that if we put them up here, at that point there would still be adequate space to have the boutique hotel, if that goes anywhere, but likely not a separate civic building for the Chamber or other users. We could have Mimi's and a separate building for the Chamber and other civic uses and an extended -stay product, or about three acres' worth of something else, but not the boutique hotel concept. RSK I don't understand. BAC What's the other...you've got Cuistot on one...you've got a Visitors Center on one pad... LA Correct. Visitors Center, Cuistot; this, right now, is what we call the second restaurant site where we have land to put a second restaurant. RAS That's not where Mimi's wants to go. LA Correct. Most of the national franchises are not interested in being here; they don't believe that they have good enough visibility. We do have, if the boutique hotel concept does not go, we have now a number of mobile enterprises that are interested in situating a restaurant here. Mimi's and any other national franchise pretty much wants to be on Highway 111. The concept that involved the boutique hotel, moved the boutique hotel in here and wrapped it up around here, and left room for another restaurant up on Highway 111. 27 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK Carlos, we need you a minute. (Unclear) RAS That's the kind of restaurant it is. BAC Okay. SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 LA Yes. Ruth Ann could probably speak to that. She's had lots of interest but not in that second pad. RAM When we proposed a second, we put out a sort of a mini search just to talk to different brokers and national tenants who we knew were interested, restaurants we knew were interested in coming into Palm Desert in this site. And when we put this site out, the overwhelming discussion from every single one of them, there wasn't one that said that they, as a national tenant, said that they would be interested in the back site at all. They wanted to be up on Highway 111. BAC Of course they would. RAM And would not consider it then, not even that they wouldn't...well, this would be our first choice but we'll go back to this as a second...just wouldn't even discuss it with us as a negotiation point. BAC So, if we stick Mildred's up there on the Highway, then we still have that back space available. LA Yes. BAC We can build a community building there if we wanted to, we can build some piece of a boutique, but we can do whatever we darned well choose, right? LA Yes. BAC So that center space on there is ours to do with as a City as the City believes is proper. JM Correct. BAC Okay. So you can have a 2,600 square foot building there if you want to, or I mean an 8,000 square foot building there. 28 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY JM SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 Yes, you can. It is difficult with the current boutique hotel proposal, it gets very, very tight. And I don't know...as they programmed it, you could not accommodate with the boutique hotel a separate... LA Correct. With the boutique hotel and a restaurant, you could not do it. You could take out the second restaurant and instead substitute for that a civic use building, Chamber building, and a boutique hotel, but you couldn't do three. JM You have about four to five acres of unencumbered space because you have not made a commitment with respect to the hotel. RAS I'm not sure that's ever going to end up a hotel anyway. LA I think that we've had oodles of interest from extended -stay products, and it's very different from the boutique hotel concept. There is not much interest from the boutique hotel developers because financially, it doesn't make a lot of sense in that location. BAC What does extended -stay mean? LA Extended stay... RAS Cheap. BAC That's what I thought. Is that what you're saying? LA I'm sorry, what did you... BAC Cheap. RAS Cheap. JM Economy. LA Yes, it's from the suites concept. It has a kitchenette in it so that you can stay for a wek or two. JM Residence Inn is an extended -stay... JMB But there are good ones, and there are bad ones. Among the bad ones, Extended -Stay America (unclear)... 29 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 LA Yes, Shiloh Inns, Hampton Inns, Extended Stay America...is kind of the bottom end of that range. RAS They leave the light on for ya' is what it is. JMB ...you've got a bar of soap. BAC And that's the only light in there. RAS That's the only light in the place. JMB It's awful. LA We stayed in one when we went to look at hotels and restaurants. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in the Scottsdale area, and we were pleasantly surprised by that. Reasonably priced --good value for your money. RAS And the Residence Inn is nice, and that's going to be an extended -stay. JM And there is interest. LA Yes. BAC And that would fit with another building and everything else. LA Yes. JM It would give you much more flexibility. RAS Because they don't need a restaurant because they've got Mimi's there, they just need a place to sleep. JMB Well, and they also give full breakfasts at Residence because at the extended -stay I stayed at in Long Beach, we were complaining to the people at the Residence Inn, and the fellow said oh, just come over here and have breakfast; we don't care. Because there was nothing, you couldn't even get a cup of coffee. If somebody asked for an iron, you had to sign up for it, and then they had to go carry the ironing board to your room. Somebody else wanted a cup of coffee, she said well we have a machine in the laundry room but I don't know if it works. BAC So that would be another way, though, we could make money at the Visitors Center. Sell coffee and rent irons. Anyhow. 30 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK Carlos and I are convinced that we might jeopardize our colleague if we insist on doing something today, so... BAC Fair enough. RAS Do we know what day we can do it? RSK October the first. BAC Okay. Before that point...obviously, we have differences of opinion and such stuff, but so be it on all that. Would staff be kind enough to just for that, say here is what...because between now and then we need to have, at least in my opinion, discussions with the folks at the mall about parking issues, irregardless of that. And I certainly would like to know if, indeed, that is an impediment, we don't think they're going to budge, and we're stuck with that. Secondly, cost figures on a vertical expansion, what that does, and so on and so forth. I'd like to look at a little refinement in terms of if we were to build a new "building", a 6,000 square foot kind of thing like that or other things that we might choose to do with that that we think are important to the City, aside from 2,600 square feet for the Chamber. RAS Another thing that I'd like to know is if the Chamber does not go into that building, I would assume that the City would like to continue to own that building. What kind rent could we get on that building? BAC I certainly would be favorable to selling it, personally. CLO You need to get a use that doesn't use a lot of parking; and based on our current rent, we could easily get a couple thousand dollars a month. RSK The architect has something to say. RY In considering this site as a possibility for the Chamber, a larger facility, is there any interest in the City building that with the idea that it could be a commercial use, another restaurant. You mentioned that there were local users who might be interested in that site as a restaurant. Would there be any interest in a hybrid building? RAS A third restaurant on the pad? LA We have talked about kind of creative approaches like that in the past and have steered clear of essentially getting into the landlord business for restaurants or trying to, literally, sell air rights over one building in order to put a second one in. It leads us into areas that we don't feel are appropriate. 31 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK BAC SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 We're right in the middle of our commercial area where we want to keep an emphasis on bringing people for commercial attractions, so we certainly don't want to put any office buildings there. I wouldn't. But I would, you know, I think at least a couple of us might have been of the opinion that we'd have been happier if we hadn't sold land out there that we have sold to Cuistot. RSK I'm opposed to selling any of it. BAC So, my point is I don't have any philosophical objections, as one person, to owning a 2,600 square foot building in which there is a restaurant. I know...see, that time you got to make a face. JM I'm sorry. BAC No, no, no. Fair enough. But I'm just saying that I don't have an objection to being on the landlord side of this. It's no damned different than the Brothers building, in my opinion. We're the landlord over there, and we're a landlord in other places and so on and so forth. I've never understood why in the hell you can't have a building that has three or four different uses in them. RSK Because we're working at keeping that as a governmental, quasi -governmental building, and so we do have some responsibility there for going out and competing with our tax -paying businesses. BAC Well, we'd have...you'd have to be market rent and everything else and so on. Anyhow... RSK So what else do we need to do today? We can't make that decision. LA I think one outstanding question that I had is we can come back to you after the first of October to address the issues for the Chamber of Commerce. I'm interested in hearing if you'd like to do that again in a study session forum where you can discuss... RAS Why not just bring it to the Council Meeting, the first meeting in... RSK You might as well just bring it to a Council meeting because we've all...it doesn't look to me like people have changed their minds here over some discussion. RAS Just bring it to the Council meeting the first meeting in October. 32 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RSK That's the direction — is to bring it to the Council meeting the first meeting in October. RAS Justin, did you... RSK Bring it to the first Council meeting in October. RAS The Chamber of Commerce. RSK The Chamber of Commerce location. JM Will do. RSK Is there any other business that we need to do, Madam City Clerk? RDK Not to my knowledge. I leave it to staff that was looking for specific direction. RSK Justin, is there any other business that we need to do today? I'll accept a motion to adjourn. JMB So moved. RAS Second. RSK Any opposition to adjourning? JMB Half hour early. RAS Yes, it's a half hour early. BAC Oh, I might have, although I know it's not debatable. Have we noticed the tour of landscape projects for the areas that voted no on the assessment districts, because that's (unclear). RSK I understand we noticed it. BAC I just want to make sure, and I see... RDK No, I believe that's the 16' or something, and I understood that's a study session too, maybe we need to hash that out here and now. RSK Apparently, they scheduled three Councilmembers to go. 33 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 RDK Correct. RSK And you can't do that without announcing it. RDK That's right. You would adjourn your next meeting next week, the 12th, to the 16tn RSK So this meeting would be adjourned to the... RDK No, your next regular meeting. RAS If it's messing things up, I won't go. RSK I don't need to go, either. I mean, I would be the logical one not to go because you might talk some of them in to forming a homeowners association. CLO I think what the City Clerk is saying... RAS Right, I get two chances. RSK Well, it's not nearly as big as it was before, you know, and we're down to only six places. RAS All right. BAC Well, I'II just ask the City Clerk to make sure that we have whatever mechanism is appropriate to notice that so if three members of the Council are needed or wish to attend that that they may. RDK I may need to defer...I think there has been some confusion over what's considered a study session and when you want to take an action. RSK Well, just adjourn...if we want to make a decision, we're going to just adjourn it as a Council meeting... DJE Yes, please. RSK ...whether it's designed like a study session, it doesn't make it a study session. RDK You're going on a tour, right? RAS What we're doing is there are a group of assessment districts that voted against the assessment to bring it up to where we believe it should be, but they are still assessed a certain amount and it will stay at that amount, so from my standpoint, 34 MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 my objective is to figure out what we can do for them with what they're paying. I don't particularly want the City to pay any money on top of that. Now, it may take a couple of years to get to that, based on what they're paying, but they're not going to increase what they're paying, and so what I'm looking for is what needs to be done to make what they're paying equate to what we did. We're going to go out and look at them and talk about them, so we should adjourn it to the City Council meeting so that meeting, whatever you call it, it's a Council meeting, just the agenda is a tour. RDK You won't have opportunity for public input if you're having a meeting. RSK You will, you start right here and do it. DJE Start right here... RSK We'll start right here with the Council meeting, and the item is tour of assessment districts. DJE You could see if any citizen wants to make any comments before they adjourn. RSK They can come here and make a comment before we go, or they can ride along with us. We'll have to have a conveyance big enough. RDK That was my concern. I don't think anybody would, but what if they did? RSK That's what you do. Announce it at the Council meeting, and the item on the agenda is tour of assessment districts. RDK Okay. RAS Question. Would it be appropriate after we find out what we can do that is within the boundaries of what they're paying, if we then present that at a Council meeting, saying this is what's going to be done in the assessment districts so they'll have a crack at it at that point. RSK Yes, that's the idea. RDK Exactly. I would think that would be a different time. RAS Good, so they'll have a chance. MINUTES ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING OF THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL AND PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY RSK SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 This will be a committee, although there is a voting number, we won't do anything like that, we're all going to look at it, if we all make it. But basically it'll come back as a recommendation to the City Council, and they'll have a chance to get up and raise cane. RAS Let them do it. Everybody wants something for nothing anyway. BAC Now the motion to adjourn. RSK All in favor. It's unanimous. Thank you, Dave. DJE Any time. V. ADJOURNMENT Upon a motion by Mayor Pro-Tempore/Vice Chair Benson, second by Councilman/Member Spiegel, and 4-0 vote of the City Council/Agency Board, with Councilman/Member Ferguson ABSENT, the meeting was adjourned at 10:39 a.m. ATTEST: RACHELLE D. KLASSE�- CITY CLERK/AGENCY SECRETARY CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA/ PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY )1 , 1i RICI-ARD S. KELLY; MA OR/CHAIRMAN 36