11-29-1972 - Regular Meeting - MinutesJOINT MEETING OF THE WEST COVINA CITY COUNCIL,
PLANNING COMMISSION AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PLANNING
AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 29, 1972
40ayor Young called the meeting to order at 4:30 P.M., in the' West Covina
ouncil Chambers.
_ROLL CALL
resent: Mayor Young; Councilmen: Shearer, Nichols, Lloyd,
Chappell
PLANNING
COMMISSION
Present: Chairman Browne, Commissioner Adams
Commissioners: Jackson, Mayfield (arrived late)
Absent: Commissioner Cox
Others Present: George Aiassa, City Manager.
George Wakefield, City Attorney
Lela, Preston, City Clerk
George Zimmerman, Public Service Director
Leonard Eliot, Controller
John Lippitt, Acting City Engineer
Richard Munsell, Planning Director
Bert Yama,saki, Acting Planning Director
Ross Namma.r, Administrative Assistant
Jeff Schenkel, Staff Reporter SGVD Tribune
Claudia Luther, Staff Reporter _ LA Times
City Clerk: Mr. Mayor, you do not have a, quorum of the Planning
Commission.
Mayor 'Young: I don't believe we really need it - we have a quorum
of the Council, we can proceed, I think, without any
difficulties.
Councilman Shearer.: A point of order. It is not really a joint meeting
then; it is just a meeting of the Council.
Mayor Young: I don't think there is any problem, but it can't be
a joint meeting if the Planning Commission is not
legally constituted, if one of the "joints" does not
have a quorum.
Mr. Wakefield: Mr. Mayor and members of Council, you do have a,
quorum for the City Council meeting and it may pro-
ceed and if the Planning Commission quorum arrives,
then it will be joined by the Planning Commission at that time.
Councilman Nichols: In other words, the rest of them have to keep quiet
unless they get a. quorum?
Mr. Wakefield: That is right.
Mayor Young: The agenda calls for some introductory comments by
myself. Frankly, I have been so involved and
scattered about the last couple of days that I have
not been able to give it the planning and thought that perhaps it should
've. 'I have had the privilege and pleasure of participating with the
Rommittee over the past several months. I have been to most of the
meetings. A Committee of the Chamber of Commerce Planning and Business
Development Committee and I don't know if it has been that entire
Committee but if not, at least a subcommittee, and I see several of the
participants here in the audience this afternoon. Mr. Phil Wax, has
acted as Chairman of this Committee. There have been some very
thorough and in-depth considerations of the desirability of doing some
planning now for what we hope to see in the future in this City so far
as economic development is concerned. I think the Committee is at the
CITY COUNCIL MEETING Page Two
Introductory Comments 11/29/72
ointfthat some staff time is eeded to carry this program forward,
in
vestment nvestment otime �, t¢�i�191 ...'investment of money. I thank one
of the major purposes of our meeting this &fternoon is to bring the
Council up-to-date so you will all be -as far along as I am, at least.
Phil Wax is here and I believe he is prepared to summarize the
activities up to this time - is that correct?
Mr. Phil Wax I hope it is not a summary, but I would like
WChairman
to take a moment to thank everyone for parti-
hamber of Commerce cipating, especially the.Council and the
Planning & Business Planning.Commission for making this opportunity
•Development Committee available to the Chamber Committee.
At this time I would like to take a moment to
introduce the members of the Committee who worked for two months and
the intent was to get a mix throughout the community of the different
elements that make a good package. I believe each one of you gentlemen
have a list of the people but I would like to acknowledge their work.
Mr. Phil Fimple of General Telephone Company;
Mr. Pat Bowen of Grubb and Ellis; Mr. Tony Garnier.of Suburban Water
Systems; Mr. Ken Dietz of Suburban Water Systems; Mr. Bud Perry of
Southern California Edison Company and ex officio members Mr. Richard
Oldenburg, of Wells Fargo Bank and who is the Chamber of Commerce
President; and Mr. Andy Bogis of Eastland May Company Center, Ge®rge,.
Styachan, Qhamb r ofom ec"ViP edet i a rsp tat°vet were
Ma "or". Youn 6h-�Petti r =, ai m. o ft "ri l 6 asidn'
along..:4it Ci°�.l.. Stiff ...r 3 e � tatibri: _ �,, ,,a.a c �
George Aiassa® _City Manager; Leonard Eliot, Controller; Richard Munsell,
-Planning Director; Bert Yamasaki, Acting Planning Director; Ross Nammar,
P,dministrative Assistant and Chester Yoshizaki.
I would like to thank everybody for their
cooperation and the work that they put in. We compiled some documents
and sent them out in the form of a packet to all the Chamber members
involved, also the Planning Commission and City Council. So rather
than be repetitive of what is in the packet I hope you gentlemen took
the time to look it over.
I would like to say that the urgency is really now,
competition on our perimeters are just waiting for the moment they can
either steal something from us or do something better than we can.
In 'the past seven or eight years we have made some tremendous progress,
our new Civic Center, the Redevelopment Agency, Wickes - all of the
things which lend credit to the community and also add dollars to the
coffers, which is important to the business people as well as to the
City and to the residents that would like better services. So with
this in mind I would like to introduce Mr. Richard Munsell, whoc was
tremendously helpful in putting together most of the information you
have in your packets. Thank you, gentlemen.
Mayor Young: Thank you, Mr. Wax. Mr. Munsell.....
Mr. Munsell: Mr. Mayor and members of Council, Planning
Commission and Chamber of Commerce, as Chairman
Wax has indicated the Chamber of Commerce has
put together a program for its business and community development committee
which is aimed at trying to insure that the balance of the City is
not left adrift while our major efforts are currently involved in the
•Central Business District. Efforts were trade at the Chamber ldvel to
take a look at the various commercial areas of the City and try and
establish where some effort should be spent immediately to insure
that the total community is involved in a program which insures
• financial support and the economic viability of this City Government
as well as the business community itself.
One of the major. s for this generated out
of the Redevelopment Program, in that, b.ur_ Economic Report from
Develop%ent--'c Research and Sid Williams, made a very strong point
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CITY COUNCIL Page Three
Planning & Business Development Committee 11/29/72
Presentation - Cont'd.
that this regional commercial center is going to be facing some very
stiff competition with the centers around and with our existing
Eastland Center and to have a:.really viable thing (and with what we
are building we will solve a number of problems), but to have
something better that attracts,that additional regional type uses
are going to be essential in this area. The Wickes Furniture Store
is a regional type use. This generates certain activities around it
that like to feed off that particular kind of market. Also Pier I
• Imports which we will be seeing shortly and other things such as
auto dealerships and things of that type. So there was a definite
statement made much as in 1966 when Real Estate Research did an
Economic Study and said if you don't do something you are going to be
in trouble by 1970. Essentially, Development Research said here's
what you have to do to become an extremely viable center that you will
make all of this effort for. Within :t;his..process'uth n(�otths 'Committee sat
down and looked at all the various portions of the City and
established seven priority areas.
The first three priorities are: the immediate
vicinity around our Phase I redevelopment area, and for obvious
reasons - we are having growth here. We need some standards, we
don't want to push it across the street and redevelop it next year.
2: - the Eastland Shopping Center, which both Eastland people have
contacted the Chamber and the City and have indicated an interest to
work with us to upgrade their Center along with our new redevelopment
program. So they are not going to be left in the bush either. In
addition to that we have long discussed other areas in the community:
the Orange/Merced Plan as an Industrial Park. It is time to take a
good look and see if we can attract whatever is required to get
something off the ground there. 3: �._TheoSduth Glendora area, an
area immediately east of the CBD area, which will be -affected when
we start regenerating everything here. And we have West Covina
Parkway that travels along the Wash as a future .,.id6a�_andc.the
Core Area for higher density uses to support this thriving metropolis
of the Headquarters City. We also have to look at the Galaxie Area.
We have just done a shift in boundaries with the City of Walnut.
We have a commercial area at Puente and Nogales, and an existing one
at Valley Boulevard. Then we have a lot of residents and unincor-
porated County territory which very shortly should be interested in
annexation to the City and very shortly we may be able to serve it
adequately because we will have roadways, with Nogales and Amar
through, to get Police -and Fire units down there without driving out
of the City.
We still have+major commercial entities _along_ -
Glendora and North Azusa. .Ayehues 9 :-b6th df vwhidh_.have plah§ion ¢ -I- that we
a.re : imple�e t�.4g .at tb t Vim® s and;,wbeB-.ypq �At`itP: pr*ora t�i_eq _. six and
seven;; they grp a lea `day -_down:,the line an �t.hey: ready for
another fool wsee when we get to that .
In your packets I believe you found an analysis
of the first three priorities as to what it will take to accomplish
them and how much time. This, of course, becomes the case for
discussion here in terms of if it is determined that the goals of
this Committee are correctly defined, and that is to identify what
•we can do and then with this identification generate through the
Chamber an aggressive program to contact developers, to promote
the new development by hustling brokers, developers, etc. If this
•is a good device then what is it going to cost to do` it? Some
analysis was done. It takes threei::man years to get 'to a certain
point on the .first three priorities. Do you want to hire one man
and do it in three. years or do you want to hire three men and get "it
done in one year? Is there enough staff available to do it? The
other mlterna.tivq is using consultants.
Currently the feeling of staff (and I see the
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Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
City Manager is gone and I am going to be out on a limb pretty soon
here) and I think the recommendations really should come from
Mr. Wax, but the determination is that staff currently, both Planning
and the Agency staff, are working at a point where they really cannot
absorb this additional work without assistance and there is even a
problem if we look to a consultant, because we yet have to see a
•consultant that doesn't consume half the staff time to gather the
information and put it in writing for him to put into a report.
If you have any questions on the priority area,j
Would be happy to talk about those. I think the priority areas
were discussed and moved around as to which should be looked at first.
Councilman Shearer: A comment, Mr. Mayor. Unless we offend
North Azusa and the other lower priorities,
I would assume if we had a"ho,t''L-custoder.cthat
came in and he wanted to do something with North Azusa or down in
the Galaxie area which might affect the priorities as stated now that
we would not be in a position,�to have'' to say 1—well 9 since that is
number seven on the priority list and you don't come up into number
two we are not going to be able to help you - you are not proposing
to tie us into where the City is attempting to dictate which areas
should be developed before other areas?
Mr. Munsell: That is a very good observation. Wh1leCthe1Committee
did discuss this at length and it was specifi-
cally expressed that as an area to look at and
do intensive studies without having a program at hand that it was
essential to be able to react say if General Motors comes in -and says
we are going to put in a.dealership and for example if we get five
dealerships, :.one -located in an auto center, that they would take
priority.
Mayor Young: One thing too discussed at some length was that
there is a fairly recent North Azusa Plan and a
fairly recent South Glendora Rlan and these
plans are reasonably effective' and current in the terms of streets,
uses of land, traffic patterns, etc., and as you stated that is why
they are dropped down in the priority list for.i.mmediate study and
perhaps by the time we finish,the other priorities for immediate
study purposes those plans will be a little bit stale and may dictate
some need to look at again'in a more intensive fashion..
Mr. Munsell: That is correct. Both are of 1968-69 and we have
just revised the North Azusa Plan because of
development. It is easier to keep that one -going -and
c°ur,Teentwid_revise _t39V,_requi±e&.wit11 very'little };Work, However, when you
have seven priorities and the first three take three man years and
if each one takes three man years, as a case in point we are looking
at a fairly substantial attempt here to make sure that we don't
forget anybody and make sure if they have a need they are on the list,
but we have to recognize we are looking even if we got the maximum
staff that could do the job quickly, we are still looking at a two or
three year program. And assuming that our staff needs will have to
be somewhat less than the ultimate the program can stretch out.
We obviously in the CBD area, priority 1, have a
• crying need at this point in time. People like Wickes who have
come in we have had to handmake the design standards for their
development. It has been a very interesting.experience but very
difficult for the developer. It takes a lot of time and no matter
how agreeable everybody .is he doesn't like to have that extra
harassment. If we can solve those problems ahead of time q,it, can be
a lot easier.
It is also important to indicate that many of
the members of the Committee did establish a desire to take some
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CITY COUNCIL Page Five
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
field trips with the specific intention of looking at the kinds of
things we are doing here. The first field trip was taken in Orange
County and it included regional shopping centers, Town and Country
type shopping centers, neighborhood shopping centers, with specific
emphasis on what kinds of regional uses locate near regional centers,
what kind of SuupPl"ntar,y_'_ things and S additionallyA because of our
California Triangle involvement, what kind of buffers are provided
when commercial areas are adjacent to residential, and what kind look
like they are successful. I think Orange County is probably one of
•the locations where you can spend a half a day and find the largest
number of relatively successful centers of this sort.
We then, through staff, visited the Deil,_Amo
Century City Center, VMr. Yamasaki_.just came back from up north and
looked at Palo Alto and the San Jose area and we have a few slides.
If convenient to you gentlemen, we would like to quickly run through
them. Obviously we can't show all of this to the fullest extent but
perhaps we can illustrate the things.that have been done successfully.
I see Mr. Bowen has not come in yet and he is on
the agenda and is probably one of the more informed of our group in
that he deals with this kind -of thing. He is the partial owner of
the Bank of America complex within the Center and is a commercial
real estate broker also. If he does show uppI hope he would be able
to explain more of the packet information that you have - what our
competitors are doing and what are the prices and why can they do it
and why haven't we done it.
Mr. Wax: Mr. Mayor, just to follow our agenda a little
bit. I asked the Utilities people to express
some of their views on how they feel, why their
involvement at this stage and how important it is for them to have
specific information that we hope to gather for them. So I would,
ask Ken Dietz of Suburban Water Systems to speak and following him
Bud Perry of Southern California Edison Company.
Ken Dietz Gentlemen, in a Redevelopment Project such
Suburban Water Systems as what has been proposed and what you are
going to do,, Ui �� t i ibe �pda�stpe�;%ad ] y:'•_ :. .
water utilities, are going to be confronted with some unusual problems
in that integrating of existing facilities into a new project will
take a lot of time and coordination with the other utilities and
the establishment of special design criteria that would be required
by the City or any other agency involved. So I think the major point
I want to make this afternoon is we are all going to need a lot of
lead time, a lot of information and a lot of coordination to carry it
off smoothly. We are ready to cooperate and ready to go. Thank you.
,Bud Perry Mr. Mayor, members of Council and the
Southern Calif. Edison Planning Commission, and Chamber members,
Company I don't believe it is necessary to repeat
what has been said by Mr. Dietz, because
we share somewhat of the same problems. We do need time. We are
overhead and he is underground but this would be one of the things
in planning where we could plan possibly into the future and get
some of those facilities .underground, and tying them into our
undergrounding districts. As a corporate citizen of the community
• we are naturally interested in the development of the City and we
want to work with everyone but we do express. the desire to get a
-little lead time.
• Mayor Young: Thank you. I would like .to comment that
Mr. Dietz and Mr. Perry, both attended every -one
of these meetings which were on a weekly basis
starting at 7:30 and 8 in the morning and going on until they con-
cluded. So the pant-iCU ti,04 here is a short summary of the contribu-
tions made up to this point. Mr. Wax.....
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CITY COUNCIL
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentatim
Page Six
11/29/72
Mr. Wax: Thank you, very much. We will now have the slide
presentation. Mr. Yamasaki is going to do that
job.
Mr. Yamasaki: 'As Mr. MMunsell mentioned earlier these slides are
the result of field trips that the Committee
took and Mr. Yoshizaki and I took, and some while
• I was on vacation up north. We want to show you three major areas.
The Committee was interested in getting a better insight into better
uses, satellite uses, that would'assist the CBD rather than standing
separately. So we were trying to look for those type of uses at the
various shopping centers. We also examined various neighborhood
centers that were successfully done. In doing so we also looked at
development standards, the buffering of adjacent uses, landscaping
of parking areas, treatment of the loading and unloading areas,
sign control, building materials, designs and colors, street furni-
ture, as well as access and parking. These slides are a result of
some of these concerns and what we found out in the field.
(Slides shown and explained of the various centers. A slide shown of
a loading area at Century City resulted in questioning by
Councilman Nichols.)
Councilman Nichols: We are just building a big complex right
now with an enclosed loading area that is
supposed to solve this problem. Did you
look at this and talk to anyone why trucks were on the street loading
and unloading?
Mr. Yamasaki: TtiereLlistaaneting unique about this one. Apparently
the retail sales of this market afire phenomenally
high .and the turnover of merchandise is very high.
When we visited that locationy.it$appeared the trucks were parked
there an unnecessarily long time and it looked like there was no
unloading activity. Those two factors were our basic reaction to this
problem.
Councilman Nichols: Do we face.that possibility with Wickes - that
there are going to be multiple arrivals of vehicles
and vehicles stacked up on exterior areas waiting
to unload?
Mr. Yamasaki: According to their traffic projection and+'schedu]e and the
number of trucks which we have control of for
loading and unloading - this is controlled by
the City and the streets and the number of trucks anticipated will
not permit this type of situation to happen at Wickes.
Mayor Young: Welly*if the retail sales are so phenomenally
hig11 that it works out that way - so be it9
That would be wonderful.
Councilman Nichols: Not to belabor the point, but do you presume that
the problem there is because of multiple
suppliers arrivingA whereas Wickes, so I
assume, will be bringing in their own merchandise.
• Mr. Yamasaki: Yes, and recently the Planning Commission
approved the use of a small semi -truck which
is easy to load and unload which will I assume
• ease the situation.
(Continued the showing of slides and explaining the various shopping
centers.) (Commissioner Mayfield arrived.)
Mr. Wax: At this time I would like to say that -Mr. Mayfield,
Planning Commissioner, has arrived, so your
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CITY COUNCIL
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation
Page Seven
11/29/72
Planning Commission now has an official voice. I would like to ask
Chairman Browne, who has attended the meetings, if he would present
his views.
Nevin Browne As Mayor Young indicated we have both been
Chairman in attendance on the Business Development
. Planning Commission Committee and as a consequence I think we
have considerable input from association on
this Committee. I would like to go back about a year to the
incept,ioh`:..c=:- of the Redevelopment Agency. The Planning staff as well
as tfie Planning Commission became immediately cognizant of the
necessity of separate studies in this field. We felt the need of
separation from the Planning Department and Planning Staff by
instituting a Redevelopment Committee or Agency would be the means
for accelerating the implementation of this project and over the
period of one yeara,now?I believe we are totally convinced of this
fact.
The Chamber of Commerce has very graciously put
together this Committee to implement the studies which the City
could not possibly put through in the time that the al1ouati6ns::;will
allow. You gentlemen recognize the fact that our staff is undermined
at this time and that the input :the Chamber has in this development,
/,fiat staf and the Agency itself can lean upon it for valuable ifiiformam
tion.' The ongoing of this Committee will depend entirely upon the
results that you gentlemen feel you can see the benefits of. The
outline as given by Mr. Yamasaki indicates some of the areas that the
Commission and the staff is very grossly interested in. We would like
to see the implementation of our shopping center somewhat along the
lines you viewed today. During the course of studies and now that the
bonds are passed, I feel this should be greatly accelerated and I am
sure the input from the CommisStion and the help of the staff will tend
to try and put this well along the road of progress. The problems
involved I am sure you are well aware of and I can only say this that
any actions we take cannot come too soon. Thank you, gentlemen.
Mr. Wax: I would like to now introduce Mr. Pat Bowen.
Pat Bowen Most of you probably don't know me. Phil put me
Grubbs & Ellis on the Committee with the Chamber because of my
activity in Real Estate in three areas. I am
involved as a passive investor, as a .real estate
developer and as a real estate broker. We own property in the Plaza,
which is going to be left standing and therefore I will have to become
an active developer to keep it up with the new regional. I am also a
Real Estate salesman with the Grubb & Ellis Company, the second
largest company in the State. I think Phil hopes I might review some
of the nuts and bolts reasons why the planning _is,:irrrpott�Lnt i.to thb:; City
and developer and real estate brokers and investors in general.
The basic reason obviously i:s thAt w th.-goodi plainning,
things go:;a:long:.-more,-,Smojoth13n9 and if they do go along smoothly.,
opportunities exist for the developer and those opportunities are
more timely if things go easily. If zoning is adequate, if planning
can be reviewed quickly on plans when submitted, and, obviously an
adequate staff that can review these things quickly is an important
• feature of this. '
If we have the three areas that I am supposed to
be representing then the passive investor is someone that looks for
•risks as low as possible and at a lower return. The developer comes
along and will accept only the higher return maybe at a higher risk
but Ifor him fmaybe not a higher risk because of his knowledge, he knows
how to put a complicated package together. The real estate broker
has very little risk except for his time and consequently he relies
on the input of the developer and eventually the resale to the investor.
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CITY COUNCIL Page Eight
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
Or else he is not going to spend his time. Therefore, if the planning
cannot be processed quickly the developer will not get involved because
there are other cities that provide alternatives for him with proper
and adequate processing times. So assuming that staff is undermined
at this time, and our Committee is told it is, then I would say we
would need additional staff so the plans can be processed more quickly
which will encourage the developer and with the developer will come
• the real estate broker who will help to lease those spaces and also
resell the property to the investor. All of this provides an active
real estate community. Thank you.
Mr. Wax: I think that you gentlemen can see we have a well
balanced Committee. We tried to select people that
are realistic and know their business and I think
this can be a .very successful program because the enthusiasm' among
the Committee has been very high. We have two gentlemen that have
come from sick beds today to endorse the program and this indicates
a great deal of interest to me.
Before opening this up for discussion and comments
and action, that this Chamber of Commerce Ad Hoc Committee would be
recommending to the.City Manager ® Mr. George Aiassa, who in turn would
be recommending to the Planning Commission and onto City Council, and
if the request for staffing is approved it would be estimated that
possibly six months should identify the entire CBD area, just from the
identification standpoint, and the additional six months would probably
complete the remaining six projects spelled out on the map as priority
areas. I think at that time it would possibly be fair to maybe change
the Ad Hoc Committee and pick up the new role that would come from
the information that would be gathered through the efforts of this
particular Committee.
So my recommendation, and I am sure the entire
Committee's recommendation, is that you see it in that light and we
hope we can start as soon as possible because time is very important.
Our presentation is final and discussion and action is up to you
gentlemen as'to how far you want to pursue it.
Mayor Young: Thank you, Mr. Wax. One of the major areas of
discussion that kept coming out at the meetings
of this Committee is the absolute optimism on
the part of the various members of the Committee, who of course
represent some Very important industries like the utilities and
financial industries, that with the widening of the -freeway this
is more accessible and with the foresight that is evident within
this City from, the.CBD development that we are well launched into
that these things among many others will Vf courses tend to attract
more and more commercial interest to the City and part of the study
is to bring this interest to a head and bring it in in an orderly
fashion and place it about the City as far as possible in a manner
that,is compatible with good planning and good economic foresight.
The floor is open.
Councilman Chappell: A point of clarification. Mr. Munsell
said something about three man years or if
we had three people for one year and Mr. Wax
just mentioned a year would accomplish all eight
• phases.
Mr. Munsell: The outline that you received includedsabbttan®
tially more than what Mr. Wax commented on in
• terms of what would be six months to do the CBD
and do a specific study. There is a follow through then with the
Chamber of Commerce and with developers which would'be more involved.
What Mr. Wax is saying is ® let's get the first part of it done,
move the first phase of the entire project very quickly and then move
on, from there. Butithex'6i(is. nbt a conflict in terms of that. If you look
CITY COUNCIL Page Nine
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
at the first three phases and you want to do them exclusively in the
first year you can involve the three men entirely in just that. If
you want to do the first part of it and pick up the other seven phases
on a,very quick review, such as North Azusa, then that can be done
also.
Councilman Lloyd: Mr. Munsell, ii.'ias:.beealluded, Mr. Bowen
alluded to it and you have touched on'it, and
Mr. Wax touched on it, so I gather there is a
consensus of opinion of this group that there is inadequate staffing
to accomplish the things we are talking about. Is that a true
statement? I don't want to put you on the spot, maybe I should start
out with Mr. Aiassa?
Mr. Aiassa: Yes. I think at the personnel session Monday night
I explained to Council the anticipated program
of projecting the staff and personnel usage was
taken into consideration', not the maximum program but a good part of
the program.
Councilman Lloyd: I understand from what you were saying that in
your opinion there is adequate staff to meet the
demands of the man hours that must be expended
not only in the Redevelopment Area but in the overall business
development plan of the whole City.
Mr. Aiassa: There were two plans, which I explained to the
Council. I would say in dollars that I think we
can start the program and get a good start on it
for the new fiscal year of 1973-74.
Councilman Lloyd:
Mr. Aiassa:
Councilman Chappell:
In other words what you are really saying is that
the Planning Staff is adequate to meet the
planned programs currently anticipated - is that
correct?
Not at the high maximum peak because when they
talk about that it is about $40,000 extra.
What Mr. Aiassa told us the other night
was strictly in house and CBD. Nothing,
else. Nothing on the seven plans.
Councilman Lloyd: That is what these people are saying. They are
going to make additional demands on staff and
that the staff will not be capable under the
current workload with the number of people we have to meet those
demands. That is exactly what these people are saying.
Mr. Aiassa: These people are saying if we took the existing
staff that we now have and are working here in
bodies it would not be sufficient, but what I
proposed to the Council at the Personnel Session, we are going to
be able to bridge this and I am not going to try and resolve this
tonight.i.n detail because there are factors I have to study with
regard to budget, but as I indicated to Council if :::this ca,ssreferred
to me I could probably work out staffing and the funding to get the
• program underway.
Mayor Young: Within the existing budget?
• Mr. Aiassa: Yes.
Councilman Chappell: Starting when?
Mr. Aiassa: Starting January 1.
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Planning & Business D.ev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
Councilman Lloyd: Okay, then I would like Mr. Wax to come back.
Within the explanation the City Manager has
just given and knowing the problems as head of
this Committee, do you feel that the staff will be adequate to meet
the demands that you people will be making upon it? I don't want
any misinterpretation of what I am saying. I am not saying the staff
is not doing their job. I am only saying there is no staff under any
given circumstances that I couldn't overwhelm if I gave them sufficient
amount of work, so what you are intimating is that the workload may
be gre'A*f6r than what Mr. Aiassa is talking about in the two specific
areas of the CBD. Do you envision that type of workload where we may
have to consider additional people being added to the staff?
Mr. Wax: Wellpthe make up of this Committee is unique in
that we each serve in the manner that we can best
project _and- recommend. If you look in your
packet fI assigned Mr. Eliot and Mr. Yamasaki to work out the needs of
the Committee as far as manpower goes. Now if they are satisfied
with the arrangements of the City Manager -�I was not at the
Personnel Session so I don't know what was recommended - but if they
are satisfied that we can proceed,then I am satisfied. All we are
saying is we have a program and we want to start as soon as possible.
If the economics of the manpower is satisfactory: -under what the City
Manager is proposing, whether it is tonight or within the next few
days - just so we can proceed. In other words if we had action
approving this program we would probably have another meeting within
a week or so to get use started on the first priority for January.
Mayor Young: One thing,.while Mr. Wax is here. There was dis-
cussion of staffing in the Committee and it was
put out in a rather elementary fashion - if we can,
get three men on this we can do an accelerated program, but if we can
'only get one man on lit and I don't think we considered that as a.
fatal problem. We can do something with one man but not as much as,
soon.
Mr. Wax: The only problem about the one man would be, as
was brought out, if a priority request came in
from an organization, and right now West Covina
is hot and with the passage of the bonds your action will be starting
very shortly. It is now a reality that you are going to go into
construction for redevelopment and many people will come in and make
inquiries because this is attractive to many outside people. If we
get stuck in that kind of trap and one man cannot pursue into the
areas necessary to•move our program forward .....
Councilman Lloyd: Let me clarify the questions I am asking so
everyone is clear on this. I am.not asking
these questions to place anyone in an embarass--
ing position. I am really trying to ascertain the needs of this
City® This group has come in and has indicated a demand which I was
not really attuned to when we were talking in,any'.session, but all
of a sudden in listening to this presentation I can see a demand
which is imminently greater than what we have talked about. One of
the major areas left out and maybe I am being arrogant as a result
of my profession, but there has been no talk whatsoever of public
relations development just with nothing else of doing something to
•advertise and aid the people who are going to be doing business in
the "redevelopment area. And I will state quite categorically and it
has been proven in the area of Montclair, San Bernadino and these
other areas that the people such as Penney's, or Broadway, or
Bullocks, are not competent, and I use that word "competent" and I
know exactly what I am saying, to do this job as evident by the
fact that instantaneously they hire people to do this one specific
job'over and above what their own people are doing.' So therefore
we have to anticipate that such thing would occur in West Covina.
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CITY COUNCIL Page Eleven
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
So what I amtrying to find out is do we need it in January, or July,
or next January a year from today? I really don't know the answer to
that. But I think you are alluding to the fact of having this problem
and in addition to this you are now talking about a generation of a much
higher interest, which means it is a generation of greater demands on
the staff. As a matter of fact one .of the problems we face is that
businessmen that come to this City have expressed a reluctance to come
•into the City, they feel they are already being slowed down on the
thing. We are now running into a position, using an engineering
situation, maybe we have a 4" watermain and we need an 8" main to carry
•the load. I honestly don't know but I think it merits consideration
and I guess I am back again to you, Mr. Aiassa.
Mr. Aiassa: Council has to realize that up until this week I
have actually leaned heavily into the Planning
Department to subsidize the CBD staff. My first
priority and my first solution to solve will be the Planning Department
itself, to bring it back to its original operational capacity.
Number 2 is the development of an Agency that will be confined to the
Redevelopment project and function on that basis. In this Agency is
the program that these gentlemen are expounding on which will be the
instrument which will be coming forth to utilize and expand and
build on. As far as I am concerned and as far as the City staff is
concerned and the operation is concerned, we are talking three
different things. 1: - the immediate needs now within the Planning
Department, because we did borrow two persons from planning; 2:--
the development of a new Agency which will supplement those people
that will be functioning in the CBD development project itself; and
3: - if and when we think we have dollars enough to supplement the
CBD group to augment phases of this project.
I am not in a position tonight to say it is
going to be $40,000 or three men. I don't think there is any one
here that can tell me that it will be exactly three men. I have
been to school too many times, it is always easy to throw -dollars
and figures around, but I:think the program they have instrumented
and the program they are working on has merit and it has to be tied
in with the CBD development agency and that will be a separate agency
with its own staff. I explained that somewhat in outline to the
Council, showing you where the funds would come from and how it would
be financed. I am not right now going to give all the answers to
all of this because my first responsibility is to the Planning
Commission, which we have drained for about six months because we
did not know whether we had a go on the redevelopment agency or not,
but now that we do I think we have ample funds that we can transfer
back to the Planning Department to refurbish the Department to what
it was so that the Planning Commission will receive the reports and
the needs they have. At the same time I have to create the.second
Agency which will be the CBD Agency and the outlines by this
Committee will be in the CBD Agency.
Councilman Lloyd: Are you talking about a CBD Agency or a
Redevelopment Agency? Will it be distinguished
from that Agency?
Mr. Aiassa: It will be known as the Community Redevelopment
Agency. Actually this is Planning for steps 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5 for the next five or seven years, and
• it is going to be determining how much manpower we can derive and how
much we can afford to put into it, but I think we will have to have at
• least enough to implement the program.
Councilman Lloyd: All I am saying is there appears to be a greater
demand than that which was alluded to. Maybe I
just plain misunderstood.
Mr. Aiassa: The greater demand - welljif I had 50 men I can
do a job in 10 days but if I have to do a job in
12 months with two men then it will have to be
expanded to 12 months. - 11
CITY COUNCIL Page Twelve
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
Councilman Lloyd: I understand all those facts and figures and that
is well and good, but what I am saying is,we are
all of a sudden in a locked time base,,: which is
instantaneous. You borrowed money and we have the money and now we
have to start producing for it. I don't know really what the require-
ments are and I don't expect you to have the answers tonight, I don't
think we have done that kind of a study yet, I know I haven't. I
•think we must as both the Agency and the Council, and the Planning
Commission, focus on the fact of how many horses is it going to take
to pull this load. We have had estimates and talk and all the rest
•of it but you also have indicated and very rightfully so that one of
the major problems we faced all the way through has been not knowing
whether we were under' -may or not, and as of today we are 9.5 million
dollars underway so there is no more time now to say well let's plan
for it. I think the plans we do have have to come out of the mill.
The question I am asking, and I know you do not
have the answer but one I am trying to bring forward, we must look at
not only what we are doing right at the present moment which is the
normal workload of this City - and I have heard some comments as we
have gone along in the last two years which have flat out said that the
City is not really responding in the way the businessmen like to be
responded to. Now maybe that is justifiable, I don°t know. I voted
right along with everybody else so I assume the responsibility for
that, but it indicates a negativism that has occurred. I think the
negativism was a result of making the decisions, getting ourselves
involved, competing with other cities and other entities for many of
the things, specifically the Redevelopment Agency and redevelopment of
the area. Now we have solidified that and there is no one that will
take that away. We are now in direct business,competition with
Montclair, with the proposed area in the City of Industry, and no
matter how I feel about it we are in a foot race. Using another
analogy - like the guy with the Rams "I really don't need a quarter-
back with a sore shoulder, I need one that can throw a ball because
the game is on." And I don't know how much time we have. I know one.
thing we can't sit back and look at twelve months at this point.
We have to get going and if we have to consider additional funding,
additional staffing, within the realm of reason I think that ought to
be done.
As I stated before I know you don't know those
answers but they will be revealed to us and rather quickly and I think
that is what these people' are alluding to and I think this Council,
this Planning Commission, the Redevelopment Agency,;this Committee
and others in the Chamber who have a very deep interest in the
success of this development program now have to pay attention and if
we are not filling the holes then we may have to either shave or give
up other programs, make concessions, but this thing now takes on,
as far as I am concerned, takes on a priority situation where
something else may have to slide a bit. I don't know that I am right
on that, I may be yelling fire when we haven't even got a match
lit yet, but I think it is getting awful hot.
Councilman Shearer: I was a little confused with some of the
terminology used with regard to the unit
that might be set up to handle the
CBD and the project. Let's don't call it an Agency, that is sort
•of an agency or unit within the City. Call it something separate
and apart of the City and Council.
I think in general the report of the
Committee is good. I think the concepts are fine and I don't want
to get into the details now. I am also aware of the fact that
anytime you embark on something of this nature it is going to cost
something in the way of money and we were advised Monday night that
there would be needed manpower for the additional "agency"o as well
as restaffing or refurbishing of the Planning Department.
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CITY COUNCIL Page Thirteen
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
I do think it is something that should be done
inhouse. Mr. Munsell alluded to the fact we could hire consultants
but what finally happens; when you hire consultants is they start
banging on the door of the City and the city staff gathers data.
If possible this is something that should be done inhouse.
One last comment. I think there is a great
• potential here. I hear figures from other locations. I saw one
shopping center that I am somewhat familiar with as 1 am acquainted
with the Mayor of that City,"Cerritos Center" I asked him the
• other day and they have a population of about 35,000 and an estimated
sales tax income of 2.5 million. A City half the size of ours is
getting almost twice what we are. So the potential is there. Covina,
with half the population we have, has close to 70 or 80/ of our
sales tax revenue. So the potential is there and that is the way to
go.
My parting comment would be, and with tongue in
check, that the Chamber of Commerce does do things other than have
dinners and do provide worthwhile help to the City., And perhaps our
action of Monday night is not quite so bad as it might have seemed
to some.
Councilman Nichols: My conclusions are that the Committee has con-
cluded and the momentum is established and the
fruits of that momentum are upon us and that if
we don't take advantage of that in the coming period we will lose
those advantages. The City Manager is already making arrangements
to restore to the Planning Department those services which have been
sorely missed by the Council and the Planning Commission of necessity,
and he is providing by an additional recommendation.to the Council
those personnel necessary...fot'.implerrienting redevelopment. At this
time we have not had a recommendation for the implementation of the
ri�commendatiorr of. this Committee, which 'would:be_ to continue the momdntum or•'gain
the fruits. ;Obviously, to me,_the lo'giEalpoint is for .the,.Coiinc.i.l to commend. this
Committee for their efforts and refer this report in detail to
staff to analyze it and , look at it and come back to Council
recommending a schedule of implementation, perhaps in varying degrees,
the 3 men in.whatever time and the one man one year, etc., and
indicate to the Council`what we will need in the way of manpower
to implement that and what the costs will be and bring those facts
to us and we in our wisdom can make the decision as to what we can
afford to put into these recommendations.
I would offer a motion that Council refer this
report to staff and request these sort of recommendations back from
management.
Seconded by Councilman Chappell.
Mayor Young: I think the motion is well taken, I think it is
the only action that would be reasonably
expected here this evening at this particular
time. Mr. Aiassa, of course, has had a lot of background on this,
he has the benefitof our discussions. So I think we can have a
recommendation back at the next regular meeting of Council?
• Mr. Aiassa: Yes ,o I am trying to set our goal for the
implementation of all programs on go for
January 1. So it will probably,be through the
month of December that you will receive the bulk of changes.
Councilman Chappell: I would like to say that the City Manager
has been working his you know what off,
getting the show off the ground and I
thought he probably would have a day or two to relax, but I think he
will have an hour or two to relax before getting on.•this, because
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CITY COUNCIL Page Fourteen
Planning & Business Dev. Committee Presentation 11/29/72
this is something that is urgent. It appears that the five Councilmen
are in favor of this program and that Councilman Nichols' motion is in
order and I was very happy to second it.
Motion
carried,
all voting in favor.
Mayor Young:
Thank
you, very
much, Mr. Wax.
Mr. Wax: Thanks,gentlemen/and congratulations on the
• acceptance of the bonds. I think that is
something that we were procrastinating on to
other merchants as to when we were going to get off the ground and
we now have something concrete and final to tell them.
C
0
Mayor Young: Thank you. We also offer our thanks to all of the
businessmen on the Committee and to members of
staff that have helped get this thing to this
point. We are very grateful.
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Councilman Chappell, seconded by
Councilman Nichols and carried, 'to adjourn meeting
at 5:50 P.M.
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