CITY OF LAGUNA WOODS CALIFORNIA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
May 1, 2002
2:00 P.M.
Mayor McLaughlin called the Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Laguna Woods to order at 2:00 p.m. She reported that Assistant City Manager Reilly was involved in a car accident on Monday, April 29, 2002. It is expected he will be out for several weeks. Council wished him well.
Councilmember Bouer led the Flag salute.
III. ROLL CALL
COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Bouer, Ring, Ross, Hack, McLaughlin
ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Keane; Deputy City Attorney Wohlenberg, City Clerk Condon
None.
Moved by Councilmember Ring, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Hack and carried unanimously to adopt Proclamations 5.1 – 5.2
Moved by Councilmember Ring, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Hack, and carried unanimously to approve Consent Calendar item 6.1.
6.1 Denied the claim against the City of Laguna Woods by Robert Koeblitz in the amount of $18.95.
None
VII. COUNCIL BUSINESS
None
City Manager Keane requested that Item 9.2 General Plan be considered prior to the Taxi Cab Voucher Contract. Council concurred.
City Manager Keane discussed the General Plan process and answered questions from Council.
Paul Ireland from Hogle-Ireland distributed a report on revising the Goals, Policies, and Implementation Measures of Draft General Plan Land Use Element and discussed the proposed changes. A property owner – the Golden Rain Foundation – is suggesting that approximately 90 acres of their undeveloped and underdeveloped land be designated as Urban Activity Center (mixed use). This type of land use would require additional definition at the Zoning Code stage and will require both specific plans and site plans prior to actual construction or reconstruction.
The City Manager advised that staff is concerned that the Urban Activity Center designation is not sufficient to meet the City’s housing element requirements; GRF has tentatively agreed to a designation of residential on 3.3 acres of its property. She also noted that was the proposed General Plan policies were intended to give Council the ability to approve or deny specific projects within an Urban Activity Center partially based on their fiscal impact on the City.
Kevin Canning spoke on behalf of the Golden Rain Foundation (GRF) and thanked Council for the additional time to work out the issues. He also thanked staff for meeting with them. He noted that a basic agreement has been reached between GRF and City staff, but that work was still needed to finalize issues raised by both sides.
Moved by Mayor Pro Tem Hack, seconded by Councilmember Bouer and carried unanimously to agree – in concept – that a land use designation of Urban Activity Center be incorporated in the General Plan.
City Manager Keane reported on the recent bidding process for taxicab vouchers. The City received three bids and is recommended award of a contract to the lowest bidder.
Moved by Mayor Pro Tem Hack, seconded by Councilmember Ring and carried unanimously to approve the following:
City Manager Keane reported that revenues of approximately $5.3M are anticipated in the General Fund next fiscal with base budget expenditures of $4.2M. This is a reduction of $500,000 from current year. She provided further explanation of the proposed $4.2M expenditures. City Manager Keane reported approximately $114T was available for new Council programs or a contribution to the unbudgeted fund balance. She advised that she was not proposing to increase staff at this time, but would like to consider additional planning and finance assistance at mid-year. Mayor Pro Tem Hack asked that the consultant planner working in city hall be converted to a city position; there was general consensus to proceed with this modification.
Deputy City Attorney Wohlenberg reported that there was no City Attorney’s report.
Kay Kearney from Doctor’s Ambulance described the new services available to the City and distributed a handout.
XIII. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Councilmember Bouer congratulated staff involved in the City Hall project.
Councilmember Ross discussed the Exercise Challenge and all the hard work of the volunteers.
Councilmember Bouer discussed the Laguna Laurel project that was dedicated last Saturday.
Mayor Pro Tem Hack discussed the new City Hall Council Chambers.
Mayor McLaughlin reported that Bob Miller, who was in charge of the Globe Relocation, arrived after the reading of the Proclamation and would be provided with the Proclamation.
XIV. CLOSED SESSION
There were no items for closed session.
XIV. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m. to the Regular Meeting of the City Council at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at Laguna Woods City Hall, 24264 El Toro Road, Laguna Woods, California
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SUSAN M. CONDON, City Clerk
Adopted May 15, 2002
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JAN MC LAUGHLIN, Mayor
