Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout19981118 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Re�gfional Open ace MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 98-27 SPECIAL MEETING BOARD OF DIRECTORS November 18, 1998 MINUTES I. ROLL CALL B. Crowder called the meeting to order at 6:35 P.M. Members Present: Betsy Crowder, Jed Cyr, Mary Davey, Pete Siemens, Deane Little, and Ken Nitz. Members Absent: Nonette Hanko Staff Present: Craig Britton, Sue Schectman 11. CLOSED SESSION. B. Crowder stated that the Board would adjourn to Closed Session for the purpose of discussing Closed Session Agenda Items 1, 2, 3, and 4. The Board recessed to Closed Session at 6:35 P.M. and the Closed Session commenced at 6:36 P.M. The Board concluded the Closed Session at 7:25 P.M. and B. Crowder called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:32 P.M. She noted that no reportable actions had taken place in Closed Session. Additional Personnel Present: Randy Anderson, Matt Freeman, Jodi Isaacs, Del Woods, Mary de Beauvieres, John Escobar, Malcolm Smith, Gordon Baillie, Carleen Bruins, Lisa Zadek. III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Phil Hearin, District Ranger, stated that at an October Board meeting, he had made statements alleging that there had been possible violations of the Family Medical Leave Act. He said after doing some research he had learned there was no violation or any illegal action. He apologized; said he had contacted the Department of Labor for their advice, and outlined their opinion. He had learned that the Board had no power over the Act unless it became a grievance or litigation. He talked about District policy regarding investigation of complaints and said he was not asking the Board to respond publicly at this time, but he asked them to direct staff as to how they would like the Family Medical Leave Act implemented. C. Britton stated he believed staff had acted legally and compassionately. 3 30 Distel Circle * Los Alto,,, ("A 94022-1404 Phone:650-691-1200 FAX: 6S0-691-0485 - E-mail: mro,,,d 0(Joi)ensr)ace.org Wet)site:www.ol)etisl),i((-.org H(wrdot Oirco)r, Pete`wnwn,, Mary C Davov,led(vr,Deane Little, Nonette Rinko, Row(rokvder. Kenneth( Nits Meeting 98-27 Page 2 IV. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the agenda. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. V. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including approval of minutes of the October 14 Regular and Special Meetings, and the October 19 Special Meeting; reply to a written communication from Mr. Harry H. Haeussler, Jr., 1094 Highlands Circle,Los Altos; agenda item 5, Authorization to Apply for Recreational Trails Program Grant Funds for Construction of Bay Area Ridge Trail Stag Area and Trail Improvements at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve and Determination that the Recommended Actions are Categorically Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, including Adoption of Resolution Approving the Application for Grant Funds,the Recreational Trails Program-Fiscal Year 1998-1999• agenda item 6,Final Adoption of an Amendment to the Comprehensive Use and Management Plan for Los Trancos Open Space Preserve to Install a Bench and Memorial Plaque Commemorating Mr. Stan Norton; agenda item 7, Cancellation of December 23, 1998, Regular Meeting and Scheduling of December 16, 1998, Special Meeting; and Revised Claims 98-20. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. VI. BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item No. 1 - One Year Trial Dog Access on Hamm's Gulch Trail and Dog Access Rules Compliance Study, Windy Hill Open Space Preserve, Adoption of a Standard as to an Acceptable Level of Compliance with Dog Access Regulations:Extension of theOne-Year Dog Access Trail on Hamm's Gulch Trail and Study of Rules Compliance in the Preserve, for an Additional Year,Including Monitoring and Reporting on Leash Compliance, but Not on Waste Clean-up; Direct Staff to Take Measures, Including Signing, to Prevent Dogs from Impacting Sausal Pond in Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. a. Use and Management Committees Recommendations -(R�ort R-98- 142 . b. General Manager's Alternative Recommended Actions- (Report R- 98-143). Meeting 98-27 Page 3 R. Anderson presented the staff report. He said he did not want to focus directly on the study results but to put them in context. He recapped the findings from their overall dog study process, responded to N. Hanko's memo, and outlined some of the recommendations and the reasons for them. R. Anderson said there is a demand for dog access in the area, and dog access has many important benefits. Most other agencies do not provide access and that puts pressure on the District. He said dog access did not seem to have serious environmental impacts, so it came down to an aesthetic and emotional issue. He continued that it was important to consider that the issue had directly impacted staffs ability to address perhaps more significant objectives, such as planning for current use and future growth, better managing the resources and facilities, and implementing access improvements that everyone can use. With respect to N. Hanko's memo regarding Sausal Pond, he said that staff sees it as a separate issue. He said he thought it needed to be signed and configured as approved by the Use and Management Committee. He referred to the staff report regarding monitoring of compliance, and said the options presented were not the only two options. He said he thought that having another year of study would not shed further light on the subject, and would use additional staff time without acquiring additional useful information. He said there were two potential logical options: 1. Close the preserve to dogs, at least for now, because two-thirds compliance with the rules was not an acceptable level, and staff must make the recommendation in order to be consistent with the District's Mission Statement and policy that completing and planning the overall greenbelt and protecting its resources must take priority over wholly satisfying public access in the near term. 2. Keep it the way it is. Staff is concerned with this second option because it implies that the two-thirds level of compliance is acceptable. R. Anderson said there had been a nationwide study regarding the environmental impact from dogs, and there was no conclusive evidence that dogs would wipe out any specific species. However, within the District's scale of concern about environmental issues, he said it would be a significant issue. Discussion followed regarding what would be an acceptable level of compliance, and the original rating of Windy Hill for dog access against the criteria. R. Anderson said Windy Hill was toward the higher end as being appropriate for dog use. He added that hundreds of volunteer hours had gone into the study. H. Hauessler said he rode his horse at Windy Hill and had yet to see where there had been a problem with dogs on or off leash. He said he was in favor of letting them go on as they were, since they were not causing problems and had no place Meeting 98-27 Page 4 else to go. Nancy Carter, 237 Canyon Drive, Portola Valley, said she was speaking for 12 people in her neighborhood who had dogs and could not be at the meeting. She focused on the fact that dogs were there before the District was. She said people take their dogs to obedience training and care about them being well managed and well cared for. She said one of the ways to get compliance is making rules that make sense. She said the District should look at community needs and it is not fair to focus on compliance. She said we are in an urban area, and people will scare wildlife. Berry Stevens, 3265 Fair Oaks Avenue, Redwood City, said the statistics are flawed in regard to the issue of waste piles. In addition, he said women were not able to access preserves without a reasonable level of safety and the District was denying access to a human group by denying access to dogs. Theresa Gadbois, 941 Florence Lane, Menlo Park, described her experience of watching wildlife with her dog. She said that even if they close the preserve, people would take dogs there. She said she saw more compliance than non- compliance. She said they are trying to educate people and maybe the signage needed to be improved. Suzanne Hanrahan, 924 Poplar Avenue, Sunnyvale, canine trail patrol volunteer, said she believed the compliance level was fairly high and improving. She had never seen a dog in Sausal Pond and had seen lots of wildlife. She didn't think problems could be blamed specifically on dogs. In addition, she had never seen dogs kill or injure any animal but had seen dead lizards with bicycle tire tread marks. She said that more trail damage was caused by equestrians and bikers than by dogs. She said that if she sees an offender she informs them of the District's purpose and regulations and then would see them on leash the next time. She thought it would help if there were more patrol and signage. Also, if the Rangers think they need guns on preserves she thought it was legitimate that women have dogs. Kirt Williams, 185 Willowbrook Drive, Portola Valley, said that Windy Hill borders a residential area, so there is a high demand for places to go with dogs. Also, Hamm's Gulch and Spring Ridge make a nice loop. He said that East Bay Regional Park District allows dogs either on leash or under voice control, and he did not see a problem with that. He said that there had been a focus on dogs being off leash, but he did not think it was a big deal. He agreed that there was a safety issue. John Carnes, 1755 La Honda Road#95, Woodside, PADS and volunteer trail patrol member, said much of what staff had presented had hinged on the lack of dog owners' willingness to comply with rules and the inability of groups to Meeting 98-27 Page 5 increase compliance. He said statistics can be biased and he believed there was another side to the statistics, in particular those regarding dog waste. He talked about the compliance rate and said he believed it showed that people with dogs were doing a great job of cleaning up. Anne Macaulay, 1809 Higdon Avenue#2, Mountain View, talked about what PADS has been doing since the April meeting concerning dog access at Windy Hill. This included information stations at Windy Hill and in the community. She said they had found strong support and handed over petitions containing 244 signatures of those supporting continued dog access. She said people are receptive to the message and it is a question of getting the message to people. She thought they were making progress but it was slow. She added that the information station at Windy Hill was held in the new parking lot. Dan Bernstein, PADS, described a group that had been formed, and said it was discouraging to see how little appreciation there was from the District. He said facts were ignored or distorted when not consistent with District Staff. Marjorie Ottenberg, 12881 Foothill Lane, Saratoga, said some workers who helped get the District started in the first place could not use the District land. She said she could only hike with her dog and described her experiences. She said she preferred to hike with her dog off leash and expected it to behave. She said dogs do not necessarily threaten wildlife and said she thought Sierra Azul would be ideal for dog access. Phil Hearin commended those who had come to support dog access and commended R. Anderson regarding the study. In regard to declining wildlife, he said there had been no conclusive studies done but there had been a decline. He did not think it was because of one use. The number of visitors would have impacts. Ken Byk, 1015 Mallet Court, Menlo Park, went on record as supporting access by dogs. He said trails are closed for those who don't care to be around dogs and he thought there were other options. Linda Cohen, 935 Scott Street, Palo Alto, talked about walking alone on preserves and said there needed to be more trails. She was worried about banning dogs from all preserves and thought dog owners would use the trails anyway. The problem with enforcement would be greater. Barbara Judge, Coastside Dog Club, asked about complaints. She thought that as word got out more and more will comply. She said those on the coast did not want to see further restriction of what they currently have. They want dog owners to be more responsible and must get the message out. Meeting 98-27 Page 6 Denise Williams, 25462 Altamont Road, Los Altos Hills, said she was concerned that they would lose one of the few preserves that we had. She said as a taxpayer she didn't mind paying if she got value. H. Haeussler asked what is more important- humans or the environment? Dan Bernstein said they had been working on this issue for a long time and asked if they were interested in making dog access work or in shutting it down. I Cyr responded to H. Haeussler stating that the District's primary objective was to acquire and preserve land and secondarily, to allow access to the land. He thanked people for coming and said this was an important issue. He thought it was easy to pick apart any survey but this was a generalized snapshot. He said they needed to move towards improving compliance and this was a highly charged issue. He suggested that if they proceeded as a committee they needed to address the demand on staff time. He said he was willing to stand with the Committee's recommendation to continue the trial for one more year. D. Little said he would far rather see a mountain lion than a person and said he had hiked Windy Hill. He described the hike and said he did not think they had a problem with dogs. However, he had seen horse damage. He saw wildlife while hiking and said he could not see a reason to close the preserve to dog use. Regarding compliance with rules, he was concerned that the District had a problem with enforcing them. K. Nitz said the matrix shows Windy Hill ranks high for dog access. He agreed with D. Little regarding the compliance level being an enforcement issue and said they should increase enforcement and signage or other education. He said he did not think they needed to close it. However, there will be more people visiting and maybe the District should not be opening or making more trails until we figure out everything that is going on. M. Davey said she didn't think they ought to spend any more staff time on this issue. She thought the study alerted users that it was in their interest to abide by the rules. She thought it was important to open trails and work with PADS to educate users. P. Siemens said he did not believe dogs should be allowed to be off leash. He said if they could have a responsible level of compliance, he would support extension of the trial. B. Crowder thanked those who spoke and the PADS members who had been operating the information stations. She said MROSD is an open space district and Meeting 98-27 Page 7 its purpose is to keep land from being developed. Recreation is secondary. She said San Mateo County does not allow dogs in any parks, and Santa Clara County has very limited access, so those people come to District preserves. She said she thought the criteria(if one trail in a preserve is open/closed, they should all be opened/closed) needed to be reviewed and she was in favor of continuing access for a year. She was also in favor of recommendation 4. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board determine that the proposed actions are categorically exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA)based on the findings contained in the report. M. Davey seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board refer the matter back to the Use and Management Committee to develop a standard as to an acceptable level of compliance with dog access regulations. (There was no second or vote on this motion.) Discussion: Regarding monitoring compliance, C. Britton said he thought PADS would further work with the District. He said the level of compliance might affect opening other preserves to dogs. There was further discussion of monitoring compliance. Motion: M. Davey moved that Hamm's Gulch trail be open indefinitely and work cooperatively with PADS to continue its education program for the use of the trail; and that gathering of information on rules compliance be continued for a year without further formal study, and the compliance information be brought back to committee or Board for review at the end of the year. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board direct staff to take measures, including signing, to prevent dogs from impacting Sausal Pond in Windy p P Hill Open Space Preserve. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 5 to 0(M. Davey abstained). Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board refer the"all or nothing" poli cy g p Y on dog access to the Use and Management Committee. Discussion: R. Anderson clarified it was a guideline, not a rule. Second and Vote: K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. Meeting 98-27 Page 8 Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board urge the Use and Management Committee to consider the addition of pooper scooper dispensers and other options at trail heads. K. Nitz seconded the motion. The motion passed 5 to 1 (B. Crowder voted no). Paul McKowan, Volunteer Coordinator, in response to comments by the public, said volunteers could modify their logs to show compliance as well as non- compliance. He described how volunteers, including high school and senior citizen groups, were recognized by the District. There was a recess from 9:45 P.M. - 9:55 P.M. B. Agenda Item No. 2-Parking Alternative Study-Fremont Older Open Space Preserve:Determination the Study of Parking;Alternatives is Statutorily Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act; and Review of the Parking Alternatives and Direct Staff as to the Preferred Alternative for Further Study- (Report R-98-136). R. Anderson presented the staff report and showed slides of the area. He answered questions about the cost per parking space. S. Schectman talked about liability and said staff believes that the golf course has a responsibility for golf balls. She said that whatever option is pursued Staff can renew dialogue with the country club regarding how they might participate. C. Britton said they hoped to solve the issue through negotiations. Regarding the condition of the road, R. Anderson said Prospect did not meet current county road standards and it is a matter of opinion as to whether it must. He said the county maintains the road to the parking lot. H. Haeussler commented that there are equestrian trails but no horse trailer parking. Charles Pierce 88 Mercy Street, Mountain t ou tam View, said he was ha about the Y� cY PPY development of Rancho San Antonio reserve. He agreed that there were safe P P �' h' concerns. Steve Stuckey, 22600 Pro spect, Saratoga, said the road is belo w standard and there was zero gain with any of the suggested options. He said demand will increase and that the public has to have safe access and adequate parking. He asked why they were proposing a parking lot that would generate the equivalent traffic of 80 houses. Phil Hearin, District Ranger, commented on the recommendations. Meeting 98-27 Page 9 Earl Harris said he lived on Prospect Road and commended the District for being good neighbors regarding changing of signs. He said proposal 1 was the only logical way to preserve open space. Joe Kalin, General Manager of Saratoga Country Club, said their concern has been the safety of the area. He said the land swap had no benefit except increased safety and that the parking lot was put in a poor location. He asked to see a safety study if one had been done. Discussion followed regarding responsibility and expense of maintaining or improving the road. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board determine that the study of parking alternatives is statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)based on the findings contained in the report. D. Little seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board direct staff to pursue option 1 for the basic construction and modification of the existing parking lot and hold fencing and gating in abeyance. J. Cyr seconded the motion. Discussion: P. Siemens suggested that a permeable surface be considered around the trees. J. Cyr said he appreciated staff's thorough analysis. Regarding h i f the issue o whether there were permits or a Y g g safety study, S. Schectman said she did not believe that was determinative of the potential liability of the golf course or the District. She thought it would be productive to start the dialogue with the golf course again. I I Vote: The motion passed 6 to 0. C. Agenda Item No. 3 -Final Adoption of an Amendment to the Use and Management Plan for Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve and Award of Contract for Removal of Structures from the Former Sink, Barlow, and Young Properties: Acceptance of the Lowest Responsible Bid of$40,300 from Mike Tobar Excavation of Morgan Hill, California; and Authorization for the General Manger to Enter into a Contract for Performance of this Work and to Create an Additional 10% Contingency Fund in the Amount of$4,030 to Cover any Unforeseen Expenses-(Report R-98-141). i M. Freeman reviewed staff's recommendations. Meeting 98-27 Page 10 Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board adopt the Amendment to the Use and Management Plan for Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve to remove the structures from the former Sink, Barlow and Young properties; accept the lowest responsible bid of$40,300 from Mike Tobar Excavation of Morgan Hill, California, for structures and debris removal at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve; and authorize the General Manager to enter into a contract for performance of this work and to create an additional 10% contingency fund in the amount of$4,030 to cover any unforeseen expenses. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. D. Agenda Item No. 4 - Acceptance of Progress Report on the Resource Management Program- (Report R-98-145 . J. Isaacs and M. Freeman presented the report. W INFORMATIONAL REPORTS M. Davey said she had had a call from the Humane Society Wildlife Rescue project which returned rehabilitated animals back to natural areas. J. Isaacs responded that District policy states that the District not accept those animals. D. Little said he had done a ride along with Ranger L. Patterson on Skyline. In addition, he was impressed with staff s work on the Resource Management Plan. VM. ADJ OURNMENT At 11:57 P.M., the meeting was adjourned. Roberta Wolfe Recording Secretary I I i I I I I i i i i I I I