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12-02-1968 - Regular Meeting - MinutesMINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE. CITY COUNCIL CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 2, 1968. The adjourned regular meeting of the. City Council of the City of West Covina was called to order by Mayor Leonard S. Gleckman in the Council Chambers at 7:30 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Chappell, ROLL.CALL Present: Councilmen. Chappell,Nichols, • Gillum, ,Mayor Gleckman Absent: Councilman Lloyd Also Present: George Aiassa, City Manager Herman.R. Fast, Public Service Director Owen.IVlenard, Planning Director George., Zimmerman, Ass't. City Engineer Ray Windsor, Deputy City Clerk Sid Elicks, District Planning Engineer - State Div, of Highways Wallace Rothbart, . Projects Planning ,Engineer State Div, " HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT BY REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE DIVISION OF HIGHWAYS Mayor --Leonard S. Gleckman stated that a report would be given by the representatives of the State. Division of.H �ghways, . intr.oducing :Sid Elicks, -District Planning Engineer and Wallace Rothbart, _Projects Planning, Engineer. This report was requested by 40 Council so Council and those citizens interested, could better understand just what the criteria consisted of, and the how, when and why with regard to the Huntington Beach F- eeway, Further advised that this was not a Public Hearing, just an .informative report. Mr, .Sid Elicks (In summary) Route 39 Freeway extends from District..Planning Engineer Route 1 in ,Orange- County up to the Foothill State Div, of Highways F-reeway and is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, This was adopted by legislature in 1959 - a Master Plan for the State of California for Freeway development, .Prior to being adopted a great deal of studies wer-e made by all parties affected, The Master Plan is not a hard and fixed plan, it is something that can be changed by the legislation, Every 4 years, by law, it is reviewed and can be updated by the legislature. A question often raised: Why do we involve the City of West Covina,in this study? (Ro'ute 39 was shown on the map Iin relation to the City of West Covina) Route 39 is spaced between 605 on the west and on the east is the 210 Foothill Freeway. Route 39 must be placed in between those two, Another question: Why do we need a Freeway? We talk about 225, 000 cars a day on a freeway. This is greatly in excess of any arterial possibly carrying and it is three and a half times safer on a freeway than on any arterial road, The Freeway does not create smog considering the same number of cars, ...Local streets create two to five times as much smog because you have a stop and go traffic on your arterial streets, Mr, Wallace Rothbart .(In summary) - Specifically for the East, San Projects Planning Engineer Gabriel Valley area,I will mentibn some future State Div, of Highways traffic projections from material gathered from several sources: California State Division of Highways,, Los Angeles Regional Transit Study and two consultants Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall and Pete Marwick_.-, & Livingston. , Freeway Route 39 in 1990 - south of the San Bernardino Freeway we have rates that go up to 86, 000 to 92, 000 cars per day; north of the San Bernardino. Freeway 64, 000 to 80, 0,00. cars per day, And the traffic on City streets at that time: Azusa Avenue .1990'- with the Huntington Beach ADJ..C,.C. 12-2-68 .Page Two HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT —Continued Freeway in existence from 31, 000 to a high of 42, 000 cars per day; Lank Ellen 12, 000 to 21, 000 cars per day; and. assuming the freeway is not built - Azusa Avenue from 43, 000 upwards; Lark Ellen 16,.000 to 23, 000, As you can see these represent your major north and south streets with or without a. Freeway, The internal streets • will be taxed to capacity without a freeway, (Quoted statements of several consultants all stressing the need for the Freeway: ) (Presented maps covering studies made and explained the routes suggested by the variou-s cities affected. ). . Mr. Sid-Elicks '(In summary -- explained rcriteria used by the District Planning Engineer State) Fundamentally three basic criteriase the effect on the community, the traffic service afforded by the alternate, and the cost. We have been phcing; increased emphasis in recent years on community effects, We are very aware of the effects a Freeway can have on the future of a_ City. We attempt to locate. Freeways in areas that would not have an adverse effect on .the community, such as paralleling to a river bed, or near a rock plant where there are not many people or industry involved. On the other hand it may not afford as good traffic service in some instances, We seek to avoid, if we can, the .crossing of neighborhoods, dividing neighborhoods or school districts, If -:possible we like to follow along existing political boundaries. In this instance we are totally -unable to avoid going through residential areas. We have sought to depress the freeway and conceal it with a landscaped green belt, We do feel there are some positive benefits of a Freeway location with the ,Alternates shown here„ relating primarily to the core area. A,Freeway interchange in the core area, in our estimation, would help to develop that core and the transition from present residential to a highex use, • With regard to the Timing: Route 39 is in three segments. The portion of Orange County south of. Route 22 was adopted just recently; the portion between Grarden Grove Freeway -and -Pomona to the South, :we hope to go to hearing in 1969; the portion affecting you in the East San Gabriel Valley north of the Pomona,Freeway, we hope to go to hearing in .19970, In .Route planning we :study alternate alignments and develop them to a degree that is considered by all affected as reasonable study lines, The Highway Commission attempts only a generalizing location, it is not fixed in its entirety, there is some leeway. After it is adopted the design people get together with the cities involved and work out the details for the actual design of the freeway, This would entail determining if it would be depressed or elevated, which streets it would- cross or close, the interchanges, ramps, etc, , as well as drainage facilities, and all the other details, -Only after the City is satisfied that the plan is acceptable to them and is to their liking, do they sign the agreement with .the -.State enabling us to proceed with the acquisition of right-of-way and then the construction of the freeway is actually started, which is 10 years or more -away. Normally we start acquiring property about 4 years ;before construction. After .the route is adopted we do have a certain limited amount of money we can spend for hardship cases, This is limited and maybe it isn't as much as we would like to have but there is some money for this purpose, • (Mayor Gleckman called for questions by the Council or staff) Mayor Gleckman: Mr,-Rothbart referred to the different studies you looked into, At the same -time- it was my understanding the City of West Covina prior to any of these studies being done were given four different bans to study by the State, as to where the State Division of Highways said they would in fact put this Freeway, and that if there were any committees to be formed or studies to be done, they would prefer it be donein these corridors. Is that correct? - 2 - ADJ. C.C. 12-2-68 Page Three HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT - Continued Mr.: Elicks: I don't believe it was framed exactly .that way, .I believe what we might have done .is suggested .that .these four bards are what we looked at ourselves; but we are always willing to study corridors and lines that you • might come up with, Mayox Gleckman: My point - Mr, Rothbart, in mentioning this is because of the studies made by the groups. This was the area the State -Division of Highways felt would be the .proper bands .and what I am saying -is these four particular bards were given to the City and it was said these are the four 'areas ';which we the.- State Division of. Highways are looking at, Because none of these Committees were formed prior to us receiving that type of information from the State, 1VIr :"'Flicks: I think that is true but the Committee, if they desired too, could have looked at other study lines as well. This was done in Covina - they did look at study lines we did not have in our group, ..Mayor Gleckman: There have been questions during our Public Hearings a:s to what depth the State had investigated other routes other than the Azusa .Avenue route, Can you give us any specific information if you went into any other detailed studies on any other routes? Mr., Elicks: Yes, I can.'t tell you how many possibilities we looked at, but it must run well into the dozens. We looked at all possi- bilities in.the entire area. We studied lines farther west and east and for a variety of reasons, not only from our own point of view, but as an outgrowthfrom discussions • with the people in the area, we felt the lines shown here are the best feasible routes. This doesn't mean that this is the only thing we are studying - if we were asked to look at additional. lines. Mayor Gleckman: And who would make this request? Mr. Elicks You would, Mayor Gleckman: The City of West, Covina as an entity in itself, notwithstanding, the City of Covina or the. City of La.Puente.... . Mr., Flicks: That is correct. Mayor Gleckman; Can you give me some information as to what type of study would then be made? Mr-, Elicks: We would study it to the degree necessary to satisfy ourselves and the. City that it was either a good or bad alternate. If good, we would pursue it all the way through to the hearing, Mayor Gleckman: -The reason I ask is because it is true that Williams, Cook - & .Mocine, and the Citizen-s; Committee and some of the other ..studies came up.with the Azusa Avenue route, but.I can't put my finger on the idea that they created thi-s particular band and then said to the State this would be a great place for a Freeway, because they don't have the engineering knowledge, the know-how - for determining factors other than looking at a line on a map ---- they really would not have any criteria profes-sionally to make sense dollarwise, engineer ingwise, or routewise. The impression I am getting now .is that the weight for the land. is given to the studies made by other groups other than the State, rather than the State making an indepth study of all these different bands and then saying this is the route, - 3 - ADJ.. C.C. .12-2-68 •Page Four HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT - Continued Mr. Elicks: I think we did it independently. I believe we had developed some of these alternates before the consultants got into the picture. They looked at our studies as well as others that •they themselves thought might be good line-s to look at. I think that Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall studied lines we didn't study, and the East San Gabriel Valley Planning Commission presented a combination of lines that we did not have. I believe we studied all of these in great depth and others that are not on the map. Mayor Gleckman: What is the next Freeway east of 210? Mr. Elsicks: The, Corona Freeway. .Mayor Gleckman: I am curious as to the line on the 210 - is it more or less equally distant between the line going through the City of West Covina as it is to the next: Freeway to the East? What I am getting at is if the 'determination of the 39 Freeway is going to be someplace between 210 and 605 - the 605 we have and can't move, but the 210 we don't have, How far along is the 210? Mr. Elicks: Final design and construction is slated for next year, Mayor Gleckman: In other words they are much..further ahead than the Huntington Beach•? (Answer: Yes) That kills that then. They are much farther ahead than I thought. Councilman Gillum: When we reach the point where .the route has been determined and -the. State starts purchasing land - I have had many citizens ask me what happens to their house? How is it paid for, .etc. What is the State's procedure .once the route is accepted and you start going through the community and purchase properties? Are they paid the full market value? Mr; Elicks: We have .our own staff of appraisers. Our criteria is to pay market value for real property. We define market value as the highest price, not the average price, but the highest price the owner could get for that property when .putting it up for sale in the open market. _ Furthermore, we define it as a situation where it -would not be influenced by any proposed freeway in the area. An individuals home we will appraise comparing it to the market value of comparable homes two or three blocks away from the. Freeway. •Once we have established the market value we get together with the property owner and seek to arrive at an understanding. If he doesn't agree he is free to reject our offer and we must be forced to condemn .the property and it goes through Court. In most cases the property owner gets a fair shake, there is no escrow fees, the State pays all that. He gets cash down to his loan and there are no commissions. If he sold the house through a realty he would probably get about 1076 less. Councilman Gillum: When you say you start acquiring pr-operty four years prior to construction after you have come to an agreement with the pr.o:perty owner is it possible for him .to stay in .the house a certain length of time, or after the agreement is made does he have .to move out, and we end up with as -'I have seen.in some area .- houses with windows knocked out, dc. Mr. Elicks: We have .gotten .away from .that. We_per.mit the property owner to stay and rent.from the:.:State at a very reasonable rental, and then just prior to construction in the area he is required to move, and then the home must be moved off the property. If .the property is unrentable for some reason or other, we will remove it• or boardl it up so it will not be a hazard. •In addition we are maintaining the right-of-way so it will not be an eyesore to the community. - 4 - ADJ. C.C. 12-2-68 Page Five HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT - Continued Councilman Gillum: Along the same line, .1 believe I saw someplace where the State tries not to interfere with schools, churches, etc. , Do you people make an effort when you draw a line through the Community to not have tor take into consideration these types of buildings? • Mr,',Elicks: We do, We .consider these as community facilities and if we can we avoid ._them. -We check with .the School District and in some instances they say - take it, rather than forget it, In this case we do work directly with them, but in general where a school, :Church, or park is needed in the community we have to avoid it. If we must take a -corner of the park we will replace it or compensate in cash for improvements that can be spent elsewhere. Councilman.Nichols: The only thought .that comes to my mind is along the same line as the comments made by Mayor Gleckman. I can't remember now when we first had some graphic protrayal of the proposed alignment of this Freeway, but my best recollection of my reaction was like the tides of the ocean coming up from the coast and by the time it got .to us the momentum of it would be so thoroughly underway and the alignments so thoroughly drawn that psychologically we would be in a great bind to oppose any of it, I do notice that you are adopting the route as you come north but when you get to the southern boundary I -don't know what kind of a .parallel or wall we could throw up. It has been several years since we first saw the State bardsyou submitted to us. My feeling has always been that if possible to not add another freeway to our. City I would not only not cooperate but fight it with every political tool that I had, You fellows know why we feel this way obviously, and I think we have some reasons to feel more this way than Is some other communities. Speaking for myself anyway, my first recollection was the study bands,. No consultant or groups, to my knowledge, had made any studies independently, Then we saw this map that basically covered a portion of our community from Hollenbeck Avenue on the east to approximately Glendora on the west, A very significant portion.of our entire community actually, and so at that time..I think the psychological reaction of most of us on the Council was why don't we try and fight this thing and pull a San Francisco to the best of our ability, or do we recognize the probable inevitability of it and instead attempt through cooperation to get the best package out of it for our community. I feel there has been some element that has come out of this meeting that perhaps the press might pick up to indicate that this decision to adopt a route and bring :it through West Covina is a great. cooperative endeavor with the City Government here and all of the various agencies here joyfully tripping down the path with the Highway. Department - and I wouldn't want to leave that impression because for myself, .I don't joyfully trip, I go along because I don't see an alternative to going the other way. My best recollection is that all subsequent studies made by all other. groups follow the early initial map design that the State submitted, I am not saying this to be negative or critical but I really feel in our community we should put this in perspective and not perhaps read in the press in the next day or two an element..that the State has just kind of gone along and adopted and agreed with the studies that have gone on independently in the community. I really don't think that is about it, I think in reality the recommendations made from bodies within the bands • the State originally submitted are from an objective standpoint and probably the best that could have been designed, In conclusion,. I would not want to go away with the thought that in the next two or three days fellow citizens would say to me I didn't know thi-s freeway was your idea, Mr. Rothbart: I didn!t rnean to leave the impression that the:State picked up the ball from the various committees and engineering firms. The fact is we initiated the studyand these people were hired by the various cities and they concurred and recommended the routes through your City. This was the point I wanted to make - that they put it forth and we picked it up. - 5 - ADJ.. C.C. 12-2-68 Page Six HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT - Continued Mayor IGleckman: W-e wanted to make it quite clear because we have had several citizens come before us in Public Hearing and say - we were down to the -.State, Division of Highways and they said this is where West! Covina wants it and -this .is where they have settled on the idea of where it is going to be and this will be doing what West Covina has told us they would accept - and this is all untrue and it has caused this Council quite a bit of embarrassment. We want to cooperate with the State but at the same time we are unhappy that we haven't been given an opportunity to study other routes outside of our .City .and that is why I asked about the boundaries of the 210 and 605, .But if something has to be I think it behooves the, State Division of Highways not to stand up and say there will be a Freeway and this is where it will be and it is most unfortunate that you people have nothing to say about it. I would prefer it coming .in the.,manner in which it did, but not termed in the manner in which it was termed again by the.: State Division of Highways. We have had citizen 'after citizen coming to the Council - and.I am talking about the office downtown - saying we have been down to the. State Division of Highways and this is what they were told and it is - you fellows' and the- City Government and why doesn't the City do something about it so I thought it would be a good idea to meet with you fellows and find out what your thoughts were, how far along you are and where you are going and then for us to decide where we might go if we were to fight it. We realize you must have criteria for anything you do and if we can supply you with other criteria we will try and do that, but I wanted the air cleared from the standpoint that we have never told the State. Division .of Highways that is where we would like to have the Huntington Beach Freeway and for the record we never have. Whether we ever will - I can't speak • for this Council but we have never told the State Division of Highways as a municipal government that this is where we would like to have the Huntington Beach 'Freeway, Councilman Chappell: My biggest concern is in dividing our City into four parts. It was bad enough when the San Bernardino Freeway divided it in two parts. We have .peo.ple that feel they really don't live in West Covina - - on the north side of the freeway, How big of an area do we have to examine this in? .I was under the impression .that the four bands originally given us - was it, , That we couldn't go off in any other direction because that was the area that you were going.to.-pick that would cause the least amount of damage and cause the least amount of..pr-oblems in .the community, I sat 'with some of the Blue Ribbon Committees and this is exactly the way they thought, Now can we go another mile to the east or west when we examine this route through West Covina? Could we border Baldwin Park or Pomona or. are we really contained in those four r oute s that you or iginally gave u s ? Mr, Elicks: No you are not necessarily contained in there at all. You could look at it in the same way we did in the beginning and explore all of the possible alternates, Possibly through Glendora - and if you believe you have some alignments that you feel should be explored we will be more than happy to do that. Initially we looked at all these studies, We had some made by Glendora at one time but for many reasons it didn't make sense, The alignment we show here coming from the south is better because it affects fewer people, We would be most happy,to work with you or follow any suggestions you might have and explore to the depth that they might be included in our studies: In connection with the Mayor's remarks I would like to apologize - if we ever did and I think some people did come away with the wrong information.- that this was the recommendation of the City of West Covina, THs is not our thought at all, Mayor Gleckman: I might add I was the liaison to the Huntington Beach�Freeway Blue Ribbon Committee and the instructions I specifically passed on to them - and this may have been misinterpreted- - 6 - ADJ.. C..C_ .12-2-68- Page Seven HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY REPORT - Continued was that this was not necessarily where this Citizen's Committee had to study, within those bands they could go anywhere that they saw fit, but if we have to have a Freeway in or around the City of West Covina, they -were to come up with a recommendation using the same criteria as the State set, and I explained the criteria, (Explained) Now what happened in that Committee from that point on only the committee members can answer, because I tried not to get involved politically. It wa-s --strictly their deci-sion. Now there was a minority report from Mr-. Moss and he brought up the question that the State did not investigate other areas- such as the Hollenbeck route and the Glendora area to the same degree that it would give the impression that it studied the Azusa Avenue route and that is why I asked you the question. Councilman. Nichols: One of the comments made earlier involved the joint consultations that .will.,occur_,after the adoption of the route by the City and State, . involving such things as precise alignment, ramps, interchanges, whether to elevate or depress - when you mentioned the word 00depress" my morale uplifted briefly. I would like you to explore that area, We have all read about -Beverly Hills wanting a subterranean freeway and this community asking -for .this type of treatment, etc., but we have seen tremendous improvements in the aesthetics since the San Bernardino Freeway went in and I wouldlike you to comment only on the possibilities in the terms of the State.'s approach. Obviously if you come through a. City where it is not a topographical problem.I would think it would cost a lot more to depress it _ would you comment in terms of the ability of the State to do these things to make a • freeway more palatible to a community, Mr.: Elicks: We are aware a freeway depressed below ground is probably.more compatible and more pleasing to a residential area, So if there is anyway :at all our concept is to depress the .freeway, We have done that in the area of the freeway south of the San Bernardino Freeway, There are other controls at times - when we approach 'Walnut: Creek _Parkway we have to go over that. We have to come out of the ground and we are assuming we will go over the -.-San Bernardino. -Freeway, Now for example we think it will be compatible with the proposed commercial core area. Commercial areas prefer the freeway elevated, (,Explained) Councilman Nichols: If you are going up from a design standpoint are you gain- ing or losing something from the point of view of noises, disruptions such as the noises from shifting gears,. etc, Mr, Elicks: I don't think so because :our grades .are very gentle. Councilman Gillum: I would like to take the other side of this. -Suppose the City reached the point and said we all agreed we don't want the Freeway. Now what action does the State take? What power does the State have to put the Freeway through the City.- if we ever reach this point? • Mr, Elicks: The Highway Commission is created by law to adopt routes that are in the Freeway -System. Now they could attempt a route through West Covina without your co- operation or preferences and it might not be the route you feel would be best for the City, but they would do the best for the City to arrive at a route they feel would be best for the. City. - Subsequent to the adoption of the route, practically speaking it is virtually impossible to build a freeway through a city without a freeway agreement. Legally it can't be done because a freeway agreement must be.eicecuted before we can alter or close the streets. Theoritically we could go - 7 - ADJ. C.C. 12-2-68 Page Eight HUN.TINGTON .BEACH' FREEWAY REPORT - Continued through the City by bridging over the streets and not putting any ramps in, but I don't think we would want to do it, Essentially I think there would be an impasse at that point, Councilman Gillum: To your -knowledge has the State gone through any cities where they could not agree? Mr.' Elicks: Yes, there have been several places where agreements could not be reached, Eventually they usually are - - Newport Beach, .for the last 4 years we have been attempting to come to an agreement and I think things are now well reaching an agreement_ point with the City, _South Pasadena is another City that we have been negotiating with, The City of.San Francisco refused to execute a Freeway Agree- ment and there wasn't any time to sit and negotiate because these are. State Routes .and as a result of that the interstate funds were .pulled away from the City of San Francisco and .put down here, and I think to the advantage of this area. The situation in -San Francisco now is that you can get off the Golden.Gate Bridge and then you have to go through the clogged streets of the City to find your way out of town, Councilman Gillum: Suppose through study we possibly would find another route .that would appear to be feasible and everything was right, but it didn't line up with -La -Puente or would be to their advantage, or say to Covina - we are off a mile in the alignment, What happens in that situation? • Mr, Elicks: The Highway Division makes the final decision, -Councilman Gillum: Suppose through study we submit to you a.Freeway next to say Baldwin Park - say three quarters to a mile difference from what it is shown now in going through our City - how much weight does the City have in that area or would it be ignored and the State would say this is- the best place to put the freeway in order to line up with the cities north and s-outh. -Mr_l. 'Elicks: It is pretty hard to answer .that question off the cuff, If you had the only feasible line north and south and everything lined up reasonably well to that and the City of 'West Covina wanted something different and it wouldn't appear that it could be built that way - but on the other hand if the path you advocated could be tied through to the north and south in a reasonable fashion— it would be considered. This is not uncommon at all, The situation was exactly that in Orange County. We went through three public hearings and many meetings with the communities there in some effort to reach an agreement for everyone concerned,. -No agreement was reached and the Commission finally adopted a route that everyone was not pleased with. _(Z.ounc.ilman Nichols expressed appreciation for the courteousmanner in which is the two gentlemen from the State Division of Highways presented this report and answered questions regarding the mechanics, etc:) Mayor Gleckman: I have a -further question, You said the .legisiature set up this Master Plan in 1959 - at that time was the Huntington Beach Freeway in its plans or added at a later date? Mr Elicks: I believe it was one of the original freeways adopted in its Master -Plan, - 8 - A DJ. -C.C. 12-2-68 Page Nine HUNTINGTON BEACH FREEWAY - Continued Mayor Gleckman: The other questionI have is .the funding. We have all read.about funds being held up regarding freeways because • they are not sure this is .the final analysis for carrying -traffic, What is .the story on funding - has the Huntington Beach; Freeway been funded and if not, .where are they going to get the money from? Mr, .El-icks: There are two general types of Federal funds, The gas tax in the State is 7� and 4� to the Federal Government, T-he Federal Government puts it apart and they have several types of funding coming out of it, (Explained) And this is what is covering about 907o.of the cost of the 6,05 and other free -ways in the area. But it is kind of a rush rush thing because it is supposed to be completed by 1974 to make use of the funds the Federal government puts up. They have other funds they attribute to normal type improvements., . Some of the freeways are built with that type of move, .and- sdrne are not. The decision .is kind of a bookkeeipiiione, We haxe--`liee designing all of our freeways to be eligible for the federal aid funding'if the occasion arises, As far as the Huntington Beach -Freeway is concerned we have a planning program that only goes about 8 years and it is a very tentative one and is subject to some things beyond our control., as such things as in 1974 the Interstate Funds will tentatively come to a halt. What happens after that we don't know, So it is 'a very tentative type of thing. We don't have the, Route 39 freeway included in this for the present, this could change. It could be pushed ahead or back. -It is not a very satisfactory answer, but it is all that there is, Mr, Aiassa: Did you explain the relationship between Route 605 and Corona. Freeway and Route 39? Mr., Elicks: The answer is that .the 39 freeway should be someplace between those two and from traffic service point of view it should be. more or less in the center bard it shouldn't be closer one to the other., or we would not achieve the traffic service we are attempting (There being no further questions, Mayor Gleckman thanked both gentlemen for coming down, and further stated that if sometime in the future this were opened up for Public Hearings that he would hold them to the promise to be willing to come back and attend the hearings,) THE CHAIR DECLARED A RECESS AT 8:35 P.M. COUNCIL RECONVENED AT 8:48 P.M. CIVIC'CENTER- SITE DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT Mr, Aiassa: We have two reports dated November 29 and December Z. The November 29th report outlines not only,the bidders but also the total amount of bids, -There was a technical problem which had to be worked out, one of the general contractors did not list his subcontractors and there was a protest made by two other bidders that the ,man should withdraw his bid. After checking with the City Attorney and the County it appears that this controversy is between the general contractor and the State Board who licenses them. He will probably be reprimanded if he does take the job on, but he can do the whole job himself without any problems whatsoever, The staff feels after this review with the City Attorney that we have no choice but to award it to the lowest bidder. Also we have a letter from Lee Sharf man, designer of our .site development plan, that the man is a very responsible bidder, - 9 - ADJ.-C.C. 12-2-68 Page Ten CIVIC.::CENTER- SITE. :D�EV-ELOPMENT CONTRACT - Continued COUNCIL DISCUSSION. Councilman Nichols: I'would feel that the City --Council would be well advised • to follow the recommendation of the staff relative to the bidding and I would offer a motion, Motion by Councilman Nichols, -seconded by Councilman Gillum, that the City Council declare to the, Civic Center Authority that they recommend: the. award .of the contract for the site development of the Civic Center to O.K., Coyle of LaHabra, California, in .the amount of $389, 700, 00; this being the low bid all in accordance with the plans and specifications and addendums 1 and 2 attached thereto :Mot ion, -carried; on' roll call vote as follows AYES: Councilman Chappell,. Nichols, Gillum, .Mayor Gleckman NOES: None ABSENT: Councilman Lloyd DEPARTMENT HEAD ANNUAL. CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON Motion by -Councilman Nichols, seconded by Councilman Gillum,. that. Council again authorize an appropriation up to $50. 00 for the Department Head's annual luncheon. Motion carried on roll call vote as follows: .AYES: Councilmen Chappell, Nichols, Gillum, Mayor Gleckman NOES: None ABSENT: Councilman Lloyd MAYOR'S REPORTS PROC LAMAT-ION Mayor Gleckman: I have a request to declare December -13 - 14 Optimist Day for Youth. If there are no objections, .I will so proclaim, No objections, so proclaimed, Mayor Gleckman: Also like to make the announcement of the appointment of Mort Fe1n.man .as the new head of the Mayor's. Committee on Narcotics, Dr, Snyder has run into some difficulty and has had to beg off. I also was requested by this Committee to appoint a man of the "cloth" and unless there is some objections I am appointing Reverend William Key. • COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS Councilman Nichols: The. Council will recall that it postponed the receipt and approval of the Human Relations,. Commission minutes of 8-22-68 and directed me to inquire of the Commission as to the meaning of its statements about the feeling there was some lack of direction to the Commission. This matter was discussed again by the Commission at its last meeting„ and a motion taken to direct a letter of inquiry to the Mayor in that regard. This discussion occurred and motion was taken in my absence, I was at the meeting but had to leave. Mr, 'Peacock called me today and related this to me and jotted down for my 'information the following information: The consensus - 10 - ADJ. C.C. 12-2-68 Page Eleven COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS of the Commission'-s feeling ba-sically is this question - are we still involved in the narcotics problem or has the Narcotic's Committee assumed our role? And should we ju-st stand by to help or should we be initiating things on our own? 'Followed by a •motion made and carried that the Chairman direct a letter to the Council asking if they should seek direction from the Council in this area. Mayor Gleckman: Unless the Council has some objection, I would direct the Human•Relations Commission to return to its original involvement and the narcotics situation having been taken over by the Mayor's_.Advisory Committee should be handled by that Committee, notwithstanding the.. pioneering the Human Relations Commission did. That would be my thoughts. Does the Council have any other feelings? (Council agreed) Will staff convey it by letter to the Commission. I haven't seen the letter that Councilman Nichols referred too, as yet. (Mayor Gleckman then advised that the Narcotics Committee would shortly be sending their recommendation to Council. ) ORAL COMMUNICATIONS John Dom.enowski: I have a few questions regarding the Huntington Beach 1723 E. Portner Freeway. I was curious when they quoted one of the West Covina reports and I believe it was the Covina report, they stated the Freeway figures - the traffic in 1990 on the •Huntington Beach Freeway the figures quoted were lower than the figures quoted without a freeway. In other words the surface streets would be subjected to heavier traffic than the freeway. It seems to me freeways attract traffic and I can't believe this statement is true. Also it was the first I ever heard of the San Gabriel Valley ad hoc committee and if there was such a thing I would be curious to know if we had a representative on this Committee, as it was indicated it was made up of all the representatives of the East San Gabriel Valley Cities. One route was mentioned as part of the San Gabriel Valley Ad Hoc Committee which I thought was interesting as I had never heard it presented before and I have been following this freeway development for a year or more and that was the first I heard of the route west of Azusa to Walnut Creek. Parkway and then to Lark Ellen and west Lark Ellen. I have no comments other than to say I plan on looking into it. The question came up as to what percentage of the freeway would be depressed and we did see a grade drawing of that and as I recall it would be about 3010 depressed, so even though depressed sounds attractive when you consider what they can depress it is a very low percentage. I thought it interesting what Mr Elicks said regarding the appraisal of homes, The appraisal on homes was made considering the homes 2 or 3 blocks away from the freeway from one that would normally be affected by the Freeway. So as far as I am concerned again stating that homes do suffer because of a freeway as the State recognizes over and over again they do suffer particularly if they are right alongside of a freeway. Motion by Councilman Nichols, seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried, that this meeting adjourn at 9 p.m. APPROVED: Alf A TTEST: MAYOR CITY CLERK