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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2000-02-03 Town of Truckee TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES February 3, 2000, 6:00 P.M. Truckee Donner Public Utility District Board Room 11570 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA o CALL TO ORDER - Mayor Schneider called the regular Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Councilmembers: Drake, Florian, McCormack, Susman, and Mayor Schneider ALSO PRESENT: Tony Lashbrook, Director of Community Development; and Vicki C. Soderquist, Town Clerk PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Ron Kato. PUBLIC COMMENTS 4.1 Ron Kato, representing the Civil Air Patrol, stated the Cadet program for boys and girls from 6th grade up to 21 years had been recently restarted and they currently had 25 cadets in the program. The program was established by Congress in the early '40s and attached to the US Air Force in 1948. The mandate from Congress was to teach aerospace education to youth, emergency services, and to establish a cadet program for the youth. They were the Tahoe Truckee Composite Squadron, located at the Truckee Airport with one based aircraft. Cadets received preference into the Air Force Academy and civilian and flight scholarships ;vere also available. Councilmember Susman questioned the schedule of classes. Mr. Kato replied that they met at the Airport two Mondays a month and one Saturday. The cost to the Cadet was $36 the first year and $20 thereafter. It was a three-year program and young people could start the program at any time. Councilmember McCormack stated he would be representing the Council at the Monday evening promotion of Cadets. PRESENTATIONS 5.1 Introduction of New Employees. newest Deputy, Kyle Wylie. Captain Gary Jacobson introduced the Department's 5.2 Presentation on the North Lake Tahoe Regional Transportation Authority/Sales Tax. The presentation was given by Ron Mclntyre, North Tahoe Resort Association and Jennifer Merchant, Executive Director, Truckee-North Tahoe Transportation Management Association. Mr. McIntyre stated the Governor signed the legislation approximately one year ago which created a bi-furcated Placer County taxing authority to allow for a comprehensive transportation system for the visitor and tourism industry in North Lake Tahoe. There needed to be a revenue stream that was consistent and not controlled by anyone other than the transportation authority itself. The legislation allowed Placer County to appoint a five member board prior to the election, authorized a sales tax up to 1/2 cent with a 20 year duration, mandated a 2/3~d's vote, specifically set aside an expenditure plan that would be part of the election that would be adopted by the interim board of directors, and the board of directors would be elected at the sales tax election. They were currently working on the expenditure plan. 7o Ms. Merchant stated that the TMA Board of Directors agreed in taking a leadership role in gathering community input on the issue. From the input received the consultant would put together a packet of components. The next step would be a draft expenditure plan for the estimated $1.1 million. Once the draft plan was completed they would solicit additional public input. Eventually they ~vould be requesting the Town's support for the final expenditure plan. Councilmember McCormack questioned when the tax measure would be on the ballot. Ms. Merchant replied that it would be a special election in September. CONSENT CALENDAR (One motion approves all of the following actions.) Motion by Councilmember Drake to approve the Consent Calendar, Seconded by Councilmember Susman, passed unanimously with Item 6.6 pulled. 6.1 Minutes of January 20, 2000 Regular Meeting. Recommendation: Council approve. 6.2 Minutes of January 28, 2000 Special Meeting. Recommendation: Council approve. 6.3 December Treasurer's Report. Recommendation: Council approve. 6.4 Authorization to Destroy Records. Recommendation: Council adopt Resolution 2000-07 authorizing the destruction of records. 6.5 Amended Stipulations of Settlement Agreement with Southwest Gas. Recommendation: Council approve the amendments to the Stipulation of Settlement Agreement and authorize the Mayor to sign. 6.6 Authorization to Solicit Bids for a Replacement Sand Truck. Recommendation: Council authorize the Public Works Director to solicit bids for a cab and chassis for a sand truck. Pulled from the Consent Calendar. Councilmember McCormack stated that the sand truck was not in the current budget. It was the Council's normal position to review all requests for equipment carefully during the budget review which resulted in less review when agendized. The Council had not reviewed the item, but felt it was appropriate to take action as staff was only seeking an early bid due to a long lead-time and the Council was not committing money until the next budget year. Mr. Covey stated the sand track would be a replacement and not an additional piece of equipment. The truck was in the 5-year CIP and Equipment Replacement Plan. Staff would return to Council for the award o£bid. In order to have the truck for the next season they had to go to bid early. Councilmember McCormack stated his reason for pulling the item was due to the change in process. Motion by Councilmember McCormack to authorize the Public Works Director to solicit bids for a cab and chassis for a sand truck, Seconded by Councilmember Florian, passed unanimously. 6.7 Litigation Status Report - Town of Truckee vs. Weststar Cable Arbitration and Walter Harvey vs. the Town of Truckee. Recommendation: Council receive and file. COUNCIL IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES - None STAFF REPORTS 8.1 Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration for Truckee-Tahoe Airport Master Plan. Recommendation: Council authorize the Mayor to sign the comment letter on the proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration. To~vn of Truckee February 3, 2000 Regular Page 2 Duane Hall, Town Planner, informed the Council that the proposed comments were not on the Airport Master Plan itself, but focused on CEQA issues associated with the Negative Declaration. Staff did not believe that it provided sufficient information for the Town and the public to adequately review and provide comments on the Master Plan. Mr. Hall gave a slide presentation (copy on file) which included a brief background of the Airport Master Plan update; the Airport planning process; the impact of Airport Master Plan on local planning and development; environmental review; Master Plan projects - airside; Master Plan - landside; recommended comments - general; recommended comments - forecasts; recommended comments - CLUP consistency; recommended comments - baseline conditions; recommended comments - private land uses; and recommended comments - noise. The Airport District would be holding a public meeting on February 24th to consider adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Airport Master Plan. In the case of the Airport master plan, it did not have to be consistent with the Town's General Plan; it was the General Plan that had to be consistent with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan in the Airport Master Plan. It was a much different planning process. Mr. Hall stated that letters had been received from Thomas Archer in support of the staff recommendation. A meeting ~vas scheduled on Monday to meet ~vith the Airport District to review the Town's comments. Councilmember Susman stated he did not see that the issue was any different than any other land use issue. The Town had to identify the issues and it was not asking too much to ask the Airport District to address the concerns expressed by the To~vn on behalf of the community. He supported the staff recommendation. Councilmember McCormack stated he supported the staff recommendation. The staff report addressed the 20 homes within the 65 dBA but there were additional properties where the use would be affected. Mr. Hall stated that was possible and tied into the General Plan consistency issues, i.e. it could affect undeveloped properties and the Town's housing goals. Councilmember McCormack felt it was absurd to use future forecasts as a baseline. Mayor Schneider noted that most of the Airport was not located in the Town and questioned how much authority the Town had. Mr. Hall replied that the Town's authority was similar to the project in Placer County in which the Town was commenting as an interested agency, however, the Town had no legal authority over the Airport Master Plan and Comprehensive Land Use Plan except as a commenting agency. Ultimately, what occurred on the Airport would have impacts upon the Town that the Town needed to look at. Councilmember McCormack stated if the Town could not get satisfaction the only recourse was litigation. Mayor Schneider read letter (copy on file) from the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation (MAPF) in support of the staff recommendation. Jim Duffy, Prosser Heights, stated that over the last 2-3 years they were harassed weekly by jet aircraft. The jets were noisy and an intrusion. He felt that was also true for Prosser Heights, Prosser Lakeview, and portions of Downtown. His complaint was only with the jets as there was no problem with the private aircraft. Many of his neighbors were unaware of the meeting and were unable to attend. The noise was irritating and he had called the Airport to work it out. They took his complaints, but told him they could not do anything about it as the FAA controlled the flight path. If the Airport could not do anything and the Town could not do anything, he felt they needed to fight the growth. Keep the baseline where it was at the present time, i.e. 3-5 jets during the weekend and not have 50- 100 jets a week and bigger jets more often, they needed to control the growth. He encouraged the Council to follow the staff recommendation. He wanted to see the Airport District come out of the closet and invite pubic participation. If it had been more publicized he felt there would have been a big crowd at the Council meeting. He also wanted to see the Airport District cooperate, get public comment, and try to do something beside just selling a lot of jet fuel. Town of Truckee February 3, 2000 Regular Page 3 Kathleen Eagan, Prosser Heights, agreed with Mr. Duffy's comments. The characteristic of the Airport had changed in the last 3 years due to jet aircraft. When talking about increased usage it referred to jet aircraft in terms of noise. It was important for the Airport to be out in front of the issue as there would be a time with the proposed Master Plan where public opinion and Airport would hit a collision course. It was important to get the issues out in front of people now. The 65 dBA was an issue of harm to people. The noise in their area was not harmful but it was an aggravating sound, the quality of sound was also an issue. The notion of an additional runway to accommodate larger/more jets was chilling regarding the effects on the community long-term. The Town and Airport District needed to think long and hard about whether they wanted to introduce that kind of a beginning in the community. Steve Frisch, Downtown, stated he did not suffer the same noise levels as in Prosser Heights but he was concerned regarding the accommodation of larger aircraft. The community needed to think long and hard about the impacts of much larger aircraft. He did not think that the Airport was ever thought of as a major commuter aircraft. The large aircraft segment was something that the community should at least plan for. At certain times he was very aware of the aircraft noise. Peter Soderquist, General Manager, Truckee-Tahoe Airport, stated he was speaking on behalf of the Board and was not there to address any of the findings of the initial study or comments by staff but there had been several inaccurate comments which he wanted to clarify. The statement made by staff "minor improvements to the runway to accommodate larger aircraft" was not the intent of the District; there was no plan or desire to attract larger or bigger aircraft. Part of the Master Plan effort was to redesign certain design perimeters to be in compliance with Federal guidelines for the planes that were already there. The Airport was built 40 years ago and as the Airport grew and developed there were larger airplanes. Mr. Soderquist then defined the perimeters for larger aircraft and building restrictions. They were not doing anything to beef up runways to bring in larger airplanes. The Master Plan called for a parallel runway but there were no plans to build it. It was included so they could protect that area from building; it was their intent to protect the view shed. To build a runway there had to be a need for capacity and a third runway was not needed at the Airport. There was a plan for a 2,000-ft turf runway which would parallel the runway utilized by the gliders. They were appreciative of the staffreview and the District believed they had met the requirements of CEQA. The District would be meeting with the Town on Monday to review the Town's issues. Information from that meeting would be brought to the Board of Directors at the public hearing and at that time they would decide whether to adopt the Master Plan or pursue additional study of the concerns expressed. Mayor Schneider questioned how the larger aircraft were using the existing runways if they did not comply. Mr. Soderquist replied that neither the aircraft or Airport were illegal. The Airport had a legal requirement to let them in. He then reviewed the runway protection zones and noted that the Airport had grown beyond the original protection zones. The revision would allow the Airport to meet the required FAA design criteria. Councilmember Florian questioned the frequency of jets on weekends. Mr. Soderquist replied that it depended on activities and noted there were periods without jets. It was very difficult to estimate. Councilmember Florian questioned if the Airport was anticipating more activity when the west side of Martis Valley built out. Mr. Soderquist stated that as the economy improved and as the Town grew, people moving in would bring airplanes. Councilmember McCormack stated he was certain that the Airport staff and Board were aware of the community concerns regarding noise. One of the problems he saw with the special districts was that a lot of things were done in the closet, there was not good communication with the public. The draft was completed over one year ago; the Negative Declaration was filed only two months ago. He Town of Truckee February 3, 2000 Regular Page 4 o questioned what communication the District had with the public to get them involved. Mr. Soderquist replied that the Airport Master Plan process was very public. They had representatives of the community on a citizens advisory committee which included representatives from the FAA, an FBO, and the Chamber of Commerce. They also called noise complainers in an effort to get representatives from all areas, as well as representation from the various neighborhoods. Councilmember McCormack questioned if public comment would be taken at the meeting on the 24~. Mr. Soderquist stated that the meeting would be advertised in the paper and notices were posted in both counties. Councilmember Drake questioned if corporate jet traffic was common in conjunction with meetings held at the resorts. Mr. Soderquist stated that he was uncertain, but the use of time-shares for airplanes was becoming more common. Mayor Schneider complimented staff for their thorough report, and she had a high level of confidence in the recommendations. Councilmember Drake stated that knowing the process for CEQA, the staff comments were appropriate. It was the same as land use, i.e. more people were coming, and in the case of airports, it was built before 95% of the people were there, but the attitude was to get rid of it. The reality was that more jet planes were going to come. If the economy stayed sound there were going to be more people with more money, it was sad. Everything was appropriate so he could not vote no. Mayor Schneider stated that the conference business was flying into Reno/Tahoe but they were seeing more business groups of 5-12 from the Silicon Valley and Los Angeles area wanting to fly into Truckee. Councilmember Drake noted that TNT/TMA was trying to cut down on traffic in the resort triangle and were questioning the use of water taxis, more airplanes, and air service for Truckee/South Shore, anything to get people out of cars. The area was nice and people wanted to visit. Councilmember McCormack stated that he agreed that staff had done an outstanding job on the report and he supported the recommendations. He was disappointed in what he perceived as the apparent total inadequacy of the CEQA approach the Airport District had taken. Motion by Councilmember Susman to authorize the Mayor to sign the comment letter on the proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration, Seconded by Councilmember McCormack, passed unanimously. COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS: 9.1 HOME Grant. Mr. Lashbrook announced that notice had been received that the Town had made the short list for the $1 million Federal HOME program grant for an 80-unit affordable housing project in Truckee. 9.2 CA Public Utilities Commission Action on Southwest Gas. Councilmember Florian announced that the CPUC had voted 3-2 to approve Commissioner Duque's alternate decision on Southwest Gas. The alternate decision contained the original terms submitted by the Town and Southwest Gas but also included a provision for reporting at the end of each construction season. 9.3 Channel 6 - Tahoe Truckee Community Television - Music Telethon. Mayor Schneider announced that Channel 6 had held a music telethon to benefit the music program for the High School. They raised $7,000 in eight hours of programrmng which she felt spoke to the need of the community for another vehicle for getting information out. Captain Jacobson was also considering the initiation of a law enforcement program on TTC TV. Town of Truckee February 3, 2000 Regular Page 5 10. 11. CLOSED SESSION to discuss litigation against Nevada County pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9; County of Nevada vs the Town of Truckee and the Truckee Redevelopment Agency pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9; Southwest Gas vs the Town of Truckee pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9; Peoria Sunnyside LLC vs the Town of Truckee pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9; and conference with real property negotiators pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8 - property: 10181 and 10185 Truckee~Tahoe Airport Road, Truckee, California, negotiating parties: Town Manager Stephen L. Wright representing Town (prospective purchaser) and Bank of the West (property owner), under negotiation: terms of purchase (price and payment terms). Closed Session was not held. ADJOURNMENT. Mayor Schneider adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, by: ~ Vicki C~-Soderqui~'t, CMCT~ Town Clerk Town of Truckee February 3, 2000 Regular Page 6