Rental Housing Committee

City of Mountain View Minutes Rental Housing Committee Chair Matthew Grunewald, Vice Chair Emily Ramos, Committee Members Susyn Almond, Vanessa Honey, Julian Pardo de Zela and Nicole Haines-Livesay (Alternate) Monday, March 4, 2019 6:30 PM Plaza Conference Room & Council Chambers 1. CLOSED SESSION (to be held in Plaza Conference Room) At 6:30 p.m., an announcement was made by Program Manager van Deursen, who described the item that the Committee would consider on the Closed Session Agenda below, and invited and members of the public to provide public comments on the item. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - EXISTING LITIGATION No public comments were received. Closed Session recessed at 7:00 p.m. 2. REGULAR SESSION - CALL TO ORDER (to be held in Council Chambers) The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. 3. ROLL CALL Present 6- Committee Member Susyn Almond, Committee Member Vanessa Honey, Committee Member Julian Pardo de Zela, Vice Chair Emily Ramos, Chair Matthew Grunewald, and Alternate Nicole Haines-Livesay 4. CLOSED SESSION REPORT -None 5. MINUTES APPROVAL 5.1 Approve the minutes for February 11, 2019 RHC Meeting MOTION: M/S - Ramos/ Honey - To approve the minutes for the February 11, 2019 RHC meeting. Yes: 4- Committee Member Almond, Committee Member Honey, Committee Member Pardo de Zela, and Vice Chair Ramos Abstain: 1- Chair Grunewald 6. CONSENT CALENDAR - None 7. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC City of Mountain View Page 1 Rental Housing Committee Minutes March 4, 2019 No public comments were received. 8. APPEAL HEARINGS 8.1 Appeal for Decision Petitions 18190025, 18190026, and 18190033 Consider the Tentative Appeal Decision and either accept the Tentative Appeal Decision or modify the Tentative Appeal Decision with instructions to staff citing appropriate evidence in the record. SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS: No public comments were received Karen Tiedemann, Special Counsel, Goldfarb and Lipman, presented a report and responded to questions. MOTION 1: M/S - Ramos/ Almond - To adopt elements A.1, A.5 and A.6 of the tentative decision, which affirms the Hearing Officer's decision on appeal element A.6 and modifies A.1 and A.5 as described below: A.1 - Granting request in part and modifying decision to account for partial payment of rent for September 2017. The Appellant-Landlord no longer contested this appeal element. A.5 - Granting request in part and modifying decision to reduce relief for the inability to lock the living room window by five months (September 2018- January 2019); because issue was resolved in August 2018. The Appellant-Landlord no longer contested this appeal element. A.6 - Denying request and affirming decision that Appellant-Landlord must refund unlawful rent received from Respondent-Tenant. The Appellant-Landlord no longer contested this appeal element. Yes: 5- Committee Member Almond, Committee Member Honey, Committee Member Pardo de Zela, Vice Chair Ramos, and Chair Grunewald MOTION 2: M/S - Ramos/ Almond - (also accepting a friendly amendment by Pardo de Zela to remand a portion of appeal element A.2) To adopt elements A.3 and A.4 of the tentative appeal decision, which affirms the Hearing Officer's decision on appeal element A.4, and modifies A.3 as described below, and to remand A.2 as described below: A.2 - Denying request for the RHC to accept new evidence submitted with the Appeal and remanding the decision to the Hearing Officer to resolve any inconsistencies regarding the full or partial painting of unit 8 and any corresponding award to Respondent-Tenant. A.3 - Granting request in part by affirming valuation of housing service but modifying decision to clarify that physical occupation of parking space by Appellant-Landlord constitutes a housing service reduction City of Mountain View Page 2 Rental Housing Committee Minutes March 4, 2019 A.4 - Denying request and affirming the decision valuing broken window and reducing rent accordingly Yes: 3- Committee Member Almond, Vice Chair Ramos, and Chair Grunewald No: 2- Committee Member Honey, and Committee Member Pardo de Zela 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS - None 10. NEW BUSINESS 10.1 Study Session Regarding Potential Master/Sub-Tenant Regulations Justin Bigelow, Special Counsel, Goldfarb and Lipman, presented a report and responded to questions. SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS: Emily Hislop Curtis Conroy Edie Keating Sapna Gupta Alex B. Joan MacDonald Keith Suddjian Joshua Howard The RHC provided direction to staff draft an FAQ sheet regarding aspects of the relationships between and among master tenants, subtenants, and landlords to review at a future meeting. 10.2 RHC Work Plan for Calendar Year 2019 Program Manager van Deursen presented a report and responded to questions. SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR WITH COMMENTS: Curtis Conroy Sapna Gupta The RHC reviewed the Rental Housing Committee Work Plan for Calendar Year 2019 and provide feedback to staff. 11. COMMITTEE/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS, AND COMMITTEE City of Mountain View Page 3 Rental Housing Committee Minutes March 4, 2019 Analyst Black gave an update to the RHC regarding upcoming Community Workshops Vice-Chair Ramos announced that she spoke in favor of a stricter option for tenant relocation assistance at the Menlo Park City Council Meeting. Committee Member Honey announced that she also attended the Menlo Park City Council meeting on behalf of her employer who owns buildings in Menlo Park. 12. ADJOURNMENT - At 9:58 p.m., Chair Grunewald adjourned the meeting to the next RHC meeting to be held on Monday, March 25, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 500 Castro Street. City of Mountain View Page 4