07-14-09 Laguna Hills City Council Meeting

Last Special Budget Session & Adoption of the
New General Plan
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PUBLIC COMMENTS

Mike Bland, Laguna Hills resident stated that on July 7 he stopped for the signal at the intersection of Moulton and Alicia. He looked across the street and noticed a man in the bushes with a bag picking up cans. At that point a young man in an auto made a slow turn around the corner, opened his passenger window and threw 4 cans onto the sidewalk. The man in the bushes stared at the car and cans and walked over to pick them up. It was then that Mike recognized the man, rolled down his car window and jokingly yelled "Mr. Mayor, they finally found a job for you"! Mike said Mayor Joel Lautenschleger responded, "All I'm trying to do is pick up trash". Mike yelled back, "He must have thought you needed the extra cans". Mike ended with these questions - Have budget cuts at City Hall gone too far making it necessary for the Mayor to pick up cans or is he just being a good citizen? Maybe we should all follow Joel's good example or maybe we should all follow him to City Hall with our cans?

Consent Calendar

The Consent Calendar included: Warrant Register for $461,515.95. The University of Texas received $15,300.00 for conducting the last Laguna Hills Citizen Survey.

City Council Public Hearings and adoption of the 2009 comprehensive General Plan Update.

Mayor Joel Lautenschleger stated the city has spent about 2 years so far on this General Plan Update. ** It is important to know that this is the first update that this city has done for their General Plan since the city's incorporation in 1991. A General Plan is usually updated by cities about every 10 years according to the information on the State of CA. web site re. city plans.
Mayor Lautenschleger congratulated the members of the General Plan Advisory Committee who were appointed by the city council, the city staff and EDAW, the group that lead the development of the plan, for all their hard work. He also gave certificates of recognition of services to the General Plan Advisory Committee Members.
** Whoops, it is true that many members of the GPAC did a great job as did the staff and EDAW (not so true of the city council who spent a lot of time just trying to decide whether or not they should attend each Public Session) and they should be recognized. It should also be important to a city council that there were many Laguna Hills Residents who participated in the Public Sessions as well as in observing the General Plan Advisory Committee Sessions on their own time. Sadly, they were not recognized or thanked by the Mayor or the city council or the staff of EDAW. All the citizens received was a suspension of their "sticky dot privileges" when they used their dots, as instructed, in Public Sessions to illustrate what they thought was important rather than what the majority of the city council thought was important. Tough luck residents! But LH Watch Dog does recognize you and thanks you for exercising your rights and duties as citizens to participate in city government and telling the City of Laguna Hills what was important to you in the New General Plan of your city where you live. We are very proud of you!!

Vern Jones Community Development Director thanked his staff, EDAW, the General Plan Advisory Committee. He said the plan was built on what people already like about Laguna Hills and the process was to focus on the positive things and add to them through the General Plan Process.

John Bridges from EDAW (the plan development company) talked about, adopting the plan now after having dealt with the difficult Housing Element that required review by the State. John said this plan will guide the city over the next 10 to 20 years. John again thanked the General Plan Advisory Committee and noted the 8 guiding themes that were initially adopted as the basis of the plan.

Opportunity areas include the Alicia Gateway, Moulton-La Paz, Via Lomas, and the Urban Village Specific Plan.

The Alicia Gateway opportunity area is about 40 acres located West of the I-5. The focus of the plan in this area was to create consistency of land use on both sides of Alicia Pkwy. Rather than commercial on the North and mixed use on the South, as it is now, the new plan proposes creating neighborhood mixed use over the entire area that would promote more retail businesses and eventually eliminate industrial use such as the storage units in that area. It limits heights of buildings to 2 and 3 stories and allows some introduction of residential units as part of the mixed use.

The Via Lomas opportunity area is located in the West-central portion of the city near Moulton Parkway and Alicia Parkway. It consists of approximately 39 acres. The focus for this area is on Rehabilitation and Replacement to provide additional opportunities for home owners, about 100 additional residential units and 13 acres of parks, recreational opportunities and open space.
The Moulton-La Paz opportunity area located in Southwest Laguna Hills is bounded by Moulton Parkway to the West, La Paz Rd. to the South, Alameda Avenue to the East, and the Moulton La Paz neighborhood to the North. The goal in this area is to improve the Moulton La Paz Retail Center including its overall appearance. The plan extends the community commercial designation toward La Paz with the idea of expanding commercial activity and improving trails and landscaping. There would be an addition of about 30,000 sq. ft. of retail space under this land use proposal.

In the Urban Village Specific Plan area which encompasses the Laguna Hills Mall and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, there is some additional development capacity. There are opportunities here for retail, residential, hotel and office use. The plan allows for the addition of about 117,000 square feet of retail space. Much emphasis here is placed on alternatives to cars, the focus is on walking, and biking.

The City Council adopted the plan that includes certification of the final project, and the environmental report, and approved an ordinance governing the zoning of the opportunity areas.

City Council Member Melody Carruth expressed concerns about the long term air quality in the city related to the additional traffic, widening of freeways, and roadways, etc.

John Bridges from EDAW responded with the suggestion of adding a clause containing language stating minimizing the effects of air pollution from expanded roadways on Laguna Hills residents through use of berms and appropriate landscaping, etc.

Public Hearing Comments

Michael Curtis, Laguna Woods resident expressed that 63 homes on a hillside in Laguna Woods, boarder Laguna Hills on Laguna Hills Drive and are subject now to increasing noise from traffic. Laguna Hills Dr. is designated in the new General Plan as a major artery so he suggests a sound wall be installed for the Laguna Woods residents.

Robert Hawkins from the Golden Rain Foundation, that was formerly Leisure World, stated there were impacts on other cities as a result of Laguna Hills' new General Plan that need to be considered such as increasing the sq. ft. in the Urban Village Area at the intersection of Moulton and El Toro. He said an analysis should be done now and mitigation planned.

Barbara Kogerman, Laguna Hills resident asked why airport land use was mentioned in the General Plan and noted there was a mention of sufficient levels of community services and facilities. She pointed out that this was the first update of the plan in 15 years. She said that she understands the recommendation is updating the General Plan every 5 to 10 years so at this point she was hoping there would be more addressing of the issues of seniors. She noted that in 10 years about 23% of the population of Laguna Hills is going to be over the age of 62, therefore it seemed to her that there should be some consideration given to a level of support for services for an emerging large bulge in our population. She said she would like to see more addressed whether it's in the area of transportation, or health and welfare. She added this was not to put us into a welfare state but to address the fact that we would have a large senior population coming on board.

Mr. Jerry Austin from a firm that dealt with the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) portion of the new General Plan was asked to answer questions from Public Comments. He said there is a research group that does Orange County Projections (OCP). They do projection reports for every 5 interval to 2030 for all of Orange County's housing, population and employment. These reports are used by all cities to consider analysis based upon all cities building out in the future and the impact of that on neighboring cities. All cities work from these forecasts to construct their General Plans and that was done for this city's General Plan.

John Bridges from EDAW added, in answer to Ms. Kogerman, that the airport references in the General Plan have nothing to do with El Toro anymore but with things such as landing pads for helicopters used for rescue, and hospitals, etc. and building height related to buildings not being higher than 200/20 stories so as not to interfere with aviation. This is required by the State as a safety aspect of the General Plan.

Vern Jones Community Development Director answered Mr. Curtis' question stating that the noise wall along Laguna Hills Dr. that currently exists is in the City of Laguna Woods. Since noise in this area is generated by regional traffic and since no specific development or project is shown in the plan along this corridor addressing mitigation for noise in this area was not required in the General Plan.

City Council Member Allan Songstad in answer to Ms. Kogerman's question about Laguna Hills Seniors cited a discussion of senior issues in 3 sections of the General Plan under Mobility, Conservation of Open Space and Housing. He said there are some specific comments in these sections. **So for all you Seniors who were worried - there you go, they mentioned you!

City Council Member Melody Carruth asked for an addition to the Animal Care Services reference in the General Plan stating that the city should design Pet Owner Classes to encourage and promote Responsible Pet Ownership. City Council Member Randy Bressette agreed. Ms. Carruth added that she would also like to add a policy to develop guidelines to promote waste reduction and encourage reusable shopping bags, etc.

City Council Member Craig Scott mentioned that he wanted to state that he has consistently and strongly objected to the Housing Element specifically, that he does not believe the state should be telling this city what kind of or how many housing units we are required to have. He said he would vote against the Housing Element in the plan if he were free to do so. He ended with, "I just don't want anyone to think that I've grown soft". **That line got a big laugh from the audience and it would appear fair to conclude that any worries about anyone believing Mr. Scott has gone soft can be dismissed from his mind.

The New General Plan was adopted 5-0

5.2 Resolution Updating the City's False Security Alarm Fees from $64 to $85 on the 3rd false alarm and each false alarm thereafter.

Lt. Steve Doan, Chief of Police for Laguna Hills added that 10 to 20% of the calls for service in Laguna Hills per year are for False Security Alarms, so these are a significant drain on services.
This passed by a vote of 5 -0

5.3 Amendments to the Adopted Building Permit and Plan Check Fees.

New Building Fees include:
0-100 sq. ft. housing additions - $609.83
101-200 sq. ft. housing additions - $764.28
301-400 sq. ft housing additions - $1,007.69
401-500 sq. ft housing additions - $1,307.89
Free standing outdoor fireplace 1 - 100 sq. ft. $609.83
Residential or Commercial Gunite Spa only 0-100 sq ft - $1,307.29

New Building Fees passed by a vote of 5-0

5.4 Confirmation of 2009 Weed Abatement Cost Report

Ken Rosenfield - Director of Public Services and City Engineer stated that only 3 properties did not comply with weed abatement this year. One of those is vacant, the other is Bank Owned and the third failed to comply in time.

These properties will be charged by the city for cutting their weeds and the charges will be added to the property tax bills by the County Tax Collector.

This passed by a vote of 5-0

PLANNING AGENCY ISSUES - NONE

Administrative Reports

City Manager's Report - Bruce Channing, Laguna Hills City Manager stated that the 4th of July celebration went smoothly, no damage and the clean up was successful. ** For all you fireworks buffs, there were $10,725.00 worth of fireworks exploded this year from Pyro Spectaculars, Inc.

Assistant City Manager's Report - Civic Center Public Art program - Status Report
The 6 (so far unidentified heads) busts in the lobby of City Hall were $38,790, so far. The feature wall in the lobby of City Hall with the branding irons, etc was $61,418 to date. The lobby murals were $15,000 to date, Chamber murals were $70,469 to date (not yet installed). A plaza sculpture will be $2,000 reportedly, the Lobby Display Case will be $3,348, interpretive signage will be $13,000, Archive will be $10,000, consulting services $27,000 to date and ongoing, Misc. = $10,000 so far, Lighting is $19,150 to date.

$270,175.00 is the expense to date. The budget was reportedly $514,000.00 so the city is reporting they are (243,825.00) under budget. $59,238 reportedly came from a Public Art Fund and there was a loan from the General Fund of $210,937 which together = $270,175.00 Additionally there was $75,000 charged to the 2007-09 operating budget - but for what is not reported and there is the fee for the Art Consultant Kim Monarch for the past 18 months. The total of her fee is reportedly the $27,000 consulting fee noted above. Her contract expired in June of 2009 but was renewed and she is reportedly being paid an amount not to exceed $20,000 for the current fiscal year to oversee this Public Art Program under a Consulting Services Agreement.

History is - City purchased the Civic Center Property in 2002. In June of 2007 the city council approved $514,000 as part of a City Capital Improvement Plan for Public Art at the Civic Center. 4 artists were commissioned to complete 9 works of art. 6 pieces are completed - the 6 adobe busts (unidentified heads) on the 2 shelves high on the walls in the Civic Center Lobby, the Civic Center Lobby murals, and the flat iron work on the Feature Wall. These were completed in Jan. 2008 and this was the 1st phase. Work on the 2nd phase is continuing - this includes the Interpretive Panels by Artist Robert Evans, the Lobby Display Case, and the Council Chamber Murals. The third phase is the Plaza Sculpture which is presently on hold. The Interpretive panels which consist of historic information, maps, text and smaller pictures, should be installed in Sept of this year and were approved in Nov. of 2008. The Lobby Display Case for rotating art displays will feature (the Unremarkable-according to Craig Scott) Nellie Gail Moulton starting July 20 of this year.

City Council Member Melody Carruth did ask that the 6 busts in the lobby be identified for the public, she asked if they were properly secured related to safety,and asked for a plan for the public to be able to view the Council Chamber Murals when the council was not in session.

Peggy Johns, City Clerk stated Mayor Lautenschleger is appointed as the voting delegate for the California League of Cities Annual Conference and Council Member Allan Songstad is appointed as the alternate at this time by the city council.

Matters Presented by Mayor & City Council Members
Mayor Joel Lautenschleger stated the new landscape company (Nieves) is doing a great job, so far, of cleaning up the city. ** That is possible but from what we heard earlier tonight (see 1st Public comments above) the LH Watch Dog suspects that the previously mysterious figure in the bushes with the super clean up powers is giving the new landscape company a lot of support! Go green, Go Joel!

City Council Member Melody Carruth - spoke about Senate Bill (SB 250) The Pet Responsibility Act that addresses pet overpopulation in the State of California. She reviewed this bill for the city council noted the significant success of this type of bill in Santa Cruz County, and reminded the council that many hours have been spent in this city discussing ways to improve animal care services. She noted that so many citizens of this city and other cities are interested in this State Plan because this is not something that can be adequately handled on a local level alone. The death toll for unwanted animals in this State is enormous as is the bill to the State for impounding and then killing these animals and it is becoming increasingly worse. She stressed that this plan is extremely flexible related to owner's rights and asked for the support of the Laguna Hills City Council through a Letter of Support for SB 250 being sent to State Senator Dean Florez, Governor Schwarzenegger, and the Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Kevin De Leon.

City Council Member Craig Scott had some questions about some of the numbers presented to the City Council about this bill but said he supports it.

Tom Epperson - Laguna Hills Citizen spoke on this issue and stated he has spoken here before about animal shelters, and although we certainly need more animal shelters in addition to the County Shelter in Orange County, the real answer to the problem we are talking about is spaying and neutering. He stressed that this is the only long term way to keep the pet population down. He clarified for Council Member Craig Scott that the State is now paying about $250 million to house and kill about 500,000 unwanted pets a year in California. He stressed that these pets are not "euthanized" because they are too ill to survive, they are killed because they have no homes. He noted this bill is responsible and covers exceptions for breeders and individuals. He said the arguments against it such as nannying, big brother and personal freedom cannot compare to the carnage that takes place in California Shelters every year. He added it's ridiculous that we have allowed this to happen and said he believes Laguna Hills should be on the positive side of something like this. He mentioned that there are some 75 other cities in the state of CA. that have notified the Appropriations Committee that they are for this bill and he would like to see Laguna Hills be on the right side of an animal issue. He urged that the city council vote for Ms. Carruth's resolution.

Don White, Assistant City Manager expressed that requiring spay and neuter on a city by city basis probably doesn't have an impact. This needs to be done on a more regional basis or a state level if it's going to have any real impact on the unwanted dog and cat population.

Mayor Lautenschleger said we cannot build enough shelters to take care of all the unwanted animals, he supports it.

City Council Member Alan Songstad said he supports it too.

Mayor Pro Tem Randall Bressette questioned some of the language in the bill and thought it could be more clearly worded but supported it.

The council's vote was 5-0 in favor of sending the letter of support.

City Council Member Melody Carruth mentioned some other concerns regarding the Oso Parkway Landscape project such as stairs on the North side that may be dangerous, weeds growing in the decomposed granite trails, over watering resulting in pooling of water in the area of a natural spring on the South side of Oso Pkwy. that could result in mosquitos and the death of plant material including trees in this area, a V ditch blockage that is filling with water near the bioswale and the need for trash containers along the trails. There is also sidewalk damage on Bridlewood that has apparently been caused by the contractor and needs to be repaired.

Ken Rosenfield - Director of Public Services and City Engineer responded that these problems are being addressed. He said the stairs between the city's trail and the Nellie Gail trail were part of the original plan in a slightly different location and this was presented to the Nellie Gail HOA at a meeting that was held between the city's landscape architect and the HOA Board. During construction the homeowner closest to that opening asked that it be relocated and that was done in concert with the Nellie Gail's former field manager, but the general manager may not have been aware of that discussion. He stresses that the stairs were meant for people not horses so the entrance to the stairs has been narrowed to prevent horses from using it. He said this was done voluntarily by the Nellie Gail HOA who installed 2 posts to narrow the opening at the top of the stairs. He noted that the steps could be narrowed further or abandoned as needed. It was noted that the landscape company has about a year to correct problems and successfully maintain this area, replace dead plants, etc.

Public Comments

Joy Schwarzberg and Lorna Lockwood spoke about their desire to establish a very professional natural pain control business in Laguna Hills for the use of Medical Marijuana for Pain Control. They said they were interested in locating in the Taj Mahal Building and asked that the city council establish a clear ordinance related to this type of business. They said there is a similar business already in Laguna Hills but apparently not approved. They noted they were not scheduled as speakers tonight so will return in the future to speak to the council about this.

This is the last city council meeting until August 25, so the LH Watch dog is also taking a break!