Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-12-08MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005 CIVIC CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBER I. CALL TO ORDER - 3:00 P.M. Mayor Crites convened the meeting at 3:01 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmember Jean M. Benson Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ferguson Councilman Richard S. Kelly Councilman Robert A. Spiegel (arrived at 3:17 p.m.) Mayor Buford A. Crites Also Present: Carlos L. Ortega, City Manager/RDA Executive Director Stephen Deitsch, Assistant City Attorney Sheila R. Gilligan, ACM for Community Services Homer Croy, ACM for Development Services Justin McCarthy, ACM for Redevelopment Stephen Y. Aryan, Assistant to the City Manager Mark Greenwood, City Engineer/Acting Director of Public Works Amir Hamidzadeh, Director of Building & Safety Phil Drell, Director of Community Development Paul S. Gibson, Director of Finance/City Treasurer David Yrigoyen, Director of Redevelopment & Housing Walt Holloway, Battalion Chief, Palm Desert/Riverside Co. Fire Dept./CDF Steve Thetford, Asst. Chief, Palm Desert Police/Riverside Co. Sheriffs Dept. Grace L. Mendoza, Deputy City Clerk III. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION Request for Closed Session: Conference with Real Property Negotiator pursuant to Govemment Code Section 54956.8: MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 1) Property: Lease Property - Parkview Professional Office Complex, 73710 Fred Waring Drive, Suite No. 100, Palm Desert Negotiating Parties: Agency: Carlos L. Ortega/Paul S. Gibson/City of Palm Desert Property Owner: City of Palm Desert Other Parties: George Hanover Under Negotiation: x Price x Terms of Payment 2) Property: Lease Property - Parkview Professional Office Complex, 73710 Fred Waring Drive, Suite No. 101, Palm Desert Negotiating Parties: Agency: Carlos L. Ortega/Paul S. Gibson/City of Palm Desert Property Owner: City of Palm Desert Other Parties: Paul Golden Under Negotiation: x Price x Terms of Payment 3) Property: 73-498 Joshua Tree Street, Palm Desert Negotiating Parties Agency: Carlos L. Ortega/City of Palm Desert Property Owner: Mario Hernandez Under Negotiation: x Price x Terms of Payment Conference with Legal Counsel regarding existing litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a): a) Indian Springs, Ltd. v. City of Palm Desert, et al., Riverside County Superior Court Case No. INC 053903 Conference with Legal Counsel regarding significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(b): Number of potential cases: 3 Conference with Legal Counsel regarding significant potential to initiate litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(c): Number of potential cases: 1 With City Council concurrence, Mayor Crites adjourned the meeting to Closed Session at 3:02 p.m. He reconvened the meeting at 4:00 p.m. IV. RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING - 4:00 P.M. A. REPORT ON ACTION FROM CLOSED SESSION. None 2 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 V. AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, AND APPOINTMENTS A. APPOINTMENTS AND REAPPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS POSITIONS ON THE CITY'S ESTABLISHED COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS. With City Council concurrence, this matter was deferred until just prior to adjournment of the meeting. Mayor Ferguson reviewed the list of applicants who had been interviewed over the past two weeks. It was noted that Councilmembers agreed with the suggested appointments and reappointments. Councilman Crites asked that the Sister Cities Committee appointment be held at this time, and Councilmembers concurred. Upon a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Kelly, second by Councilman Spiegel, and 5-0 vote of the City Council, the following appointments and reappointments were made to the respective Committees and Commissions: Architectural Review Commission Reappoint Ron Gregory, Karel Lambell, and Chris Van Vliet (terms 1/1/06- 12/31/09). Art In Public Places Commission Reappoint Kevin Grochau (term 1/1/06-12/31/09). Appoint Kim Snyder to Suzanne Greenberg's vacancy (term 1/1/06-12/31/07). Appoint Maureen Thompson to the seat formerly held by Joe Dickinson (term 1 /1 /06-12/31 /09). Building Board of Appeals & Condemnation Reappoint Ken Stendell (term 1/1/06-12/31/09). El Paseo Business Association Reappoint Sonia Campbell, Robert Fliday, and Michael Shimer (terms 1/1/06 - 12/31 /09). Historic Preservation Committee Appoint Gale Broeker to Rhonda Rockwell's vacancy (term 1/1/06-12/31/08). Appoint Vera Handley as an altemate member (term 1/1/06 to 12/31/09). Housing Commission Reappoint Roger Dash and Jane Turner (terms 1/1/06-12/31/09). Investment & Finance Committee Reappoint Dixie Proulx and Everett Wood (terms 1/1/06-12/31/09). 3 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Library Promotion Committee Reappoint Barbara (Bobbie) Rosenberg (term 1/1/06-12/31/09). Marketing Committee Reappoint Emily Bird and Ray Rodriguez, Jr. (terms 1/1/06-12/31/09). Parks & Recreation Commission Reappoint Julie Munson (term 1/1/06-12/31/09). Appoint Michael Bamard to the seat formerly held by Terry Scheurer (term 1 /1/06- 12/31/09). Planning Commission Appoint Van Tanner to the seat formerly held by Sabby Jonathan (term 1/1/06- 12/31/09). Rent Review Commission Appoint Arne Werchick to the seat formerly held by Henry Armstrong (term 1/1/06- 12/31/09). Sister Cities Committee Hold on appointment at this time. Youth Committee Reappoint Samantha Cortese, Tarah Fenelon-Nolan, Ryan Sheehy (Alt.), Elliott Smith, Christina Sun, Nicholas Talboys, and Elle Wohlmuth (all terms 1/1/06- 12/31 /06 ). B. REORGANIZATION OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 1. SELECTION OF MAYOR AND MAYOR PRO-TEMPORE. Acting City Clerk Sheila Gilligan declared the Office of Mayor to be vacant and invited nominations therefor. Councilman Spiegel nominated Jim Ferguson for Mayor of the City of Palm Desert. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by a 4-0-1 vote, with Ferguson ABSTAINING. Mrs. Gilligan declared the Office of Mayor Pro-Tempore to be vacant and invited nominations. Councilman Spiegel nominated Dick Kelly for Mayor Pro-Tempore of the City of Palm Desert. Motion was seconded by Ferguson and carried by a 5-0 vote. Councilman Crites congratulated and wished all the best to the new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. He expressed his sincere gratitude for being a resident of the City of Palm Desert and a representative of its 4 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 citizens. He especially thanked City employees for all their good work, making a point to congratulate Mrs. Gilligan for her 30 years of service with the City of Palm Desert. He also thanked his colleagues for their service and support in 2005. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly looked forward to the year ahead, adding that he'd be ready to step in for the Mayor whenever it was necessary. Mayor Ferguson said thank you and agreed with his colleagues that it was both a privilege and an honor to serve as Palm Desert's Mayor, this being his second term in that position. Although it was largely ceremonial, he knew each City Councilmember enjoyed the position thoroughly in as wonderful a City as Palm Desert. He recognized his family, who were present today, as well as his secretaries —Debbie from his law office and Wilma from the City Council Office. He thanked all of them for their support. Councilman Crites added his thanks to Secretary to the City Council Wilma Michelson for her ability to serve all five Councilmembers with grace and efficiency. VI. CONSENT CALENDAR A. MINUTES of the Regular City Council Meeting of November 10, 2005, the Special City Council Meeting of November 17, 2005, and the Regular City Council Meeting of November 24, 2005. Rec: Approve as presented. B. CLAIMS AND DEMANDS AGAINST THE CITY TREASURY - Warrant Nos. 101, 105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 115, and 119. Rec: Approve as presented. C. APPLICATION FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE by Benjamin Alvarez and Kathryn Alvarez for Mona's Place, 73-770 El Paseo, Palm Desert. Rec: Receive and file. D. APPLICATION FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE by Suzanne Houser for Bella Vita, 74-970 Country Club Drive, Suite L410, Palm Desert. Rec: Receive and file. 5 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 E. APPLICATION FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE by Hedi Hamrouni, for Hedi's Cafe Paris, 72-695 Highway 111, Suite A6, Palm Desert. Rec: Receive and file. F. APPLICATION FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE by RUI One Corp. Minnesota for Palomino, 73-101 Highway 111, Palm Desert. Rec: Receive and file. Approved this item 4-0-1 (Ferguson ABSTAINING due to the proximity of his law office to this establishment). G. APPLICATION FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE by WalMart Stores, Inc., Store #5096, SEC Dinah Shore Drive/Monterey Avenue, Palm Desert. Rec: Receive and file. H. CITY COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES. 1. Historic Preservation Committee Meeting of September 26, 2005. 2. Marketing Committee Meeting of October 18, 2005. 3. Parks & Recreation Commission Meetings of October 5, and November 2, 2005. 4. Sister Cities Committee Meeting of October 20, 2005. 5. Youth Committee Meeting of October 4, 2005. Rec: Receive and file. I. LETTER OF RESIGNATION from Suzanne Greenberg —Art In Public Places Commission. Rec: Receive with very sincere regret. J. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF BID for Purchase of Two Pick-up Trucks. This item was removed for separate consideration under Section VII - Consent Items Held Over. Please see that portion of the minutes for discussion and action. K. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF BID for Purchase of Flatbed Truck. This item was removed for separate consideration under Section VII - Consent Items Held Over. Please see that portion of the minutes for discussion and action. 6 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 L. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF BID for Purchase of Vacuum Excavator. Rec: By Minute Motion, award the purchase of an 800-gallon vacuum excavator to Ditch Witch of Southern California, Corona, California, in the amount of $42,145.34 — funds are available in Account No. 110-4310-433-4045. M. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of City Manager's Approval of Change Order No. 3 to Contract No. C20580D1 — City of Palm Desert Fire Station No. 67 (Mesa View) Renovation Project. Rec: By Minute Motion, ratify the City Manager's approval of Change Order No. 3 in the amount of $2,466.24 to the subject contract with Commercial Diversified, Inc., Twentynine Palms, California, for various construction modifications associated with the Fire Station No. 67 Renovation Project. N. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of Change Order No. 2 to Contract No. C23620 — Landscape Maintenance Services for Consolidated Landscape Maintenance Area No. 3. Rec: By Minute Motion: 1) Allocate $7,000 from Park Maintenance Account No. 110-4611-453-3320; 2) approve Change Order No. 2 in the amount of $1,000/month for seven months to the subject contract with Steven Burt and Associates, Inc., Bermuda Dunes, Califomia, for landscape maintenance services at Washington Charter School. O. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of Change Order No. 1 and Acceptance of Work for Contract No. C24180 — Painting of the Desert Willow Clubhouse Exterior (Southwest Coatings, Inc., San Pedro, CA). Rec: By Minute Motion: 1) Ratify Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $700 to the subject contract; 2) authorize the Director of Finance to transfer $700 from contingency to base for the subject project; 3) authorize the City Manager to execute the Change Order; 4) accept the work as complete and authorize the City Clerk to file a Notice of Completion for the subject contract. P. REQUEST FOR ACCEPTANCE OF WORK for Contract No. C21040A — Landscape Installation for Magnesia Falls Drive Between Deep Canyon Road and Monterey Avenue (Project No. 948-05) (Steven Burt and Associates, Inc., Bermuda Dunes, CA). Rec: By Minute Motion, accept the work as complete and authorize the City Clerk to file a Notice of Completion for the subject project. 7 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Q. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of the City Manager's Approval of Emergency Maintenance Related to the HVAC Duct System at City of Palm Desert Fire Station No. 33 (44-400 Town Center Way). Rec: By Minute Motion: 1) Ratify the City Manager's approval of emergency maintenance related to the HVAC duct system at Fire Station No. 33; 2) appropriate $12,692 from Account No. 230-4220-422-3090 for this work. R. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of the City Manager's Approval of Contract for Special Tax Consultant Services and an Amendment Thereto for Additional Services Associated with the University Park Community Facilities District (CFD) 2005-1 Formation. Rec: By Minute Motion: 1) Ratify the City Manager's authorization of the original $24,000 contract with MuniFinancial, Temecula, California, for the professional services associated with University Park CFD 2005-1 (Contract No. C22690C); 2) approve Contract Amendment No. 1 thereto in a total amount not to exceed $5,500 for provision of additional professional services — funds are available in Account No. 610-0000-228-2100, per the Reimbursement Agreement with the developers of the University Park CFD. S. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of the City Manager's Authorization to Pay Portola Palms Homeowners' Association. Rec: By Minute Motion: 1) Ratify memorandum authorizing payment to Portola Palms Homeowners' Association in the amount of $5,000; 2) ratify agreement of the payment disbursements; 3) appropriate funds in the amount of $20,000 — funding appropriated from Unobligated Fund 400. T. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of a Sculpture Pad in Front of City Hall. This item was removed for separate consideration under Section VII - Consent Items Held Over. Please see that portion of the minutes for discussion and action. U. REQUEST FOR RATIFICATION of City Manager's Approval of Expense Reimbursement for Sister Cities Travel to Gisborne, New Zealand, for its 50th Anniversary Celebration. Rec: By Minute Motion, ratify the City Manager's approval of expense reimbursement in the amount of $1,761.64 to Sister Cities Committee Chairman Mark Talboys for travel to Gisbome, New Zealand. 8 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 V. REQUEST FOR WAIVER of Fees for the Palm Desert Senior Softball League. Rec: By Minute Motion, approve the Palm Desert Senior Softball League's request for field usage and waive field preparation fees. W. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of Out -of -State Travel for Oasis Gift Show, Phoenix, Arizona. Rec: By Minute Motion, approve the subject request for the Visitor Center Manager to attend the subject show, January 6-8, 2006 — funds are available in Account No. 110-4419-453-3120. X. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of Out -of -State Travel for the Risk and Insurance Managers Association (RIMS) Annual Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Rec: By Minute Motion, approve the subject request for the Risk Manager to attend the RIMS Annual Conference April 23-27, 2006 — funds are available in Account No. 110-4260-422-3120. NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS LISTED ON AN AGENDA ADDENDUM POSTED 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE MEETING: Y. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of Change Order No. 4 to Contract No. C20580D1 — City of Palm Desert Fire Station No. 67 (Mesa View) Renovation Project. This item was considered separately under Section VI I - Consent Items Held Over. Please see that portion of the minutes for discussion and action. As requested by the respective City Councilmembers, the following items were removed for separate consideration: J and R by Kelly; T by Spiegel. Upon a motion by Spiegel, second by Kelly, and 5-0 vote of the City Council, with Mayor Ferguson ABSTAINING on Item F, the remainder of the Consent Calendar was approved as presented. 9 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 VII. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER J. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF BID for Purchase of Two Pick-up Trucks. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly noted that he meant to ask for Items J and K to be separately considered regarding purchase of vehicles. He asked if they were alternative fuel vehicles. Maintenance Services Manager Tom Bassler responded that as of 2004, most of the major automotive manufacturers stopped making Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) altemative fuel vehicles. Therefore, he said alternative fuel versions of these vehicles were unavailable. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said he was unconvinced that they were not available. Councilman Crites moved to continue this matter until January in order for Mayor Pro Tem Kelly to work with staff on the potential availability of an alternative fuel version of the pick-ups . Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by 5-0 vote. Mr. Deitsch advised the City Council that they would need to reconsider Item K in order to take it up at this time. Councilman Spiegel moved to reconsider Item K and approve Item R as presented on the Consent Calendar. Motion was seconded by Crites and carried by 5-0 vote. K. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF BID for Purchase of Flatbed Truck. Councilman Crites moved to continue this matter to January in order for Mayor Pro Tem Kelly to work with staff on the potential availability of an altemative fuel version of the flatbed truck. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by a 5-0 vote. T. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of a Sculpture Pad in Front of City Hall. Councilman Spiegel commented that he did not have a problem with removing the sign posts in front of the Council Chamber and replacing them with an artwork. He also agreed with staff that most people were already aware of the City's concerts and movies on Thursday nights during the summer. However, he was concerned about awareness for other events that took place in the City, believing it was important to have a way to announce them as was formerly done with the banners at this site (i.e., Rose Show, Watercolor Society Show, etc.). Public Arts Manager Richard Twedt said staff would make a point to identify some other methods of advertising those events. 10 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Mrs. Gilligan added that other methods of advertising had already been undertaken; the existing banner displays in front of the Council Chamber were actually too small to be read by the cars traveling past on Fred Waring. She said other than the City, the Rose Society and the Holocaust Annual Remembrance were the only other organizations that used the display posts currently, and staff was already assisting them through the City newsletter and general media releases and would continue doing so. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Approve the installation of a sculpture pad and lighting in front of City Hall; 2) approve removal of the wooden sign — funds in the estimated cost of $2,500 are available in Account No. 436-4650-454-4001. Motion was seconded by Benson and carried by 5-0 vote. NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS LISTED ON AN AGENDA ADDENDUM POSTED 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE MEETING: Y. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL of Change Order No. 4 to Contract No. C20580D1 — City of Palm Desert Fire Station No. 67 (Mesa View) Renovation Project. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion, authorize staff to negotiate Change Order No. 4 in an amount not to exceed $47,602.23 to the subject contract with Commercial Diversified, Inc., Twentynine Palms, Califomia, for installation of an emergency generator and transfer switch at Fire Station No. 67. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by a 5-0 vote. VIII. RESOLUTIONS A. RESOLUTION NO. 05-108 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO THE GENERAL PLAN LAND USE ELEMENT, DESIGNATING 13 LOTS ON THE WEST SIDE OF PORTOLA AVENUE, SOUTH OF FRED WARING DRIVE, RESIDENTIAL LOW (R-L) 0-4 DWELLING UNITS PERACREAND REMOVING OFFICE PROFESSIONAL (C-OP)/MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R-M) 4-10 UNITS PER ACRE AS A PERMITTED USE Case No. GPA 05-01 (City of Palm Desert, Applicant). Councilmembers noted this action was being considered following the last meeting, where staff was directed to return with a resolution that would remove Office Professional from the west side of Portola Avenue. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-108. Motion was seconded by Spiegel. 11 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Mayor Ferguson observed that after his remarks appeared in the newspaper regarding no word from lot owners along Portola, he received a letter yesterday from someone claiming to represent six of the 13 lot owners who were in full support of this measure. He said that only left owners of seven lots unheard from, two of those lots being owned by the City. Mayor Ferguson called for the vote, and the motion carried 5-0. B. RESOLUTION NO. 05-109 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE FINAL SUBDIVISION MAP OF TRACT NO. 31071 (Rilington Communities, Applicant). Mr. Greenwood said the subject project complied with all of the requirements, and staff recommended approval. Councilman Crites moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-109. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 5-0 vote. C. RESOLUTION NO. 05-110 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE FINAL SUBDIVISION MAP OF TRACT NO. 33854 (Bighorn Development, LLC, Applicant). Mr. Greenwood stated the subject project conformed to all the requirements, and staff recommended approval. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-110. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by a 5-0 vote. D. RESOLUTION NO. 05-111 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR CONSIDERATION OF A STREET NAME CHANGE FOR THE WESTERLY PORTION OF GREENE WAY. Councilman Crites moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-111. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried on a 5-0 vote. 12 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 IX. ORDINANCES For Introduction: A. ORDINANCE NO. 1105 - AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.16.010 OF THE PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE (AUDIT, INVESTMENT AND FINANCE COMMITTEE). Mr. Ortega stated that the City currently had an Investment & Finance Committee, and the recommendation here was to include authority to also review the audit. Councilman Crites added that the measure was supported by the Committee, after having been discussed at several meetings where he was a participant. Councilman Crites moved to waive further reading and pass Ordinance No. 1105 to second reading. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried on a vote of 5-0. For Adoption: A. ORDINANCE NO. 1104 - AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 25.112 TO TITLE 25 OF THE PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE, REGARDING EXCEPTIONS BASED ON UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAKINGS. Councilman Spiegel moved to waive further reading and adopt Ordinance No. 1104. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by a 5-0 vote. X. NEW BUSINESS A. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF EXPENDITURE TO PURCHASE AND INSTALL MOBILE COMPUTER EQUIPMENT ON ALL FRONT-LINE CITY FIRE VEHICLES. Mr. Ortega called attention to the staff report for this item, pointing out that some of the expenditure will be covered by funds from a Tribal Indian Gaming Grant for 2005-2006. He said installation of the computer equipment will enable fire units to respond more quickly. Councilman Crites moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Approve the Palm Desert Fire Department's request to purchase and install mobile computer equipment on all front-line City fire vehicles in the total amount of $72,795.73; 2) appropriate $23,601 in Tribal Indian Gaming Grant funds to offset the cost of purchasing and installing mobile computer 13 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 equipment on all front-line City fire vehicles; 3) appropriate $49,194.73 from the Fire Fund Account to purchase and install mobile computer equipment on all front-line City fire vehicles. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by 5-0 vote. B. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAL BY HEATH SATOW FOR THE DESERT GATEWAY ART COMPONENT (Rothbart Development Corporation, Applicant). In response to question, Public Arts Manager Richard Twedt said the developer brought three different designs forward to the Art In Public Places Commission, which were all sent back. The subject proposal represented the fourth considered for this project. Councilman Crites moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Approve the design proposed by Heath Satow for the Desert Gateway Project as its public art component for WalMart; 2) authorize the reimbursement of Art In Public Places fees, not to exceed $73,500, once the sculpture is complete, installed, and approved by the Art In Public Places Commission. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 5-0 vote. C. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A PARKS AND RECREATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY (CONTRACT NO. C24640). Mr. Ortega commented that the report provided by Parks and Recreation Services Manager Janis Steele provided justification for the survey to be conducted by an outside consultant. Councilman Crites said as he looked through the sample surveys, they all tended to deal with traditional parks and recreation programs inside the urban core. He felt it would be important for the survey to include questions about trails and other things that are also a part of Palm Desert's park system, in addition to conventional questions about playground equipment, etc. Ms. Steele agreed and indicated that the Parks & Recreation Commission will have final approval on the survey before it is sent out. She confirmed that it would include current and future recreational opportunities. Councilman Spiegel believed the Parks & Recreation Commission had done a wonderful job of developing active areas in the City, but he agreed that it was time to find out what the citizens thought. This would be the first time the City had solicited input in this manner, and he noted that the Commission strongly recommended it. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Authorize entering into a contract with ETC Institute, Olathe, Kansas, to provide the City of Palm Desert with the development, implementation, and presentation of a statistically valid Parks and 14 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Recreational Needs Assessment Survey of Residents; 2) allocate $22,400 from the Civic Center Park contracting services fund, Account No. 110-4610-453-3092. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by a vote of 5-0. D. CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR SPONSORSHIP OF THE 2006 PALM DESERT ART OF FOOD & WINE EVENT — NOVEMBER 9-12. Mr. Ortega stated the sponsorship was recommended by the Marketing Committee. Councilman Crites commented that the Sister Cities Committee had been considering a food and wine -type event, with chefs from both Zihuatanejo and New Zealand interested in participating. He hoped a coordination of these efforts could occur, possibly featuring the Sister City participants. Mrs. Gilligan noted that Ms. Tammy Perezchica from the Marriott was present today. She was spearheading this event and gave indication that the idea would be included in her plans. Councilman Spiegel added the Marketing Committee unanimously endorsed the idea as a wonderful event for the Marriott Hotel. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Concur with the recommendation of the Marketing Committee to sponsor the 2006 Palm Desert Art of Food & Wine event in the amount of $100,000; 2) appropriate funds from the Unobligated General Fund for this purpose. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by vote of 5-0. E. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR INSTALLATION OF THE SIDEWALK ON RUTLEDGE WAY (CONTRACT NO. C24520, PROJECT NO. 697-A-05). Mayor Pro Tem Kelly moved to, by Minute Motion, award the subject contract to Westcon Construction, Indio, California, in the amount of $28,828.25 and authorize a 10% contingency for the project — funds are available in Account No. 400-4616-433-4001. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by 5-0 vote. F. REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF CONTRACT FOR JANITORIAL SERVICES AT THE CITY OF PALM DESERT PARKVIEW OFFICE COMPLEX FOR ONE YEAR (CONTRACT NO. C22162). Councilman Crites moved to, by Minute Motion, approve extension of the subject contract with D. W. Nicholson, LLC, dba Desert Building Services, Rancho Mirage, Califomia, for one additional year, January 1 - December 31, 2006, in the amount of $73,020 ($6,085/month)—funds are available in Account No. 510-4195-495-3696. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by 5-0 vote. 15 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 G. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT WITH DESERT SANDS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (DSUSD) FOR CONSTRUCTION OF STREET AND TRAFFIC SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF HOVLEY LANE EAST/42ND AVENUE AND WASHINGTON STREET (CONTRACT NO. C24650). Mr. Greenwood recalled for the City Council that DSUSD was in the process of constructing a new middle school on the east side of Washington Street, south of Avenue 42/Hovley Lane. He said the traffic study for the school indicates the need for a dual left turn lane eastbound on 42nd and Washington. Therefore, School District, City of Palm Desert, and County of Riverside staff had been working cooperatively to develop a way to initiate the project, agreeing that a cost share of 33% by each agency would be appropriate for the street improvements and traffic signal. He said the subject agreement reflects that proposal, and staff recommended approval. Responding to Councilmember Benson's concerns, Mr. Greenwood answered that the City of La Quinta wasn't building the school; the proposed improvements were in the City of Palm Desert. He imagined that the City of La Quinta may be sharing in the cost of other improvements contiguous to the school site. In further response to question about how participation was determined, Mr. Greenwood agreed that it would be common for other cities to decline participation when the improvements were generally outside their jurisdiction; however, it was typically Palm Desert's practice to cooperate and participate for the benefit of all. He clarified that the cost of the proposed improvements was roughly proportionate — with some of the area being in the County, some in the City — so each of the three agencies would be paying a share. He pointed out that it will also benefit traffic in the City of Palm Desert, as many residents travel Washington Street, adding that the dual left turn lane there will make traffic signal operation more efficient. He went on to say that there may be some additional intersection improvements that could be made, and staff will be looking into them for the future. Councilman Spiegel remarked that another thing to consider was that Palm Desert Middle School (PDMS) was very overcrowded. The new school will provide kids in the subject area the convenience of walking across the street to school, which will reduce some of the pressure at PDMS. He asked if the subject request would take care of the residents who were concemed about making a left turn from their neighborhood. Mr. Greenwood responded that the subject request would not affect the residents of Tucson Homes; their access point was about a half mile south of Hovley Lane. Councilmember Benson reiterated her concern that La Quinta was not participating. 16 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Councilman Spiegel observed that La Quinta residents would be using the school with their new developments north of Highway 111. He suggested continuing the matter to allow the "2 x 2 Committee" to talk about it at their meeting next week. Mr. Greenwood offered to seek a 25% contribution from each of four agencies. Councilman Crites moved to, by Minute Motion, authorize the Mayor to execute the subject agreement with DSUSD, as amended to reflect an amount not to exceed a 25% financial contribution of the overall funding from the City of Palm Desert, and to appropriate same to Account No. 400-4353-433-4001 from Unobligated Fund 400 for this purpose. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by a 5-0 vote. H. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR DESIGN OF A TRAFFIC SIGNAL ON COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE AT VIA SCENA/PLAZA DE MONTEREY (CONTRACT NO. C24440A, PROJECT NO. 578-06). Mr. Greenwood commented that installation of the traffic signal was approved at the October 27 City Council Meeting, and it was being planned in conjunction with remodeling of the adjacent shopping center. He said staff sought design proposals for the traffic signal and appurtenant improvements, selected J M Diaz, and recommended they be awarded the contract. Councilmember Benson noted that when she drove past this location recently, it didn't appear that the entrance to Merano lined up with the shopping center. Mr. Greenwood responded that the access to Merano did line up with one of the driveways for the shopping center; although, they were different widths, which may have made it look out of alignment. Councilmember Benson moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Award the subject contract to J M Diaz, Inc., West Covina, California, in the amount of $15,000 to provide professional and technical design services; 2) set aside a 10% contingency for the contract; 3) authorize the Mayor to execute said contract — funds are available in the Merano Assessment District, Traffic Signal Account, and Project Area No. 2 Unobligated Funds. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 4-0 vote, with Crites ABSENT. I. REQUEST FOR AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTATION SERVICES FOR THE NEW PORTOLAAVENUE INTERCHANGE ON INTERSTATE 10 (CONTRACT NO. C24660, PROJECT NO. 637-02). Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion, award the subject contract to Dokken Engineering, San Diego, Califomia, in the amount of $739,839 and authorize a 17 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 10% contingency to provide preliminary engineering and environmental documentation services for the new Portola Avenue Interchange on Interstate 10 — funds are available in Account No. 213-4351-433-4001. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 4-0 vote, with Crites ABSENT. XI. CONTINUED BUSINESS A. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATION BY THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE RELATIVE TO IDENTIFYING A POTENTIAL HISTORIC SITE, PALM DESERT LODGE, 74-527 HIGHWAY 111 (Continued from the meeting of November 10, 2005). Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion, continue this matter to the meeting of February 9, 2006. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 4-0 vote, with Crites ABSENT. XII. OLD BUSINESS A. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 TO CONTRACT NO. C23670A — DESIGN FOR FRED WARING DRIVE SOUNDWALL AESTHETIC TREATMENT (PROJECT NO. 654-01). Mr. Greenwood explained the subject request was for extension of the aesthetic treatment to include the Desert Breezes project, as well as the project on the north side of Fred Waring Drive directly east of Phyllis Jackson Lane, for continuous architectural treatment along a large part of Fred Waring. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Approve Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $29,000 to the subject contract with David Volz Design, Fountain Valley, Califomia; 2) authorize the transfer of $3,300 from contingency to base for the subject contract; 3) authorize the Mayor to execute said Change Order. Motion was seconded by Benson and carried by 4-0, with Crites ABSENT. B. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT WITH DESERT SANDS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (DSUSD) FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A LANDSCAPED MEDIAN ON PORTOLA AVENUE ALONG THE FRONTAGE OF WASHINGTON CHARTER SCHOOL (CONTRACT NO. C23870). Mr. Greenwood noted that this matter had been discussed at several recent City Council Meetings, and staff had been working on a cost sharing agreement with DSUSD staff. He said the subject agreement has the District paying for the east half of the median for the portion directly on their frontage and the City paying the balance. 18 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Mayor Pro Tem Kelly moved to, by Minute Motion, authorize the Mayor to execute the subject agreement with DSUSD — funding in the amount of $120,000 is available in the Fund 400 Major Street Landscaping account. Motion was seconded by Benson and carried by 4-0 vote, with Crites ABSENT. NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS LISTED ON AN AGENDA ADDENDUM POSTED 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE MEETING. C. CONSIDERATION OF THE NAMING OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES BUILDING AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN BERNARDINO - PALM DESERT CAMPUS. Mayor Ferguson recalled for his colleagues that when the $4.5 million donation to Califomia State University, San Bernardino - Palm Desert Campus was approved for the Health Sciences Building, the City was given rights to name the building. The University now needed to know what that name would be. In response to question, Mr. Ortega answered that his recommendation was to name it, "The Palm Desert Health Sciences Building." He realized that there had been some concern about whether that donation should merit naming the whole building, but he pointed out within that building, certain areas could be named for others who had contributed. Councilman Crites offered that his comments to the City Manager were not meant to imply that the City didn't merit naming the whole building, as it goes by the prescriptions of the program, and the City did merit recognition. He suggested that because other cities, including those such as Coachella and Desert Hot Springs, made smaller contributions, it was not due to their lack of interest but lack of available funding. Therefore, he thought it would be a good reflection on the City to choose not to name it after itself, since the entire campus would be Cal State, Palm Desert. He proposed naming it "The Desert Cities Health Sciences Building" to reflect everyone's participation to the degree they were able. Councilman Spiegel commented that as he understood it, promises had been made to cities like Coachella that an area would be named for them within the building, just like areas in all the other buildings are named for various people. He wanted to see the City's name on the building and to go with staffs recommendation. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly agreed, noting that there will be more opportunities for the other cities to participate in different ways. Whereas, this was a major participation on Palm Desert's part; and as a citizen here, it would make him extremely proud to see the City's name tied in with the Health Sciences Building. He supported the City Manager's recommendation. 19 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Councilmember Benson concurred, adding that she was tired of hearing people tell her they thought it was the City of Indian Wells that put up the most money towards the University, since their name is very prominently displayed. She said no one seems to remember that it was Palm Desert that donated the land except those who were here then, and as time goes on, there will be fewer who do. She felt the City's name needed to be on something. Mayor Ferguson said he didn't care either way; but if he had to, he'd probably choose not to just place Palm Desert's name on the building. Councilman Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion, submit the name of the "Palm Desert Health Sciences Building," as provided for in Section 3 of the October 27, 2005, Funding Agreement between the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency and The Foundation For California State University, San Bernardino, and The Board of Trustees of the Califomia State University (CSUSB). Motion was seconded Kelly and carried by a 3-2 vote, with Crites and Ferguson voting NO. XIII. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT, CHANGE OF ZONE, PRECISE PLAN OF DESIGN, INCLUDING A HEIGHT EXCEPTION FOR THE APARTMENT PORTION OF THE PROJECT, PARCEL MAP, AND NEGATIVE DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FOR A 758-UNIT RESIDENTIAL PROJECT (608 CONDOMINIUM UNITS AND 150 APARTMENT UNITS) ON 79.6 ACRES AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF FRANK SINATRA DRIVE AND GERALD FORD DRIVE (76-000 FRANK SINATRA DRIVE - EXISTING EMERALD DESERT RV PARK) Case Nos. GPA 05-02, C/Z 05-02, PP 05-12 and TT 33837 (Taylor Woodrow, Inc., and Emerald Brooks LLC, Applicants) (Continued from the meeting November 10, 2005). Planning Manager Steve Smith stated that since its last consideration, the project has been revised as follows: — Condominium portion of the project reduced from 608 to 605 units. — Apartment portion has been reduced from 150 to 106 units, with ability to be increased as described below. — Total number of residential units would be 711. — Project size reduced by two acres to accommodate the daycare center. At present, unknown how large the center would be; if less than two acres, additional apartment units may be granted at the density prescribed in the ordinance (19 units/acre). — General Plan High -density Performance Criteria analyzed on pages 2 - 5 of the staff report. Within the condominium development, there will be the equivalent of approximately three neighborhood parks. Project includes: 20 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Four (4) pool areas plus a spray park; barbecue areas, picnic, tot lots, basketball, volleyball, walk paths, and a tie-in to the Citywide bicycle system along the north side of the property, or 7.45 acres of parks (approx. 10.4% of the site). As requested, Applicant met with Parks and Recreation Services Manager Janis Steele, and her memo is included in the staff report packet that indicates concurrence with the recreational amenity package. — In the apartment portion of the development 20% of the units will be in the moderate income level and will be so controlled through a housing agreement. — Landscaped area at the corner and Art In Public Places have been addressed by removing one of the condominium units at the corner, expanding the corner landscaped area, with the public artto be placed in that location. Concept for the art has been presented to Public Arts Manager Richard Twedt, and it has been given preliminary approval for further development. — Child Care Facilities plans actually provide for up to two acres (although staff report indicates 3/4 of an acre), which would allow for a very large daycare facility. Additional condition will be proposed that provides for the daycare center, with any unused property reverting back to the apartment project that could then be proportionately enlarged. — Energy Efficiency is addressed in a memo from Pat Conlon of the Office of Energy Management, specifying a list of criteria that will be used to measure the project. Suggested condition to require such conformance. — Partial waiver of Quimby Fees requested by the Applicant for condominium portion of the project, as shown on a detailed cost analysis of the recreation amenity package with an estimated $7.4 million cost ($12,185/unit) (included in the staff report). Applicant will be providing the equivalent of approximately three neighborhood parks. Based on the number of units and residents/unit, City staff estimates Quimby Fees at approximately $3.25 million. Staff recommends granting a waiver of 66% of the required Quimby Fees, based upon the exceptional amenitization package provided by the project and that future condominium owners will be paying for its maintenance. Applicant will still be required to pay over $1.1 million in Park Fees, which could be used for regional parks in the City. Mr. Smith concluded by stating that staff felt the Applicant has addressed the concems/comments raised by City Council at the November 10 Meeting, with the dedication of up to two acres for a future child care facility and that the project will help provide more moderate income housing in the community. Therefore, staff recommended approval of the request, subject to five additional conditions beyond the draft resolution included in the November 10 report, as follows: — Amend Condition No. 1 shown on the bottom of page 7 of the staff report of this date to read, 'That the applicant shall, as part of the recordation of the tract map, dedicate up to two acres of land in a location acceptable to 21 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 the Director of Community Development for a future daycare facility. If any or all of the daycare land shall not be used for the daycare facility, said unused land shall revert to the apartment site and may be developed consistent with the zoning. If the property dedicated for the daycare facility is not developed within five years, it also reverts to the apartment site." In response to question, Mr. Smith said the size of the facility would include the play yard. — Addition of Condition No. 5, "That the owner shall record with the County of Riverside a Notice of Noise Impact from Interstate 10 and the Union Pacific Railroad in a form as approved by the City Attorney." He said the Applicant did provide a draft notice, which is probably acceptable, but it was felt the City Attorney's review and concurrence would be appropriate. In further response, Mr. Smith said the land dedicated for child care would be held for five years from the date of its dedication. Mr. Drell went on to say that the City would have five years to decide how large a facility it wanted, adding that such a time frame was typical for the dedication of property for a specific purpose. Responding to question about whether or not the requirements for energy management would be memorialized as conditions, Mr. Smith called attention to Condition No. 4 on page 8 of the staff report of this date, `That the project be reviewed for compliance with the energy efficiency provisions pursuant to the conditions outlined in the memo from the Office of Energy Management dated November 28, 2005," which took care of those issues. In answer to question about photovoltaic systems, Mr. Conlon said he hadn't yet discussed the requirement for appropriately wiring the project for this purpose. However, he would be meeting with the utilities tomorrow regarding funding of potential future photovoltaic programs, and he planned to follow up with the Applicant about it next week. He agreed that the infrastructure for such a system needed to be installed as part of the initial project and not as a retrofitted item. Mr. Smith answered a question about recordation of the noise impact provision, saying it will be recorded against the property in a manner that will be obvious to the purchaser in the title report, in addition to being part of the CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions). With regard to energy efficiency measures, Mayor Ferguson pointed out that if additional ideas are generated in Mr. Conlon's meetings with the various utility companies the next two days, it will be too late to incorporate them in this project if it is approved at this meeting. Mr. Conlon responded that the subject project would be served by IID (Imperial Irrigation District); however, 22 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 he hasn't been very successful in making contacts with that agency about energy efficiency. In further response to question, Mr. Deitsch said the project could be approved subject to some additional conditions for energy efficiency. Councilman Crites pointed out that the project also included an ordinance that would be returning for second reading at the next meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly noted that staff had been discussing how first-time home buyers could be assisted in this project. Mr. Drell replied that it would have to be added as a condition like, 'The Applicant shall participate with the City in a first-time home buyer program," which he felt would not be a problem. Mayor Ferguson declared the public hearing to be open, and invited public testimony regarding the subject project. MR. GIL MILTENBERGER, Senior Vice President/Regional Manger, Taylor Woodrow, 16745 West Bernardo Drive, Suite 140, San Diego, CA, said that Mr. Smith had pretty well covered all the revisions his company made to the plan. He commented that the project is very important to both his company and their partner, Emerald Brook, and it was their intent to extract a project of the highest quality. They had been very excited about this project from its inception and were now even more enthusiastic than before, believing it would set the tone for future mid -density projects in the desert. After the last hearing, they immediately went to work on implementing the suggested revisions that would work best for both the community and this plan. He explained that one housing unit was deleted on the corner to enhance that area with an interactive wall with public art and then further integrate that art onto their entry gates. He went on to say they had met with Parks & Rec, and even though they said there was adequate recreation and pools, they actually deleted two more housing units in the southwestern area of the project to add a pool to provide an even better balance. With regard to the issue of noise, he said they submitted a draft of the noise disclosure to be recorded against the property, fully aware that the City Attorney would want to comment on it and add anything that was pertinent. He said although they were somewhat shocked initially about the condition for daycare, when they reconsidered what it would do for their project, the university, the region, and the City itself, it made sense. MR. CHRIS YELICH, Emerald Brook, 1100 Quail Street, Newport Beach, CA, said he wanted to let the City Council know that there would actually be 103 apartment units (instead of 106). He went on to say that they had already met with the Mulberry Group, a daycare provider in both Orange and Riverside Counties, to start work on laying out the daycare facility. He said the pad they'd be setting aside would actually provide for a large facility that 23 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 could accommodate 200-225 children, and they were committed to following through with the requirement. He agreed that the changes that had been made resulted in a better project. With no further testimony offered, Mayor Ferguson declared the public heating to be closed. Councilman Spiegel thanked the developers for including the child care center and the additional neighborhood parks for their future residents. He noted that although it is a very high -density project, the developers evidently were confident about it. He felt good about the project as now proposed, with the caveat that certain energy issues still need to be finalized for it. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said that he had an item regarding how to implement a first-time home buyer program later on this agenda, but he wondered how this developer would participate in it. He said perhaps the City could help form a consortium to help finance first-time home buyers; even though he'd spoken with Tim Day about it, they didn't determine what monetary amount would be appropriate to initiate it. He foresaw the program being geared for people who are able to make the monthly payment but don't have the necessary down payment MR. MILTENBERGER responded that if it was going to be a Citywide program established for first-time home buyers, Taylor Woodrow would definitely work with the City to this end. He felt their product would appeal to first-time home buyers, and they'd be willing to work with them. Although they weren't really prepared to offer any subsidies, he said they would do their best to work on financing with those buyers and to work with the City on a program. In further response, he said he'd talked with his company's Chief Financial Officer, and the one requirement would be that the buyer would have to qualify for a loan with certain standards. Mayor Ferguson added that after working with Mayor Pro Tem Kelly on it, he envisioned having the City guarantee or otherwise financially back a second, which would give the home buyer enough 20% down payment to avoid PMIs (Private Mortgage Insurance) to be able to qualify for the remaining 80%. The City would then take a secondary position, and he didn't know what part Taylor Woodrow would have in it other than this was a way to help people buy their product. But he thought their sales office could help distribute information on the program to these buyers. MR. MILTENBERGER said Taylor Woodrow would definitely be interested and would want to be proactive in getting people qualified. Additionally, he offered that Taylor Woodrow has its own mortgage company, a partnership with Countrywide, which has a wide range of products and a lot of capability to assist people getting financed. 24 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Mayor Pro Tem Kelly observed that after asking the developer to look at and do a lot of different things, he felt they had complied. He noted that throughout the General Plan process, he was opposed to any higher density in this area of the City than was already there, with his main concern being the desire for more home ownership. He said with all the improvements Taylor Woodrow had made —parks, open space, etc., in addition to helping first-time home buyers, he was willing to accept higher density. Councilmember Benson commented that she was traveling to Corona on Monday to see a similar project by the Applicant. She echoed the comments of her colleagues, pleased that they'd be dedicating land for a child care facility; and with the City's mitigation fee, she was sure there would be funds to build it within the five-year period. Councilman Crites also agreed with his colleagues, adding that the Applicants had been a model of responsiveness. He further agreed that it was a better project than it was 90 days ago and one that deserves more support. He specifically appreciated participation in the City's energy programs, with this project being a model for the start of that program, as well as for the other things they had done for art, density issues, etc. He was going to be proud to have the developers as members of the community. Mayor Ferguson also thanked the Applicants for their patience. When this project was initiated about eight months ago, he knew Taylor Woodrow had an excellent reputation, and now he knew it was well deserved. He said the City was very proud of the project, which was now a great project that furthered public policy desires of the City Council that went beyond bricks and mortar —daycare, energy, apartments to complement the university system, open space, public art —future developers would be steered towards this project to see how it should be done. Further, he appreciated the willingness to work with the City on energy efficiency, given that there isn't currently an ordinance on it yet, and for the willingness to work on a first-time home buyer program without an ordinance, as well. He elaborated that when the issue of density was hotly debated, some on the City Council weren't wild about it; but if it was used as a means to get some other amenities that developers didn't ordinarily think about, it could be positive. This was really the first high -density residential project in this area of the City and applied to this policy, and he was pleased to see it as good as it is to set the standard for those who follow. Councilman Crites noted that he'd made just such a comment at yesterday's Landscape Beautification Committee, where he'd advised an applicant to first go look at Taylor Woodrow's project, then bring it back to the City for a chat. 25 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Councilman Spiegel moved to waive further reading and: 1) Adopt Resolution No. 05-104, approving Case No. GPA 05-02; 2) pass Ordinance No. 1103 to second reading, relating to Case No. C/Z 05-02; 3) adopt Resolution No. 05-105, approving Case Nos. PP 05-12 and TT 33837, including a height exception for the apartment project, subject to conditions, and as amended with the additional conditions shown in the staff report of this date and as presented at this meeting (i.e.,dedication of land for child care facility, housing agreement for moderate income households, waiver of a portion of Quimby fees, energy efficiency compliance, and recordation of noise impact notice). Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by a 5-0 vote. With City Council concurrence, Mayor Ferguson suspended the agenda at this point to consider items listed on the Agenda Addendum for this meeting. Please see Section VI - Consent Calendar Item Y and Section XII - Old Business Item C for subsequent discussion and action. B. CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR DEFERMENT OF THE RED -LINING OF THE CURBING ON THE EAST AND WEST SIDES OF DEEP CANYON ROAD UNTIL CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW SACRED HEART CHURCH PARKING LOTS IS COMPLETED — 43-775 DEEP CANYON ROAD Case No. CUP 04-13 (Roman Catholic Bishop of San Bernardino and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Applicants). Following is a verbatim transcript of the discussion and testimonyfor Public Hearing Item B. Key JF Jim Ferguson, Mayor CLO Carlos L. Ortega, City Manager MR Mike Rover, on behalf of Sacred Heart Church and School HL Father Howard Lincoln, Sacred Heart Church RAS Robert A. Spiegel, Councilman TM Thomas McCutchen, neighboring resident NE Norman Eastwood, neighboring resident HW Henrietta Wilhelm, neighboring resident TB Tom Brohard, traffic engineer for Sacred Heart Church AS Alan Schiff (sp?), neighboring resident JMB Jean M. Benson, Councilmember BAC Buford A. Crites, Councilman RSK Richard S. Kelly, Mayor Pro Tem GLM Grace L. Mendoza, Deputy City Clerk JF Okay, that takes us to our next public hearing, which is a consideration of request for deferment of the red -lining of curbing on the east and west sides of Deep Canyon Road until construction of the new Sacred Heart Church parking lot is completed. For those of you that are responding to the public hearing notices that 26 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 we sent out, the Council had voted to red -line Deep Canyon, initially, after construction of the Church. Then we decided to do just the east side of Deep Canyon and north of the Church, we thought, with the Church's blessing. After that approval, the Church said, "No, that's going to cause us difficulty," and the Council decided to re -notice the hearing so the residents could find out about it, give the Church an opportunity to come and explain their request, and make a final decision this evening. So with that, is there any staff report beyond what I just outlined. CLO Yes, Mr. Mayor, as you know, the discussion has been around how many parking spaces would be lost, particularly with regard to the east side. We have sent staff out there to go and mark the spaces off; you do have a report from Mr. Urbina, Associate Planner, that will tell you the specific impact and number of spaces. You have a map of the area where those spaces would be normally excluded if you would...red-line it. Staff recommendation, of course, continues to be that no red -lining be done until the new parking spaces are created. JF Any questions of staff? Okay, we all have Mr. Urbina's report. If there are no questions, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing; and I'm going to invite the Church to make its request first, and then ask for responses from other interested parties. MR Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Councilmembers, Mike Rover on behalf of Sacred Heart Church and School. As you're aware, we're requesting that the red -lining be continued until following the completion of our parking lot. At this point, there is not a contractor that has been designated at this point; that should be happening within the next two weeks —I think the bid closes December 15th. At any rate, with that said, we are comfortable with requesting that the Council considering, or consider postponing the red -lining of Deep Canyon Road, based upon a red -lining date of June 1. And, essentially, what we would be requesting that the City Council consider would be red -lining the east side on June 1. What we would specifically request, with regard to the west side, would be posting "No Parking" signs along the entirety of the west side, limiting the hours of legal parking from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. This was an idea that Father Lincoln and I discussed following a meeting that I had with Mr. McCutchen and Mr. Eastwood at the request of the Councilmembers. Just to update you on what transpired at that meeting, it was just the three of us. Mr. McCutchen specifically requested that Father Lincoln not attend, so wanting to defer to their request and comfort level on that, we gave them the opportunity of kind of laying out the terms of the meeting. We met at my office, which is also on Deep Canyon Road, just south of, a block or so south of the project. We met for about 50 minutes. There was no substantial movement on the red -lining issue regarding compromise, but I personally feel, and I think Mr. McCutchen and Mr. Eastwood will confirm this, that I think we have a better communication line open between myself, as a representative of the Church, and them, as representatives of their respective neighborhoods. Additionally, we, the Church, sent out letters to homeowners 300, in excess of 300 letters to homeowners on adjacent streets surrounding the Church that we felt would be impacted by the 27 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 potential parking issues for, that would be resulting from the red -lining, the immediate red -lining of Deep Canyon, including all of Palmira. We sent out over 300 letters, we got 44 back; 41 of those letters requested that we postpone the red- lining, and only three of those requested that we red -line immediately. So that's about a 12:1 ratio of residents in favor of postponing the red -lining until completion of the parking improvements at Sacred Heart. That said, Father, do you wish to say some comments? We also have our traffic engineer present if the Council has any questions, as well, Tom Brohard. HL We, my name is Father Howard Lincoln from Sacred Heart Church, we did our very best to try to reach out to the community. Mr. McCutchen did, was pretty specific, he doesn't believe me, he doesn't think I'm telling the truth, so I did not participate, as requested by the Council, in that meeting. We did our best to reach out to as many people as we could; I think we sent 310, none of the letters came back with an incorrect address. We're not fudging on this. There were only three no's. In other words, only three that said red -line right away; 41 said no, delay it; and then they'd write little comments: one wrote "common sense would be to delay it." understand also the Council has expressed concern about the La Paz area and when is it going to come down, and the big equipment is being put in place; by that I mean the bulldozers and whatever they use, I understand, this Monday, and that will be down by the end of this month at least. I don't know what else to say. We... simply do not have remotely enough parking at this point; and once we get the parking lot done, we should be pretty much okay, but we still, the west side, we're requesting it not be red -lined, but we will agree to the posting of signs from 7 in the morning to 7 at night. JF Any questions for Father Lincoln? RAS I have a comment. I congratulate you on raising the money that you did for Martha's Kitchen, it was a wonderful thing. HL Mr. Spiegel, we, actually we raised, we had pledges of $131,000, and it's just, it's been really gratifying. So that's...we're very fortunate, very fortunate. Thank you. MR If I could make one more comment with regard to the signage on the left hand, or the restricted parking rather than red -lining on the west side of the street. In my meeting with Messrs. McCutchen and Eastwood, one of the comments that came up was they were concerned about when the gym/parish hall building is built, that there may be evening events and so forth, and the hours of operation, as set forth in the conditional use permit, were, I think it was until 10 weeknights and 11 on Saturdays or thereabouts, and they were concerned about noise —people walking out and saying their goodbyes and so forth —as they vocalized previously. We thought one way of addressing the parking issue and also addressing their concerns about the late evening noise would be to limit the parking until 7 o'clock. By that point, the on -site parking will be complete, and hopefully, we can keep that parking 28 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 within our own parking lots there at the Church. So that was kind of the idea behind the plan. Thank you. JF Thank you. Other members from the public wishing to comment? TM My name is Thomas McCutchen, 24 Via Cielo Azul, Palm Desert. Number one, I'm not quite sure what they're talking about this 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Is that no parking or that's the only time parking is allowed? But I understand that you have received a number of e-mails, letters, and phone calls from parishioners of Sacred Heart Church regarding the immediate red -lining of Deep Canyon. So many that you have asked Reverend Lincoln to ask parishioners to stop calling or e-mailing the Council. I doubt that you have received any in favor of red -lining Deep Canyon now. The reason is we have explained to the community around Sacred Heart Church that the Palm Desert City Council has reviewed this issue at least three times in the last two months and have come to a unanimous decision; in one case, 4 to 0 in favor of red- lining Deep Canyon now. Your decision was based on community and Church input, as well as a technical report by Mark Greenwood, Palm Desert Traffic Engineer, recommending to City Council that you approve red -lining Deep Canyon because of safety and line -of -sight issues. These safety issues and liability of the City and Church don't go away without red -lining Deep Canyon now. Your traffic expert has spoken, and that puts the City on notice of a potential traffic and liability problem. The community has been talking about the parking and traffic safety problem for at least two years —first with the Church and then with the City. As you will recall, the Church has shown no concern regarding parking with their original expansion proposal, as they only proposed an additional 81 paved parking spaces. They knew at the time that their parking was inadequate but chose not to address it by overbuilding on the proposed site. Once the proposal got to the City Council for final approval, it took the Council's position of either redesigning their proposed expansion to include some of the community's concerns or not get an approval. Also in the meantime, we had done our parking study, showing that they needed 200+ parking spaces to meet their current needs without regard to any future growth of the parish. Because of the extremely fast growth of our Valley, we all know that the parish will continue to grow. When the Church returned to the Council with their new expansion plans, they came up with 241 additional paved parking spaces, among other major changes, and the possibility of over 200 overflow grass parking spaces on the playfield; certainly enough parking spaces to accommodate the current members and some future growth. Now it was quite surprising, as well as shocking, that Jim Ferguson, present Councilmember and the new Mayor, has responded to a number of Church Members by e-mail on November 9th, stating that "The City will not be red -lining the curb until after Sacred Heart has completed their expansion. Even then, my personal preference is to wait and see if there is a problem before proceeding with any red -striping." And this was before it was even back on the agenda. Then on November 18th, Mr. Ferguson sent a letter to Reverend Lincoln, further stating that, "I understand the parking lot improvements should be completed on or before March 1 St, 2006." However, in the letter Reverend Lincoln sent out requesting that we complete a ballot on delaying red- 29 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 lining the curb and returning it to the Church, that the drop -dead date for completion of the parking lot would be June 2006. Our petition of approximately 125 community residents, previously submitted, requested that, among other things, Deep Canyon be red -Tined. Most of these signatures were from residents not living in Palmira, and some who signed admitted they were also parishioners. Also in today's Desert Sun, our new Mayor, Mr. Ferguson, was quoted as saying, "I'm not convinced that red -lining, restricting parking by the Church, is necessary at all; public streets are for the public unless there's a health or safety issue." Well, number one, we feel there is a safety issue. And number two, Mr. Ferguson, why did you vote as part of the 4-0 in favor of red -lining immediately back on October 13' What has changed now other than a deluge of parishioners hitting you up to change your mind? Mayor Ferguson, how could your assurances of no red -lining be made so confident when the Council voted on October 13'h to red -line Deep Canyon now, with the 4-0 unanimous vote in favor, including your vote? In a subsequent Council Meeting, on November 10", Homer Croy was given direction by the Mayor, Mr. Crites at the time, to have the curb painted by Thanksgiving. Here it is December 8', and there is still game playing and delays. At the same meeting, Reverend Lincoln asked if the Council would consider reopening the discussion regarding red -lining, and by a 5 to 0 vote, including you, Mr. Ferguson, in favor of not reopening, the Church was told very emphatically, "No." Now for the fourth time we are back to discuss this matter. At no time have I heard discussion of the need for a temporary lot to be built until construction is complete, and we know they have had time to consider this option. Once the duplexes are finally tom down, there is more than ample space for a temporary parking area to be designated. I ask the Council, please put this to bed for the final time. Honor your commitment to the surrounding community and stand by your decision, and issue an order for the curbs on Deep Canyon, from Fred Waring to Magnesia Falls, to be red -lined as you have already approved once and a second time confirmed your decision. Thank you. JF Other comments? Mr. Eastwood. NE Can I ask one question first? I didn't understand your parking signs. Is it no parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.? Or parking? MR The "No Parking" would be from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. NE Oh, okay — 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. no parking, during the evenings, but during the day, you're suggesting parking. MR Correct. NE Okay, I didn't understand that. JF That's okay. 30 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 NE So no parking at night. Okay. I just have one page, and although I may sound negative on some of these things, I don't really mean to be negative. I'm really just trying to present the case that needs to be presented. Okay? So on October 13`r' the Council passed the resolution with a vote of 4 to 0 to red -line Deep Canyon on the west side and the east side north of the Church. It was never in front of the Church on that proposal. There was a lot of confusion on that, and you understand that, Jim. JF Right. NE And I think you straightened that out. But it was to do that now, and it was proposed by Mr. Kelly. On the 10th of November, on an appeal, the Council again confirmed the resolution by a 5 to 0 vote to do that now. Okay? Homer Croy said he would come back, or he confirmed that this would be completed by Thanksgiving. Obviously, it hasn't been done. Okay, tonight we're here again to discuss red -lining Deep Canyon. Why are we here again to discuss what has already been decided over two months ago when we came to a very compatible compromise? I thought it was a compatible compromise. We didn't ask for the Church to be done, we asked for the rest, where the residents were, where the residents were. We believe that your decision to red -line the portions of Deep Canyon now was a legal, moral, and ethical act. Nothing new has been brought to the table. All of us have repeatedly had our opportunity to talk, including Sacred Heart, over and over and over. Okay? They've had their tum to talk, but I guess I've been up here a few more times. As you know, in law school 101, the first lesson you learn is that if you have a decision that's not in your favor, delay, delay, delay; stop the decision. The second part of that process is confuse and confuse and muddy the water. Okay? The local residents have proven their case over and over. The City Council has legally voted in a compromise that has been satisfactory to all. Sacred Heart has brought in delay after delay and would like to muddy up the issues. The issues are clear: Sacred Heart does not want to give up Deep Canyon as a private parking lot at any time —not today, tomorrow, or next year. Irrespective of parking adjacent to local homes, they don't want to give up that parking, okay? And that's the real issue. Now, we live here, we're residents, we use that street all the time. Traffic studies have repeatedly been completed and confirmed the problems. We all know the problem is there. There's a traffic problem, it's done over and over. Chief Engineer's confirmed the problem — nothing has changed. Reverend Lincoln has sent his lawyer over to visit us and talk to us, and, I would suggest, maybe to intimidate us a little bit by being spoken to by a law firm, okay? You know the intimidation process. Reverend Lincoln has sent out this letter to vote on red -lining. C'mon, guys, all the residents, other than the Church members, thought this was all decided a long time ago. I threw it away, and a lot of other people probably threw it away, because I thought we had done this, and I told them decisions have been made before. Okay? So I don't think those numbers mean an awful lot. There is in the newspaper, this one I don't like, that announcement that the City will not be red -lining until after Sacred Heart has completed their expansion, and even then, wait and see, okay? I'm quoting this out of the newspaper, other documents. Now, 31 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 wait and see doesn't work. Wait for what? Wait until we have more accidents on Desert [sic] Canyon Drive? I mean how many accidents do we have to have? Should we wait until somebody's killed crossing the road or coming out from the curbs? The curb parking is pretty scary when you go through there, and shall we see the results? You will see the results when somebody gets drastically hurt because of accidents. I'm almost to the end. Now, we have heard that the parking lot will be completed March, June, maybe 2006. There is no documented, distributed schedule for any of the construction or environment on that project. None. Even your City Planner hasn't put up a schedule — even the City Planner has not put up a schedule of construction. So you asked residents to believe that there is some date when this will be done, okay? Now, that's a pretty act of faith than I can go by. Now, if they're really building something, somebody should have a real, real schedule other than something that Francisco can run overnight and present to you. Okay. There is no documented schedule. And you remember the first meeting I ever talked to you, I said, 'Where is the five-year plan?" And Mr. Crites wrote down a note on that. There is no five-year plan. Okay. Now, as you know in construction, you don't do the parking lot first. You do the building first, and there are good reasons for doing that. But now, I imagine you're telling us we're going to do the parking lot first —nobody has said that, okay? Nobody has made that statement, but you wouldn't do that if you were doing a construction project. Now, last, almost lastly, is the removal of the houses where the parking lot is going, is going at a snail's pace. If you've ever been over there and listened to the neighbors complaining about the banging of what's going on is, the roofs and the roof trusses are being removed by hand. Five or six workers are up there with hammers, taking the plywood off, taking the trusses off, and I imagine they're doing that for salvage purposes. It would be good to salvage the wood and give it away, if you want to, okay? But the point is, it's a very slow process they're coming about off by hand, okay? Nobody knows when that will be done. How will the rest of the project be done? I don't know. If it was me, I would have thought, "Gee, we'll bulldoze those down, and in a week, the land will be ready for a parking lot." Not so, okay? I don't know the answers to these things, I'm just telling you what's happened, and it's not going to happen tomorrow. Okay, summary. This issue of red -lining Deep Canyon was decided way back on the 13th of October with a full vote of 4 to 0. Reconfirmed 5 to 0. Sacred Heart has supplied continuous delay, delay, delay. We've worked on this for a year and a half with 130 local residents on petition. We request, okay, I don't know how to do that more gently, to please red -line Deep Canyon. We've got a problem there — there is no question about the problem. And if we try to peg this on an imaginary date when something will be done, that is a slippery goose. There's no answer to it. You're, if you say yes for this, that some time in the future, there is no future, okay? I will guarantee you that if you don't do it now, red Deep Canyon will never, and I'II say that absolutely, if you don't do it now, Deep Canyon will never ever be red -lined. You will have continuous delay, delay, delay. And next time, even after the parking lot's done, I'II be in here again, and we'll be debating should we red -line. So please, I ask you, you've already committed yourself, you said do it, please reaffirm it. That's all I can ask of you. Thank you. 32 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 JF Other comments from members of the public? ??? Okay, I live on Florine. JF What is your name, ma'am? HW Henrietta Wilhelm. JF Thank you. HW I live on Florine, I've lived there 36 years now. And the people that go to Sacred Heart Church park all on Florine, and it's okay with the people there. The reason that Father did not receive all of his letters back was because a lot of them don't care whether they, whether they park there or not, on Deep Canyon, they just don't care. I talked to my neighbors, and they said...I said, "Did you get the letter?" And they said, "Yes, but we, we really don't care." You know, they can go ahead and park wherever. I've seen the traffic on Saturdays and Sundays on Deep Canyon, and there is no traffic. I've seen it Monday through Friday, there is traffic because people are going back and forth to work. But on Saturday and Sunday, there is no traffic. The only time that I've seen, and I've been there, like I said, 36 years, I've only seen about three or four accidents. So what they're saying about accidents, no. I have not seen a pedestrian hit; I run across —I, I illegally run across...Fred Waring with my dog, and I haven't been run over. I do it every day. So I'm saying, let him have his, his parking, okay? I mean he's not hurting anybody; the Catholic Church is not hurting anybody, let him have it. Okay? I, like I said, I've been there 36 years, the only accidents, I've seen about three accidents. I look at the traffic, and I watch the traffic on Saturdays and Sundays to see if it's heavy, no it is not heavy. So let him have his parking. Otherwise, we will, you said, okay, we want Palm Desert to be known, our name here, our name there; okay, we want our, our church to have the people from Palm Desert go to Sacred Heart Church, not be looking to another church —St. Francis of Assisi...St. Theresa's, because, why, because they can't find any parking? That's, you know, let him have his parking. He's done enough good around here, okay? I, I, I mean, I get awfully nervous standing up here, but let me tell you one thing, there is no traffic on Saturday and Sunday. I have stood out there to watch it, and the only traffic there is, is Monday through Friday when people are going to work, that's it. Thank you. JF Thank you, ma'am. Other members of the public who wish to speak? Yes, sir. TB Mayor and Councilmembers, Tom Brohard. I'm the traffic engineer retained by Sacred Heart. I wanted to make just a couple of points this evening to you. The comment was made, I believe by Mr. McCutchen, about your staffs report from October 13' that is in your packet tonight. Very clearly, the recommendation of your staff was to wait until after the parking was provided by the master plan. That's very, very clear. Not to "do it now." And why? And Mr. Greenwood and I share this concern and this position, and that would be additional parking would spill over into 33 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 adjacent residential streets, and you will hear from those residents as the parking intrudes further into the residential areas. There was a count of parking off the property done last March; there were 150 vehicles, a majority of those on Deep Canyon, a lot on Florine, other streets in the area. There is no question about the need for additional parking. It's a question of timing and when to do this. So Sacred Heart is also conditioned in the approval to monitor conditions and to make adjustments in various schedules. There are all kinds of safeguards that the City of Palm Desert has built in. Frankly, I believe that Father Lincoln's position tonight, where he said as of June 1 ', red -curb the east side, and then post the west side for no parking during the evening, is a very reasonable compromise position. Thank you. JF Thank you. MR If I can clarify one point in response to Mr. Eastwood's comment regarding buildings first, parking lots last. I wanted to point out that we are, what we were talking about on this conditional use...permit amendment was a master plan. This was not a building permit where everything's going to start all at once. The plan is a three- phase plan to build additional classrooms, then the parish hall and gym, and then finally...the final classrooms. The parish hall and gym, unfortunately, is not funded at this point. The plan is to build the parking facilities and the classrooms, then come back and build the gymnasium at, in fact, after the parking lots —it would be great if somebody came along and dropped a bunch of money there to build the gym, but it hasn't happened at this point, and...we're still working on it, but we're not there yet. So the plan would be to build the parking lots before the parish hall/gymnasium. JF Thank you. Father Lincoln. HL Just to clarify, excuse me, June 1 S' is a drop -dead date. If we don't have it by then, it's our problem. We, we chose that, I remember, Mr. Crites, the last time I was before you, you said, "Give me something sp-, specific," and that's our drop -dead date. In terms of a five-year plan, that's it, that's a 10-year plan. In fact, the City has said to us that we, basically, cannot, cannot buy houses around there, we cannot expand anymore. So that is the five-year plan. I feel the local people have spoken. I think that vote of 41 to 3 does reflect the community...and I'm sorry we, once we tear this down, we cannot use it as a parking lot because we're building on it-- we're building the play field, the parking lot, and the classrooms, so I just wanted to say that. JF Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Yes, sir. AS Good evening. My name is Alan Schiff (sp?), and I live at 36 Via Amormio, Palm Desert, in the Palmira Homeowners. I'm not up here to try and take on Sacred Heart Church, that would be silly. What they did Sunday is remarkable. At least on a personal note, I had a friend pass away in April of cancer, and before he got sick, 34 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 he was at church every morning. When he was too sick to go, someone showed up from the Church at his house. And finally, when he was time to get his last rites, they were there immediately. That's an outstanding Church. I don't want to have anything to do about taking them on. However, as a homeowner in Palmira, I received one of those questionnaires on what to vote, and at no place did I see something about putting up parking signs, no parking signs; all I saw was red -lining both sides of the street. So I'm a little confused how that got in. That's kind of misleading. The reason, the real reason I'm up here is to say that when I come out of Palmira and it happens to be on a Sunday, it's kind of dangerous —it's not kind of dangerous, it is. I've come out and gone into the lefthand turn lane to tum left onto Fred Waring, and all of a sudden, I'm facing a car trying to pull into the Church parking lot. When I come out of the complex, it's kind of dangerous, because all these cars are parked, and it obstructs my view to come out. So red -lining, kind of important, it's very important for the safety of the people in the homeow-, in that homeowners' association. So I'd ask you to think about that, that's kind of important. And again, it's not me or us against that church, that's a great church, and I'm proud to be across the street from them. JF Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak? Seeing no one, I will go ahead and close the public hearing and ask for comments or suggestions from the Council. JMB Well, I don't, we keep getting accused of changing our mind. But this hearing was just on changing the date of the red -lining, not what we voted to do. And that's all they're asking for now is the change of date; instead of doing it immediately, to wait, and justifiably so, to the first of June. We all know how construction can be delayed; we're almost eight months behind on an animal shelter because of delays in weather and whatever. Hopefully, the weather will be good, and there won't be delays. But the issue here is not whether we're going to red -line it or not, it's when we're going to do it, and...l, for one, would like to see it postponed. BAC And almost the same, but different, it is about —we both voted whether to red -line, and we voted when to red -line, and the decision was to do the, certainly, at least the east side of the street immediately. And we heard piles of testimony from all kinds of folks, and at least I voted, right or wrong, to both: a) red -line and b) to do the east side immediately, and the data that were there then or the data that are here now, and I don't see a reason to change my mind. JF Okay. Other comments? RAS I, I guess I have one or two. Last time we voted on this, we were talking March, is that correct? And...now it's...it was March...was the last meeting, it was March. BAC The last meeting Father Lincoln said he... RSK ...(unclear) or March. 35 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 BAC ...thought it would be done in March. RAS In March, that's correct. BAC Right. RAS Yeah, not start in March, be done in March. And March has now become June. That's not a long time, but also when we talked about it initially, we're talking about red -lining both sides. Now we're suggesting that, I guess it's the west side having no parking during certain hours, is that correct? Is there any reason why those "No Parking" signs can't go up now? MR The "No Parking" signs was kind of an idea I had as a result of my meeting with Mr. McCutchen and Eastwood. There's probably no reason those "No Parking" signs cannot go up right now. RAS Why? MR But I think the purpose of the "No Parking" signs was to eliminate late evening things, which they... RAS Exactly. MR We don't, we don't really have late evening things right now, so it may be unnecessary, but... RAS But, could we put "No Parking" signs right now? BAC Well, yeah, we... RAS Okay, please... JF Let's take this, we've had the public hearing. Councilman Spiegel had a question, which is his privilege, and he has a right to an answer. But we're not re -opening the debate on this. HL Mr. Spiegel, if we could have the...the June 1st date, which is a drop -dead date, again. I can't see any reason right now that we would not, we would have no objection. BAC I now have a question. You wouldn't have any objections to doing the "No Parking," would you, whether you got June 1st or not? I mean, are you in here trading one for the other? Is that what you're telling me? HL No, no, but we're just, that date is so important to us. Okay. 36 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 BAC I...go back to my question then. HL No, Mr. Crites... BAC Do you have objections to doing that whether we do this June 1st or tomorrow? HL We do...we do not. BAC Okay. Thank you, sir. JF Okay. RSK Well, regardless of the decision we make, you know, as...things develop, I think that...you...you can't set a hard line if things change. You see things that influence your decision, and you, you, you have to change, and since our last decision, I've...I go by there every Sunday moming on my way to my church, and I observe the amount of cars that are —the parking lot's full, and the amount of cars that are on, parked on the curbs. And so, so if we red -line now before the parking lots are done, well, where do all those cars go? They're...they're not just going to disappear, I mean, people are still going to want to go to church. So, you know, I'm...I'm...my decision is to...from last time is to change because of observation of...what I see on Sunday morning. JF Now let me offer a few comments and then see what the Council wishes to do. When we voted on October 13`h, we had a church that didn't want any red -lining, and we had two residents that wanted red -lining immediately on both sides. It was a seemingly intractable position. Councilman Kelly, then -Councilman Kelly, came up with what I thought was a good compromise. I do not like red -lining streets. I think they are...they do belong to the public, and doing it in front of a gated community makes Tess sense to me, but I have friends that live there —I have come out, I have observed that there's a need for a line -of -sight when turning either north or south on Deep Canyon. And the truth is, you have a red curb in front of the whole front of your property, both sides. So when Councilman Kelly suggested that we do further down on the east side and just north of the Church property, although I'm not wild about it, I looked at Mr. Rover, who had no shaking on his head, and assumed that that was acceptable to the Church, and I voted for that motion. When you came back the second time, you didn't ask us to vote on red -lining again; you just asked us to do it immediately, and that's when then -Mayor Crites said, "Let's do this by Thanksgiving." I did ask Father Lincoln to stop having people call, because I thought we had taken care of the Church's problem —we weren't red -lining the curb immediately in front of the Church. When Mr. Rover came to me and said, "You're eliminating spaces," with then -Councilman Kelly's proposal, "and those people are still going to come to church on Sunday, they're good Catholics, but they aren't going to park where you red -lined the curb; they're going to spillover into neighborhoods that currently don't have a parking problem." And I could see that three or four months from now, all of those neighbors would be coming in here 37 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 demanding that we remove the red -lining. I went back to our traffic engineer, and I said, "Mark, was your original recommendation to red -line immediately?" And he said, "No, it was to do it after the construction." So I didn't want to create harm to the Church, didn't want to create harm to the folks at Palmira, and certainly didn't want to push a parking problem into neighborhoods that were currently unmolested by parking. At our last meeting, Father Lincoln was asked when the parking lot would be done, he said he thought mid -February to late February, possibly early March. Mayor Crites asked him for a drop -dead date, and he said, "I can't give you one, I don't want to mislead you, I don't want to be dishonest." And so when he came out with June 30`", I thought, well good for him, he's being nice and safe. But in the "no good deed goes unpunished" category, Mr. McCutchen comes along and, basically, calls him a liar, when all he was trying to do was be honest, which I find remarkable. You look for evil around every comer. We're good, honest people trying to broker a compromise that meets your needs. Now, when you first came in for these improvements at Sacred Heart, there were probably a hundred of your neighbors here talking about gymnasium buildings; parking did come up, red -lining was mentioned as part of that proposal, but it certainly wasn't pivotal to that proposal. Since that time, you're the only two people who've come here. And I'm not belittling you for that; this is America, and you have a right to speak your mind. Certainly, if the Church sent out a notice to 300 people, and they didn't respond, well, maybe they thought that they didn't have to because this was a done deal. But when they got legal notice from the City of Palm Desert, they sure as heck knew that this was an open question; and yet, here you two are, and I don't see your neighbors. Now the Church, to its credit, probably could have packed this room tonight with 500 people, and I asked Father Lincoln not to do it, because we don't do things by popularity or pep rallies --we do it with reason and logic, and we try and broker the best deal that we can. So now we're at a situation, like Jean said, where we're just down to what time do we actually do this. And the Church has realistically asked for about, I would guess 15 weeks, but they've put in through June 30th just so that they didn't look like they were misleading anybody. And on balance, the lady that was sitting here said that she doesn't see the harm. I drop my kids off every day and pick them up going down Deep Canyon, and I don't like it, I go in off of Fred Waring now because it's hard to tum left when, into the Church when traffic is coming out of the Church —it's a crazy traffic flow. But I don't see any danger on your side of the street. Now I know that cars parking and car alarms going off and doors slamming right outside your backyard windows can be annoying. Again, another reason why Mr. Kelly's idea to do the east side made sense to me. But, honestly, all we were trying to do is help you. Don't look for evil in what we do. I am fully in support of the Church's recommendation for a temporary stay on red -lining. I like the idea of the parking, no parking between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. I think it should happen immediately. I don't see any reason why it can't, and I understand that you don't have evening functions now, but that's more to my point, and that's basically how I feel about this issue. JMB Are we ready for a motion? 38 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 JF Yes. JMB I would move the staff recommendation that we wait until after the parking lot is finished to red -line. JF Is there a se-... RAS What about the "No Parking" signs between 7 and 7? JMB That's fine. RAS Is that part of the motion? JF Yes. RAS I'll second the motion. JF Okay. There's been a motion and a second. Any further comment? Please vote. GLM Motion carried 4-1, with Councilman Crites voting NO. For purposes of clarification: Councilmember Benson moved to, by Minute Motion, direct that red -lining the curb on the east side of Deep Canyon Road be deferred to June 1, 2006, and that a restricted parking plan with appropriate signage be instituted immediately on the entirety of the west side of the street to indicate "No Parking" between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. daily. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by a 4-1 vote, with Crites voting NO. C. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A PRECISE PLAN OF DESIGN TO ALLOW A 10,047 SQUARE FOOT SINGLE-FAMILY HOME WITHIN THE HILLSIDE PLANNED RESIDENTIAL ZONE — 705 SUMMIT COVE (CANYONS AT BIGHORN, APN 771-500-007) Case No. PP/HPD 05-18 (Habitat Architecture/Guy Dreier Designs, Applicant). Assistant Planner Ryan Stendell reviewed his staff report, pointing out that the project involves an existing 2.4-acre residential lot with about a 19,000 square foot rough graded pad. He said since the dwelling unit would exceed the 4,000 square foot maximum prescribed in the newly approved Hillside Planned Residential Zone (HPR), it will require an exception. The exception portion of the ordinance allows City Council to take the following into account: view shed, topography, color, texture, and profile of any structure. He noted that the proposed single-family home featured a contemporary design, using a lot of exterior stone veneer, bronze -glazed windows, and natural forms. Additionally, he said the plant palette for landscaping that would surround the house consisted of very native plant materials, and any areas that are disturbed during construction will be renaturalized, per the 39 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 landscape and planting renaturalization plan. In keeping with the intent and purpose of the HPR zone, staff felt the subject single-family home met those objectives with architecture and landscaping design that blends into the natural terrain and protects view sheds and natural skylines within the hillside area. He added that both the Architectural Review and Planning Commissions had reviewed and approved the case, with both bodies agreeing that the project achieved the intended purpose of the HPR zone. He closed by stating that staff concurred and is recommending approval. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly commented that many unhappy constituents at Ironwood Country Club had been contacting him about another house in Bighorn that is protruding significantly into the adjacent view shed. He said at the time that house was approved, it was also presented as being a structure that would not be visible when it was built. He asked if any part of the house under consideration at this time would be seen from Ironwood Country Club. Mr. Stendell answered it would absolutely not be seen from Ironwood. He said he'd personally visited the site, and it was 80+ feet lower than the house Mayor Pro Tem Kelly described; not only would it be invisible from Ironwood, but also from any other adjacent neighborhood. Councilman Crites said he, too, had been given a great deal of grief over the aforementioned house that very conspicuously stands out from the hillside —Palm Desert was being accused of reneging on its policy of preserving the hillsides. He pointed out that the same set of assurances were also given with that project as with the subject case. He asked that the next City Council Meeting agenda include a report on what the City was going to do to make the previous home (Hagadone) totally invisible; it was currently an eyesore and an embarrassment to the City Council's approval, which was based on representations that didn't appear to be honored. Mr. Stendell agreed that staff would provide a report on the matter. Mayor Ferguson declared the public hearing open and invited testimony FAVORING or OPPOSING the subject case. With no public testimony offered, he declared the public hearing closed. Councilman Spiegel thought it looked like a good, big house. Councilman Crites commented that he would be voting against this case and every other one like it until he is assured that such projects will adhere to the City's regulations and approved conditions. 40 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Councilman Spiegel moved to, waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-112, approving Case No. PP/HPD 05-18. Motion was seconded by Benson and carried by a 4-1 vote, with Crites voting NO. D. CONSIDERATION OF THE FORMATION OF THE PALM DESERT COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (CFD) NO. 2005-1 (UNIVERSITY PARK). Mayor Ferguson declared the public hearing to be open on establishment of the City of Palm Desert Community Facilities District No. 2005-1 (University Park), the extent of the District, the furnishing of specified types of public facilities to serve the District, the proposed rate and method of apportionment of the special tax, and the proposed incurrence of bonded indebtedness in an amount not to exceed $70 million in connection with the District. Ms. Mendoza stated that as required by the Mello -Roos Community Facilities Act, a Notice of the Hearing was published once in The Desert Sun on November 23, and a Notice was mailed to the landowners within the District on November 23 as well. In response to question, she answered that these actions were taken in accordance with applicable law. Mayor Ferguson noted that there would first be presentations on the District by staff and consultants, which would be followed by testimony from any interested persons or taxpayers. Mr. Yrigoyen reported that the City's Special Tax Consultant, MuniFinancial, has filed a CFD Report prior to the meeting, as previously directed by the City Council and required under the Mello -Roos Act. He said as noted in the Report, facilities proposed for financing under the CFD include certain facilities to be owned and operated by the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD). Under the Mello -Roos Act, if the University Park CFD will be financing facilities to be owned and operated by another public agency, such as the Water District, the City must approve by resolution a Joint Community Facilities Agreement with that agency. Further, the Act requires that this be accomplished before the City Council's adoption of a resolution of formation to establish the CFD. He said representatives of the master developer had met with representatives of CVWD, and it was reported that the meeting went well, the Water District was pleased with the development and the proposal to construct all of the infrastructure for the parcels together with the assistance of one CFD rather than on a piecemeal basis. However, he pointed out that at the earliest, the Water District would not be able to consider the Joint Agreement until their December 13 Meeting, as their attorneys are still reviewing the proposed agreement. Therefore, he said based on the complexity of the CFD and the need for the Water District's participation, staff recommended that the City Council continue the public 41 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 hearing until its next meeting, 4:00 p.m. on January 12, 2006, in this Council Chamber. Mayor Ferguson called for public testimony, either orally or in writing, FOR or AGAINST establishment of the District, extent of the District, fumishing of specified types of public facilities to serve the District, proposed rate and method of apportioning the special tax, and the incurrence of bonded indebtedness. No public testimony was offered, and he declared the public hearing to be left open. Councilman Crites asked for a report to be provided at the next hearing about the progress and timetable for the pedestrian bridge from the subject project area over to the Cal State Campus. Mr. Yrigoyen said it would be appropriate to ask for this information at the next meeting, and he affirmed that he would make such an advance request. Councilman Spiegel moved to: 1) Waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-113, making a finding under the Mello -Roos Act and continuing the public hearing on City of Palm Desert CFD District No. 2005-1 (University Park); 2) by Minute Motion, continue the public hearing to the meeting of January 12, 2006. Motion was seconded by Kelly and carried by 5-0 vote. E. REQUEST TO OPEN THE 30-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD TO HEAR COMMENTS RELATIVE TO THE CITY'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) ONE-YEAR ACTION PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006/07 AND TO OPEN THE APPLICATION PROCESS. Mayor Ferguson declared the public comment period to be open and invited anyone present wishing to make remarks to come forward at this time. MS. SANDY LOWRY, American Red Cross - Riverside County Chapter, said that her organization would be submitting a CDBG application before the deadline in early February. She read a prepared report with facts on the American Red Cross and how it is utilized locally. She pointed out that the local chapter did not receive any funding from the National American Red Cross, rather local chapters financed the National organization through an annual assessment of dues based on demographics, population, etc.; some services were received in return for this membership. Further, she stated that the benefit to families in the low and moderate income level was great, with the majority of victims served by the American Red Cross in Riverside County (approx. 78%) being in this category. She added that the Red Cross also provides personal, ongoing case management to families to help them through their time of need, and long-term assistance is also available on a case -by -case basis. The report included a statistical table with the history of disaster relief in the City of Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley. She provided a copy of the report to each Councilmember, and it is now also on file and of record with the City Clerk's Office. 42 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 Mayor Ferguson noted that no further City Council action was required at this time; however, the CDBG public comment and application period would remain open, as specified. XIV. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. CITY MANAGER None B. CITY ATTORNEY None C. CITY CLERK None D. PUBLIC SAFETY o Fire Department None o Police Department None E. MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL o City Council Requests for Action: NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS LISTED ON AN AGENDA ADDENDUM POSTED 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE MEETING. 1 Consideration of a First-time Home Buyers Program (Mayor Pro Tem Richard S. Kelly). Mayor Pro Tem Kelly noted that this was briefly discussed during consideration of the Taylor Woodrow project earlier in the meeting. He explained that his objective was to work with staff in putting together a First-time Home Buyers Program. He commented that one was previously developed with CVAG; however, the Cities of La Quinta and Indio chose not to participate, which resulted in Tess than the necessary population base to make the program successful, and it was 43 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 abandoned. Therefore, he thought Palm Desert could develop something for people who were overqualified for affordable housing but needed some extra help to make that first purchase (i.e., public safety providers, teachers, doctors, lawyers). He hoped his colleagues would agree and authorize staff to work with him on it. With City Council concurrence, staff was directed to pursue development of a First- time Home Buyers Program for the City of Palm Desert. 2. Niahtclubs — Councilman Spiegel noted the issues the City was working on with South Beach Restaurant and Nightclub; however, in recent police reports, Red 74 seemed to be prevalent in a number of illegal incidents as well. He asked for a report from staff and the Police Department about what measures were being taken to minimize such incidents. Mr. Ortega reported that staff had been working on licensing for South Beach and determined that it was a nightclub. Therefore, it would be subject to the City's process for issuance of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), which he pointed out could include conditions regarding traffic, noise, and parking. In the meantime, he said staff had prepared an agreement with the establishment's owner, which will include conditions that will be part of the CUP, enabling staff to commence enforcement of those conditions. He said staff believed it had covered the issues raised earlier in today's meeting. With regard to the noise issues, he said staff had taken more sound measurements last weekend and found that South Beach was within the levels per the City's ordinance. Responding to question, Mr. Drell said staff had developed a list of interim conditions. However, the deep, deep bass sound component of modern music is not adequately addressed in the City's current ordinance. Therefore, staff was also proceeding to amend that ordinance, and within the conditions of approval based upon an acoustical study, a requirement is added to address that bass sound — the main complaint. He went on to say a whole group of prospective conditions has been developed, which staff believes are likely to be approved as part of a conditional use permit and that the owners immediately agreed to in order to stay in business. He said the agreement had been drafted today with hopes of having it signed tomorrow. He went on to note that this location had been a nightclub with late -night entertainment as long as it's been there; however, this particular establishment was much 44 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 more successful, combined with the manner of amplification and type of music played by a disc jockey. He said there was now a way to isolate and measure the low frequency in such a way to determine when a nuisance exists. Relative to what measures were being instituted with Red 74 and South Beach, Lt. Thetford said the Police Department was keeping the City updated on everything that's been going on as far as significant incidents. He noted that there had been a couple of major incidents at Red 74; and based on that concern, he'd met with the manager and the owner of the club about two weeks ago regarding things the club operators could do to mitigate the circumstances (i.e., checking identification, dress code, capacity, and music). Additionally, he said the operators admitted that they wished they'd never started their weekly Tuesday night event, and they were trying to eliminate it. He felt comfortable with the good relationship the department had developed with management at Red 74, noting that the biggest issue here too was the club's success, and stated that they've raised the cover charge to help reduce the number of patrons. In regard to South Beach, he met with its operations manager yesterday and had a similar conversation. He indicated to her that the biggest concern was the thumping bass sound and the opening/closing of the patio door. He went on to say that their mitigation measure was to place a bouncer at the door to ensure it stays closed as much as possible and also to keep noise down on the patio. He was skeptical of the effectiveness of that measure, but he asked that the club owner contact him for more ideas to help address the negative impacts while helping them to continue being successful. Further, he felt the neighboring residents had been very patient and professional in their efforts to mitigate the noise issue, and the City Council has listened to them; but now they were waiting for the City to use its authority to make it happen. He agreed that everyone coming to the table to discuss the matter would probably be best; although, his department has not had major calls for service at South Beach. He added that he had spoken with Fire Marshal David Avila about coordinating a program to present to both South Beach and Red 74, and then do an evening check for capacity limits. 3. Councilman Crites asked Lt. Thetford to communicate with Indian Wells City Councilman Rob Bemheimer, who had recently written a letter to the City on behalf of the Desert Cancer Foundation regarding issues at the Portola Community Center. 45 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 4. Councilman Crites said that after conducting interviews for City Committee and Commission Service, he felt it would be very appropriate to establish a "Resources Advisory Committee," or something similar. He envisioned that citizen members would provide advice and assistance on the City's new energy programs, possibly future water programs, or related resource conservation policies. 5. Councilman Crites remarked that he would be very interested in the City of Rancho Mirage's progress on its new general plan and zoning issues on the triangular -shaped area at the intersection of Monterey Avenue and Frank Sinatra Drive. When he discussed the matter with representatives at Marriott's Shadow Ridge, they were very concerned about this zoning issue. He wanted to be updated on how the City was working with Marriott in this matter. 6. Councilman Crites passed along to Mayor Ferguson a proposal from the Distinguished Flying Cross Association, which was interested in having a memorial in Civic Center Park. He felt it should also be considered by the Parks & Recreation Commission. 7. Councilman Crites was disappointed that he'd just learned of tomorrow night's Riders in the Sky Concert at the McCallum Theatre being sponsored by City of Palm Desert. He asked staff to communicate with McCallum officials that it needed to provide more advance notice of these events in the future. Councilmember Benson added that in the same letter from the McCallum, it requested the City pick one or two shows for sponsorship from the list of those upcoming in 2006. She hoped it would be possible to do the Mexican Folklorico Ballet in conjunction with the City's Sister City Program. City Councilmembers concurred. 8. Councilman Crites said after a wonderful meal at the fire station recently, he came back through the Westfield Palm Desert parking lot. He asked Code Compliance to look into a nuisance in the northeast comer of the parking lot in the "north 40" there, which looked basically like a trash dump. 9. Freedom Park — Mayor Ferguson reported to his colleagues that he and Mayor Pro Tem Kelly had been working on a subcommittee for the park with a retired Lieutenant General, 46 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 particularly focused on the Veterans' Memorial to be sited there. He said the intent was to develop a fitting tribute to veterans, and they'd been working with Artist C. Seward Johnson, Jr., who had done memorials at Gettysburg, site of the World Trade Center Towers, as well as "The Fisherman" in Civic Center Park. Mr. Johnson had come up with a conceptual design of a woman looking at a gravestone with a small boy, which he said was conceived from an excerpt of a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a mother who had lost five sons during the Civil War. He said once the maquette came in from Mr. Johnson, it will be shown to the City Council, and he anticipated they would agree that it was very special. o City Council Committee Reports: 1. SunLine Transit Authority — Mayor Pro Tem Kelly recalled for his colleagues the issues SunLine has had over the past year with regulation of taxicab service in the Valley. He went on to report that to date, most of the input they'd received had been from those opposing SunLine's involvement. However, at yesterday's Taxi Committee Meeting, representatives of 14 cab companies were present (representing some 150 cabbies). They expressed concern that they hadn't participated in any of the proceedings to date; although, they felt the regulation of their enterprise was being well handled and should stay with SunLine. He said that provided a different perspective on the issue from the "quiet majority," and he wanted to make his colleagues aware of this new development. 2. Coachella Valley Animal Campus. Commission — Councilmember Benson said this morning the Commission met at the new facility, and it was hoped tlt thean'afer of animals would be accomplished around January + She felt her colleagues would all be very proudV the new_building—it is a remarkable, state-of-the-art facility,3 ihich!stZibelieved would eliminate any doubts some of the participating cities had initially. She stated that the official oOning viazInow planned for February 9, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. She.noted that there were already about 50 volunteers on board currently, with that number expected to grow. 3. Reaional Access Proiect (RAP)—Councilmember Benson also reported that at this moming's RAP Board Meeting, it voted to set aside $100,000 for donation to all the area food banks in $5,000 increments during the upcoming holidays. 47 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2005 o City Council Comments: None XV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - C MS. RAMONA FLETCHER, Olive Court, Palm Desert, expressed appreciation for the City Council's acknowledgment of her neighborhood's concerns and action it took to remove the Office Professional (OP) overlay there. She commented that she and her husband were grateful every day to be residents of Palm Desert, which she attributed to having the best City Council in all of the Coachella Valley. MS. JEAN MARTIN, San Jose Avenue, Palm Desert, agreed with the previous speaker and thanked the City Council for its help, noting that she was also speaking for many other people who couldn't be here tonight to express their gratitude. Additionally, she congratulated the City on its recycling program; she loved the commercial. She also loved the new bus stops along Highway 111. Lastly, she thought it would be wonderful if City Council meetings were televised. XVI. ADJOURNMENT With City Council concurrence, Mayor Ferguson adjourned the meeting at 7:14 p.m. ATTEST: HELLE D. KLASSEi, CITY CLER CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA ON, MAYOR 48