Mayor's Subcommittee Meeting

CITY OF MONTEREY Mayor and Commission Chairs Subcommittee Meeting August 8, 2011 Minutes Attendees: Mayor Della Sala, Vice Mayor Haferman, ARC Vice Chair Dawson, CHMCAC Chair Rodriguez, HPC Vice Chair Petty, NIP Committee Spokesperson Dwight, PRC Commissioner Canepa, PC Chair Davis Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, Community Services Director, Principal Planner, Sports Center Manager Mayor Della Sala called the meeting to order at 12:02 p.m. 1. Architectural Review Committee (ARC) Vice Chair Dawson stated the Committee will soon hear an amendment to the Sign Ordinance, emphasizing the sign ordinance will be composed of roughly 5 percent rules and 95 percent discretion. Sharon Dwight asked how the committee and staff review the visual impact of utility meters. Planning Commission Chair Davis and Vice Chair Dawson stated that when ARC and PC review plans utilities like PGE have not been finalized and therefore included in the plans for ARC or PC review. 2. Colton Hall Museum & Cultural Arts Commission (CHMCAC) CHMCAC Chair Rodriguez stated CHMCAC will finalize the content of their 2011-2013 strategic plans on Thursday August 11th. Chair Rodriguez explained that museum docents recently conducted visitor surveys to determine which media museum visitors used to learn about the City’s museums and cultural arts resources, noting surprisingly that the City’s social media was not frequently used by visitors. Chair Rodriguez noted that based on a presentation by Dennis Copeland on Colton Hall Historic Structure Report to the Community Foundation of Monterey County that the City was invited to submit a full grant application for the project. She closed by saying Council will soon vote on expending funds to acquire a memorial bench outside Colton Hall honoring Jim Conway and then spoke briefly about Art in the Adobes and an exhibit in the Alvarado Gallery on the work of M. Evelyn McCormick and Sibyl Anikeyev. 3. Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) HPC Vice Chair Petty talked about a certified local government grant award to complete a Historic Context Statement and Reconnaissance Survey for New Monterey Residential and Business District and provided an update on the progress of the National Historic Landmark District and Downtown Survey. He reminded everyone that the reconnaissance survey promotes historic preservation from a grass roots level and moves upwards; he stated it gives us expertise from State Parks and access to grants as well. He shared that 4 more homes in Old Town have been designated as historic. Mr. Petty stressed that the goal of reconnaissance survey is to determine if a property might qualify as a historic property and that the survey does not levy anything on to the homeowner, but it is advantageous if they later want to start the process. In regards to the Downtown Survey, Vice Chair Petty noted that in 1970 Old Town Historic District was designated a district by National Parks Service and that an updated final draft has been submitted to State Historic Preservation Office. He noted that one part of this district is from City Hall area towards the California First Theater and that the Wharf is a second area of particular interest. He stated the document is a tremendous read for anyone interested in the history of the area from 1770 to 1978, noting a copy of it is in the California History Room.  CITY OF MONTEREY Mayor and Commission Chairs Subcommittee Meeting August 8, 2011 Minutes Mayor Della Sala asked what does the State do; and Chair Petty stated SHPO evaluates it and provides comments to help it move forward and for the City to be able to seek funding.. 4. Library Board (LB) Library Director Bui-Burton spoke about fundraising, school partnerships and strategic planning. She thanked all for their support of the library, its staff, as well as other boards, committees, and commissions. Director Bui-Burton gave a brief report on the library’s fundraising efforts, as wells as the efforts accomplished by the Friends of the Library. Director Bui-Burton described current programs, school partnerships, literacy programs, strategic planning, and the schedule future focus groups. Director Bui-Burton closed by discussing with the group ebooks and ereaders and the library’s plan in regards to them. 5. Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP) Committee Alternate NIP Spokesperson Dwight stated NIP was fully funded for this year, but this is the first time that NIP does not have any projects approved by this time of year and expressed concerns that if the Council does not approve projects in August, then it may be too late to start on the projects because the raining season will begin. Assistant City Manager Cohn stated CIP and NIP will be on the next Council meeting, but it had to be delayed to handle all the other tasks. Spokesperson Dwight stated cost estimates have gone up significantly. She stated design costs at 23%, administrative, contingency and other fees, added to an inflation factor of 65% of construction costs may all combine to price projects out of range. Spokesperson Dwight stated the Committee wants to see efficient use of the public’s money and asked if there is a way to get construction costs down. She stated the Committee truly wants to be part of the solution and support City efforts to find long range solutions, but the Committee does not want to be just a source of money. 6. Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC) PRC Commissioner Canepa spoke about the 4th of July Celebration and other programs. He stated it was a busy summer as all summer programs were full. He noted the 4th of July celebration was wonderful with sunshine and 3 wonderful bands and was enjoyed by all. He noted the Monterey Sports Center (MSC) is enjoying a tremendous summer as well with sports camps plus many other full programs. Commissioner Canepa noted that PrimaHeart will soon open its office at MSC to provide cardio rehab, stating they wanted an office at MSC because the Hartnell Profession Center is shutting down. Commissioner Canepa said it’s possible that having PrimaHeart at MSC may lead to more memberships since this is what happened when the City launched its physical therapy program. ARC Vice Dawson asked if the Risk Manager approved this and City Attorney Mall stated an additional insurance rider costing $7,000 was added to the City’s insurance policy to cover any potential risk to MSC. 7. Planning Commission (PC) PC Chair Davis spoke about the Citywide Transportation and Parking Charrette Results. He handed out a summary of the results of the charrette, citing the renaming of the Fremont and part of Munras to Alvarado and renaming part of Munras and Washington to Abrego as two important recommendations. Chair Davis described how couplets could be used to connect the waterfront  CITY OF MONTEREY Mayor and Commission Chairs Subcommittee Meeting August 8, 2011 Minutes with downtown and changes to Lighthouse and New Monterey, for example reducing the traveling width to give more space for parking, left turn lanes, and easier pedestrian access. Chair Davis spoke about reducing the speed on Fremont and the addition of several crosswalks along Fremont at mid blocks. He noted that work continues on the waterfront master plan. Chair Davis fielded several questions from meeting attendees. Sharon Dwight stated that some ideas sound great, but they may find like the General Plan Committee did that some ideas will not work when they try to simulate them. 8. Mayor Mayor Della Sala provided an update on Redevelopment Agency. He stated the League of California Cities filed suit against the State for dissolution of local city redevelopment agencies (RDA). Mayor Della Sala noted that the RDAs provided thousands of jobs statewide. Mayor Della Sala state the attorney for League thinks this is illegal act and City Attorney Mall noted the City has hundreds and hundreds of staff time working on this, financing plans, and ordinances and that more items will be coming to Council agendas in coming months. Having no more business before the Subcommittee the Mayor adjourned the meeting at 1:27 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Senior Assistant City Clerk