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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.01 Draft Min 4-1-08 Jt Study City Council/Planning Commission Study Session Minutes 4-1-08 o 7;p? A special joint meeting of the Dublin City Council and Planning Commission was held on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, in the Council Chambers of the Dublin Civic Center. The meeting was called to order at 8:55 p.m., by Mayor Lockhart. . ROLL CALL PRESENT: Council members Hildenbrand, Oravetz, and Scholz, Vice Mayor Sbranti and Mayor Lockhart. Planning Commissioners Biddle, Tomlinson, Wehrenberg, King and Chair Schaub . Mayor Lockhart opened the public comment portion of the meeting and hearing no comment, closed the public comment. COMMUNITY DESIGN ELEMENT Mayor Lockhart asked for the presentation from Staff. 1. P A 07-038 General Plan Community Design Element: Receive presentation and provide Staff and the Consultant with input and direction regarding the proposed General Plan Community Design Element. Jeff Baker, Senior Planner presented the project as stated in the Staff Report. Bill Wiseman, RBF Consulting, gave the panel of City Council members and Planning Commissioners an overview of the project and the scope of work that has been done, the principles to determine what "Community Design" means and how that translates into the General Plan. He stated he would share the results of the "TownScan" survey. He felt the survey gave a good indication of what the residents of Dublin value in their community. He continued he would translate the survey into an exercise for the panel asking for their feedback regarding likes and dislikes of the images that are shown to them based on the design principles, and then conclude with public comments and next steps. DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES VOLUME 27 SPECIAL MEETING April 1, 2008 Je 81..4 Mr. Wiseman stated the document will be set up like other General Plan Elements but Qill be set up to guide the look and feel of the City, what makes Dublin, Dublin. He introduced the proposed design principles that will form the framework of the Community Design Element which are: Positive Regional Identity, Sense of Arrival, Design of Built Form, Connections and Linkages, and Sustainability. The emphasis for the Community Design Element will be on private development and design policies, not guidelines. He stated that the purpose of the workshop is to talk about the City of Dublin's values, validate specific planning principles and then receive feedback from the panel and the public. Mr. Wiseman stated the "positive regional identity" looks at the character of the City from the freeway , BART stations and surrounding areas, then to a "sense of arrival" where the emphasis would be on gateways and entrance nodes. Mr. Wiseman continued to speak regarding the "design of the built form" with regard to coming into the City through a major arterial and notice the features of the "built form" creating safe, attractive places and creating an environment from the architecture, design and the integration of the built form. Mr. Wiseman reviewed "connections and linkages" which is how the "built form" relates to pathways and connectivity. Mr. Wiseman continued looking at "sustainability" and how the City is designing a community that is also sustainable for the long term. Mr. Wiseman showed slides that depicted the freeway centerlines and showed the path that people would travel on the freeway and how they would see what is immediately in their foreground, then the middle ground and then the distant views where the topography rises up. This gives an impression of the City as you move into it. The Streetscape Master Plan identified 11 gateways; Staff is suggesting to also include the two BART stations making 13 entryways that mark the transition from the region to the City. Mr. Wiseman covered "Design of the Built Form" and how it relates to physical form, gathering spaces, architecture of commercial centers, and multifamily residential and how they relate to the streets as well as looking at the physical form and how it relates to public spaces. Mr. Wiseman covered "Connections and Linkages" looking at pedestrian paths, trails, and boulevards, and how people, bikes and vehicles move through space. DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES VOLUME 27 SPECIAL MEETING April 1, 2008 3~:r ~ Mr. Wiseman discussed items related to "Sustainability". Mr. Wiseman discussed the results of the on-line surveys called "TownScan" and the results of 7 categories; multi-family residential, residential streets, retail commercial streets, retail shopping centers, office buildings, light industrial, and gathering spaces. He gave an overview of the overall 10 lowest rated images and the top ten highest rated Images. Mr. Wiseman explained how the survey was conducted. He continued that there was a picture, a question, and then the ranking received for each. He indicated that the bar chart showed the representation of the numbers of people responding to the five questions, which states that they "strongly disagree, disagree, no opinion, agree or strongly agree." Cmr. Wehrenberg asked how many people responded to that question. Mr. Wiseman responded there were no specific numbers only percentages that gave an overall feel of differences. He stated that this is not a statistical approach but looking at relative differences. Mayor Lockhart asked what percentage of people responded to the question. Mr. Wiseman responded it was approximately 44%. Cmr. Tomlinson asked how many people responded to the survey. Mr. Wiseman answered 348 people responded to survey. Mr. Wiseman presented slides indicating he would not comment on them but only present them to the panel so they can form their own opinion. The slides were of retail shopping centers and retail streets that were rated in the "T ownS can" survey. Chair Schaub asked if the data from the survey would be shared with the Planning Commission. Mr. Wiseman answered yes. Mr. Wiseman showed slides of multifamily residential buildings, retail shopping centers, attractive streets, and light industrial buildings indicating whether they were liked or disliked by the survey participants. Cm. Oravetz asked if all the buildings in the slides were located in Dublin. Mr. Baker answered that some of them were and some were not. Mr. Wiseman continued to show slides of buildings, commercial streets, gathering places, shopping centers, and multifamily residential buildings and indicated whether they were liked or disliked by the survey participants. DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES VOLUME 27 SPECIAL MEETING April 1, 2008 lf1J :r~ Cmr. Wehrenberg asked if there was a variance in the type of gathering places that were presented in the survey and felt that they were very similar. Mr. Wiseman responded there were differing types of gathering places in the survey, but the ones he was showing were the ones the respondents liked; Cmr. Tomlinson felt that there was a theme of what people liked. Mr. Wiseman then led the panel in an exercise showing slides of the top two highest rated and two lowest rated images for each category: multi-family residential, residential streets, retail commercial streets, retail shopping centers, office buildings, light industrial buildings, and gathering places and then asked for feedback from the panel regarding their likes and dislikes. He asked the panel to relate what is seen to the 5 design principles. The panel then viewed a series of slides and indicated to Mr. Wiseman what they liked and disliked about each one. Mr. Wiseman's associates recorded the comments on flip charts for future use. There was a discussion regarding the identity of the City and how people from the outside view the City of Dublin. Mayor Lockhart opened the public comment. Mr. Pete DeFao, resident of Dublin Ranch for 7 years, stated he is glad to be in Dublin, felt it is a unique idea to ask for ideas from the residents regarding the design element. He also commented that the Palo Alto Medical Center building is a beautiful building. Hearing no further comments, Mayor Lockhart closed the public comment. Mr. Wiseman stated that RBF will be working with Staff on the preliminary components of an administrative draft with the design principles being the basis for the document based on the input of this meeting. Cmr. Wehrenberg learned at the League of Cities Conference that one of the elements to consider is regarding our crosswalks. She suggested there could be different paving or a stamped design in the pavement that would encourage traffic to slow down and would identify the area as a crosswalk which would keep our pedestrians safe when walking across the street. Mayor Lockhart thought it was a great idea and commented that in the planning process and as changes are made in roadways, the City could review adding a different kind of DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES VOLUME 27 SPECIAL MEETING April 1, 2008 4/~~ paving or design, and in the future Dublin would be known as the City with the unique crosswalks. Cmr. Tomlinson stated that Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton has brick crosswalks and he has seen this type of crosswalk in other cities as well. Mayor Lockhart felt that would work well in the large intersections such as Tassajara Road and Dublin Blvd. There was a discussion regarding sidewalks and how to make them look different in Dublin. Cmr. King asked about architectural themes for Dublin, and suggested the City Council try to make a different feel in different areas of the City. Mayor Lockhart also liked Cmr. King's idea. She felt Dublin is its own City and does not try to look like its neighbors. She stated that Dublin does not have an old fashioned Main Street because that is not who we are. She stated the one thing the City Council has done is try to be the City of Villages with each Village having its own identity all working together but not looking the same. She felt Dublin adds to the Tri-Valley by not trying to look like our neighbors. Chair Schaub agreed with the Mayor regarding the village concept. He felt that the City was close to the village concept with the various Specific Plans and thought that if RBF could help the panel identify Dublin as Villages within the Design Element that would be ideal. Council Member Sbranti mentioned his trip to Citrus Heights during the League of California Cities Conference and how the city had distinct areas within the city. Mayor Lockhart felt that when the east Dublin/Pleasanton BART station is build-out it will have a unique feel with different housing and office buildings. She stated the buildings will be similar but you will know it is a village with different height, density and different kinds of businesses. Cm. Schultz commended RBF Consulting and Staff for a job well done. Mayor Lockhart thanked Staff and the Applicant for their presentation as well as the public for sharing their time. .. Adjourned at 10:25 p.m. DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES VOLUME 27 SPECIAL MEETING April 1, 2008