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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-11-16; City Council; MinutesMINUTES SPECIAL MEETING: DATE OF MEETING: TIME OF MEETING: PLACE OF MEETING: CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP November 16,2005 11 :00 a.m. - 2:OO p.m. 1635 Faraday Ave, Room 173A The Mayor called the meeting to order at 11:05A.M. All Council Members were present as well as the City Manager and City Attorney. The Mayor called for a discussion on Council Member reports on regional roles and assignments. Council Member Packard reported that the League of California Cities is holding an event on Monday, December 12, 2005 at the La Costa Resort and encouraged Council Members to attend. The Mayor then called for a discussion of the proposed police/fire/public works center training facility in the public works center or other alternative locations. The City Manager introduced the item and introduced Pat Kelley who distributed a memo dated November 15, 2005 entitled ‘Safety Center Site Plan” (attached) outlining the pros and cons of using the existing Safety Center site and included other City owned public properties. The Mayor emphasized the need for future expansion and long range planning. He would favorably consider looking at other potential sites to accommodate future expansion. Mayor Pro Tem Hall explained the need for more information to determine what the future needs will be. What are the training needs and he noted that they have changed over the last few years. Before going out and looking for other sites an analysis and determination of the scope of the needs must first be done. Council Member Kulchin felt that the recommended action was only to allow staff to look for other candidate sites and this would be helpful in the Council’s decision-making process. Council Member Sigafoose explained to need to know more about the existing and future needs but to also look closely at the existing site and to determine whether or not it is the most efficient and effective use of the Safety Center site. Council Member Packard explained that the partnership concept is important and must be explored first before the Council decides how many acres are needed. There is much value in partnering with other agencies in safety training and we should attempt to get commitments from other agencies before we decide where and how much is needed. The Mayor summarized the discussions as follows: 0 Explore alternatives including their costs 0 Development of a site plan for existing facilities Explore partnerships with other agencies The Mayor then called on Chief Zoll who explained there has been much interest in a jointhegional training facility from other local agencies and the federal government. Chief Crawford explained that a regional facility would be two to three times larger than one solely based on the City’s needs and pointed out the fact that the City has been using the San Marcos facility for some time for training. The City Manager summarized these discussions and will place the item on the City Council’s next study session for further discussion. The Mayor then called for a discussion of the Planning Commission comments and concerns regarding development processing, procedures and other land use issues. Planning Commissioner Dominguez joined the City Council and announced that the Planning Commission had no comments at this time. The Mayor then called for a further discussion of regional assignments and Mayor Pro Tem Hall inquired about SANDAG assignments for 2006. The Council then entertained a discussion of the various possible assignments for Mayor Pro Tem Hall within the committees or subcommittees reporting to the SANDAG Board of Directors. Council Member Sigafoose noted that she should be listed as the Carlsbad ConVis representative. The Mayor then called for a working lunch and continued discussions. The Mayor called for the City Manager to review the goal and major project tracking report and update discussion of the Council goal setting process and a discussion of the capacity and effectiveness in the delivery of City processes and services. He explained that a new report was being developed to show progress on priority projects as determined by the City Council. The City Manager further reported that the Rancho Carlsbad dredging permits have been applied for on an emergency basis to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal Commission. Council Member Packard asked whether or not there were any deadlines for a response and the City Manager explained that there were none. The Mayor then called for a discussion of Item No. 6 and there being none then called for public comment. Kasey Cinciarelli, Lyons Court, Carlsbad commented on the City’s Open Space Plan, the Proposition C advisory measure and the need to hire a full time employee for administration of the Habitat Management Plan. She felt that $8 million was needed for immediate dedicated use for open space to preserve the remaining natural lands and to put this item on the next City Council agenda for discussion. Diane Nygaard representing Preserve Calavera passed out a letter dated November 16, 2005 to the Planning Director regarding consistency findings for Robertson Ranch and other standards area. (On file in the office of the City Clerk). There being no further public comment, the Mayor thanked all for their full and complete attention and participation and adjourned the meeting at 12:28 p.m. Rpipectfully submitted, RONALD R. BALL, City Attorney as Clerk Pro Tem for the meeting Date: November 15,2005 ~ ~ ~ Space Need Acres Required Joint First Responder Training Facility (Police and Fire Training) 5 Public Work Center 12-15 To: Total Space Needs Current Safetv Center Land Available (60% of 23 acres) From: 17-20 14 Assistant City Manager n 92- Building and Code Enforcement Manage Re: Safety Center Site Plan The City has identified the need to construct four facilities: a Police Shooting Range, Fire Training Facility, Public Works Center and a City Training Center. Prior to creating detailed designs of each facility, it was necessary to perform a needs assessment to determine the space required to fulfill the needs. The space needed to accommodate the needs is known, and this memo is intended to give background for the using the Safety Center site in meeting those needs. Police, Fire, Public Works, Building and others hired a consultant, RRM Design, to study the suitability of the Safety Center site and other sites for all identified needs. After consultation with the city departments, RRM developed a proposal that accommodated all three needs on the Safety Center site. It was determined a City Training Facility for classroom-type training would be better suited away from the noisier Public Works and Safety training activities. The basic space need for a Joint First Responder Training Facility (Police and Fire Training) is about 5 acres. These two Safety work groups training together should be considered as very important to the City’s emergency preparedness. There is true synergy in sharing a Safety training facility and some practical construction efficiencies. A Public Works Center needs between 12 and 15 acres. Public Works operations will be much more efficient when their resources are joined in one location and resources may be readily shared. It should be pointed out that considerable effort was made to determine the ultimate, build-out needs for each use, including a factor for normal departmental growth. This space analysis assumes at-grade parking for regular passenger vehicles and pick-ups. The existing Safety Center site is 23 acres, although that site is currently about 40% developed with other permanent uses. To summarize these needs in comparison to the space available at the Safety Center, the following table is provided: I Space Deficit @ Safety Center I 3-6 acres RRM calculated that if all three uses were placed at the Safety Center, a four level parking structure would be needed to accommodate regular passenger vehicles and pick-ups (Approximately 600 spaces) at a cost of about $5 to $6 million. Without the parking structure, the Safety Center site cannot accommodate all proposed uses. An acre of land can accommodate between 90 and 120 parking passenger vehicle spaces landscape dependent. Hence the need for about 3-6 acres of additional land in lieu of the parking structure. This land space estimate should be qualified as needing more refinement, but should be considered sufficiently accurate for basic site planning purposes. The current site design scenario could be refined to yield more space, however it will not yield 3-6 acres of additional space. PRO In addition, this scenario does not include space for any hture unknown expansion of the City’s current services. In other words, if at some future point, the City is required to add a distinct service area (such as when the City had to begin enforcing regionally mandated storm water regulations), there will clearly be no space available at this location. Basically, there is no room for unforeseen growth in this all-in-one scenario. CON As with any design that considers multiple possibilities, each concept has advantages and disadvantages. The table below summarizes the Pros and Cons of co-locating all three identified needs at the Safety Center site: I required. Entire Public Works organization would be on one site. Safety training at one site provides for cross training and dual use of facilities. First responders (PD, FD, and PW) shared I resources and training omortunities . margin for unforeseen new missions. Parking structure (if needed) - high cost, high- maintenance depreciable asset Traffic circulation issues Skate Park use incongruent wl government uses “Good Neighbors” - better location wl minimal neighbor complaints Does not use land zoned for commercial or industrial uses as non-revenue generating ~~ A variety of uses that do not necessarily Wend” - maintenance operations versus safety May require relocation of current services if space is needed in the future. government use. Good site security for all tenants Consistent with zoning/vision The primary issue with the Safety Center site is the limited amount of space available. The site is constrained, and any significant unforeseen program growth in any of the uses proposed for the site will result in serious space complications. If the intent is to plan, design, and construct the last Fire, Police and Public Works facilities the City will need, this scenario requires a four- level parking structure to accommodate passenger vehicles. One of the primary benefits of this concept is that no additional land would need to be acquired, resulting in a current, short-term cost savings. If however the expansion space is needed, that land would have to be purchased at a fbture cost yet to be estimated or some facility would have to be moved off site. (i.e. the Skateboard Park or the Fleet Maintenance Facility. The options are to either co-locate all three identified needs at the Safety Center site by using a parking structure at a cost of $5 to $6 million or request that stafT look into purchasing additional land. This second option would save the cost of the parking structure but adds the cost of purchasing additional land. Staff has also considered the use of other currently owned City property and whether any of these uses are compatible with these locations. The following table lists some of the City’s property assets for which there is no future identified use: Property Description Greenwood House (Parks Maintenance Yard) Buena Vista Reservoir Location Approx. Acreage Surrounding Uses Carlsbad Village Drive 1 .O Acres Civic / Commercial @ Pi0 Pic0 Arland Rd @ Buena Vista Drive 3.16 Acres Residential Calaveras Treatment Plant Tamarack Ave 4.55 Acres Residential (east of Pontiac ‘Drive) Public Works Maintenance Yard (Streets and Facilities) Due to the nature of the proposed City uses, it is not recommended that they be placed adjacent to residential or downtown commercial developments. The 405 Oak site is too small for joint training and would not be an advisable use of that property due to the property’s location in the Downtown Village, the Coastal Rail Trail, and the Barrio. The former CMWD property, although large enough, could not be used as a joint safety training facility as it would likely be considered disruptive to airport flight operations. 405 Oak St 1.35 Acres Commercial Mixed Use The Safety Center site has adequate room only if a four-level parking structure is built. It remains staffs recommendation to not place all three of these facilities in this very constrained site. If there were any additional service demands place on the City requiring additional personnel and equipment, this combined site would not accommodate the use without moving something else from the site. Staff would recommend investigation of acquiring other suitable properties for these uses in order to provide for future, unforeseen growth needs of the City organization. Maintenance and Operations Offices (formerly CMWD Operations) C: City Manager, Public Works Director, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Community Development Director 5800 El Camino Real 6.09 Acres Office / Planned Industrial / Airport Influence Area