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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/31/2006 (~ ~ ~c,..--. Sue Benham, Chair Staff: John W. Stinson David Couch For: Alan Tandy, City Manager Mike Maggard AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 31,2006 - 2:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room - Suite 201 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA 1. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 2:01 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Sue Benham, Chair; David Couch; and Mike Maggard 2. ADOPT DECEMBER 12, 2005 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding park standards Recreation and Parks Director Hoover provided an overview of the memorandum in the packet and reported on the City's current park provision program, which is modeled after the State "Quimby Act." The ratio for parks is about two acres per 1,000 population. Changing to a ratio of five acres per 1,000 is not allowed under the Quimby Act. The City's current park program does not provide for parks smaller than 21/2 acres in size, without direction from Council. Committee Chair Benham and Members Couch and Maggard all expressed that the Committee was interested in exploring the advantages and benefits to the community of allowing small pocket parks less than 21/2 acres in new development. Bruce Freeman, Castle and Cooke, spoke regarding the need for more open space in developments, including pocket parks, community and regional parks and the extra maintenance cost to maintain pocket parks. Dana Karcher, Tree Foundation, spoke in support of pocket parks in new development as well as in the downtown. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Page 2 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Brian Todd, BIA of Kern County, spoke in support of pocket parks and allowing park credits for pocket parks. He also suggested if pocket parks are more time consuming to maintain, the City consider privatizing part of the park maintenance. Committee Member Couch suggested it may be helpful to meet a couple of times with the interested parties. Committee Chair Benham agreed more work needed to be done before the Committee makes a recommendation and asked for volunteers to meet on park standards and report back to the Committee. The following persons volunteered: Committee Member Couch; Recreation and Parks Director Hoover; Brian Todd, BIA of Kern County; Bruce Freeman, Castle and Cooke; Dana Karcher, Tree Foundation of Kern; Dave Dmohowski, Project Design Consultants; Dave McArthur, North of the River Recreation and Park District; Donna Carpenter, Sikand Engineering; Bill Cooper, Kern River Parkway Committee; and Matt Pontes, Kern County Parks and Recreation. B. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding planning, development and funding of communities, regional parks, bike paths and trails Recreation and Parks Director Hoover reported staff from several departments have met to explore expanding our existing trails system using various corridors, such as canals, railroads and highways throughout the City. It was estimated a consultant to do a comprehensive metropolitan trails plan would cost approximately $1 million and take two years to complete. Committee Chair Benham suggested staff concentrate on one aspect such as "rails and trails" to ascertain what would be involved, location of rails and the parties that would need to sign off. Aside from the cost of a comprehensive metropolitan trails plan, a lot of development will occur in the next two years. Committee Member Couch stated he would like to focus on the newly developing areas, so developers know there is a plan for bike baths and trails. He expressed his vision is being able to take the bike path from the southwest, toward the north and toward the southeast to the east. Public Works Director Rojas explained bike paths utilizing land next to rails are easier because the bridges are already built. Committee Chair Benham would like to have a report back from staff in a month or two, and also include the possibility of connecting the bike path to the downtown. Committee Member Maggard requested staff to check if park credits could be given to developers for trails through their property under the Quimby Act. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Page 3 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 31,2006 C. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding subdivision tree requirements Public Works Director Rojas gave a report on the current sidewalk design standards. One is the standard curb with sidewalk attached and the other is a curb with a landscaped strip between the curb and the sidewalk, which is not widely used. Staff recommended if the design with the landscape strip is used, that the parkway strip area be five feet wide. Adding a landscape strip will take a little more of the right-of-way and give the appearance that houses are closer to the roadways. If the parkway strip design becomes the required standard, staff suggested irrigation under the sidewalk be included as well. There would also need to be a set-spacing between the sewer line and the trees. Recreation and Parks Director Hoover reported approximately 5,000 new homes a year are built and this would add about 10,000 new trees each year, which would need to be pruned and maintained. Donna Carpenter, Sikand Engineering, spoke and suggested one tree be planted in the parkway and the other planted in the front yard with meandering sidewalk. Public Works Director Rojas responded that the sidewalk can only be in the 10-foot right-of-way. It could be meandering, but not on private property. Dana Karcher, Tree Foundation, expressed if trees in front yards become a requirement for new development, trees should be based on square footage of the front yard, not just two trees per house. City Manager Tandy requested responsibility for liability, such as from falling tree limbs, for trees planted in the parkways be part of the review. Committee Member Maggard stated he would like input from the development community on this issue before the Committee makes a recommendation on sidewalk standards and requiring trees to be planted in new residential developments. City Attorney Gennaro recommended subdivision tree and sidewalk requirements be refer back to the Planning Commission ad hoc committee for further meetings to receive additional input from the development community, BIA and Tree Foundation. The Committee unanimously approved the City Attorney's recommendation and requested staff to provide the ad hoc committee with the questions and concerns from today's meeting, and requested that the ad hoc committee after public input, send a report back to the Planning and Development Committee to consider further before making its recommendation to the City Council. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Page 4 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 31,2006 D. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding status of the hillside ordinance (Committee Member Maggard absent for this item) Planning Director Movius reported the revised text on the hillside ordinance is almost completed. The mapping is not completed. Instead of focusing on setbacks to protect the view, the focus has been changed to designated ridgelines and to determine how to protect those ridgeline views. The approach being taken is to analyze viewsheds from major roadways in the area, using a computer program. Committee Chair Benham was interested in having staff analyzing viewsheds from the bike path, soccer park, and points along the trails. Planning Director Movius responded to the follow questions: Craig Smith, Bakersfield Bluffs and Trails Committee, asked for clarification on the effect on lot lines, parks and trails plan, and irrigation and planting on slopes. Lorraine Unger, Sierra Club, asked for clarification on swimming pools and structures. Gene Tackett asked about public meetings and when mapping documents will be available. The Committee took no further action. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Paladino arterial to collector (Committee Member Maggard absent for this item) The committee tabled this item until Mr. Steve Hollis could be available. Mr. Hollis provided his concerns in written form for the Public Works Department to prepare a written response. 6. COMMI'rrEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Page 5 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 31,2006 Attendance-staff: City Manager Alan Tandy; City Attorney Ginny Gennaro; Assistant City Manager John Stinson; Public Works Director Raul Rojas; Assistant Public Works Director Jack LaRochelle; Development Services Director Stan Grady; Planning Director Jim Movius; Recreation and Parks Director Dianne Hoover; Public Works Civil Engineer Marian Shaw; Traffic Engineer Steve Walker; Director of Prevention Services Ralph Huey; Park Construction and Facility Planner Ken Trone; and Principal Planner Jim Eggert Attendance-others: Matt Pontes, Kern County Parks and Recreation; Dana Karcher, Tree Foundation; Dave Dmohowski, Project Design Consultants; Kevin Burton, Young Wooldridge, LLP; Bruce Freeman, Castle and Cooke; Donna Carpenter, Sikand Engineering; Bill Cooper, Kern River Parkway Committee; Michael Turnipseed, Kern Tax; Brian Todd, Building Industry Association of Kern County; Lorraine Unger, Sierra Club; Craig Smith, Bakersfield Bluffs and Trails Committee; Dave McArthur and Colon Bywater, North of the River Recreation and Park District; Jeff Affonso, Guinn Construction; Roger Mclntosh, Mclntosh and Associates; and Gene Tackett cc: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers S:~JOHN\Council Committees\06Planning&Development~p&d 06 jan 31 summary.doc