City Council - Regular Meeting

Want to call to order the February 2nd, 2026 meeting of the PaloAlto City Council. Madame Clerk, would you please call the role? Of course. Council member Rectal here. Council member Lifcott Hayes here. Vice Mayor Stone, thank you. Here. Mayor Vinker here. Council member Lou here. Council member Lowing here. Council member Burton here. For the record, all present.

Oh, and I uh I guess that was a great illustration of why I was going to ask for a little grace tonight. I want to thank my colleagues for the fact that we have met three out of the last four weekend days having our retreat uh the weekend before last and having met uh each of the last two days on Saturday and Sunday. So, I'm grateful to all of you for your time and uh we are a little weary so we need to be be kind tonight. Um, and so with that, uh, we will turn to our first order of business, which is one of our favorite types of orders of business, a special order of the day, a proclamation honoring Christopher Fujimoto for 25 years of service to the city of Palo Alto. Director Egleston.

And thank you, Mayor Vinker and city council. I'll kick us off on this. Uh, Brad Egleston, director of public works. And yes, tonight we are again saying uh goodbye and uh good wishes to send off uh yet another of our longstanding uh public works employees, Chris Fujimoto. Uh Chris was with us for a quarter century in the watershed protection group uh at the regional water quality control plant. uh really one of the outstanding members of that group in in terms of building our award-winning uh storm water uh pollution prevention programs there. So, uh Chris is really foundational to a lot of what goes on. Uh all of us and especially that team out there are really going to miss him uh but wish him well in retirement. I'll point out that his wife Paula is sitting there with him and then uh turn it back to you for the proclamation. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you and welcome Paula and thank you. I'm going to turn it over to the vice mayor whom I've asked to read tonight's proclamation.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, and it's an honor. Whereas Chris Fujioto joined the city of PaloAlto in July 2000 as a code enforcement officer with the city of PaloAlto planning department and then joined public works department environmental services wershed protection in June 2005 as an industrial waste investigator. And whereas Chris inspected construction sites, green storm water infrastructure, commercial and industrial businesses, municipal facilities, construction, dewatering, and other locations to ensure the city of PaloAlto storm water ordinance and regional storm water permit requirements were followed to protect local creeks and the San Francisco Bay from storm water runoff pollutants. And whereas Chris responded to elicit discharges to reduce the extent of harm to local creeks and watersheds and coordinated with the city of PaloAlto fire department public works public services his division and others for cleanup enforcement and resolution. And whereas Chris actively participated in Santa Clara Valley Water District's Creek Connections Action Group and led creek cleanups during his tenure with watershed protection to improve the health of the wershed and engage the public in environmental protection. And whereas Chris established trash booms on Matadero and Adobe creeks in coordination with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and led trash booms clean out to prevent trash from flowing downstream to the PaloAlto baylands and San Francisco Bay. And whereas Chris represented the city of PaloAlto at regional meetings and during daily public service with expertise and professionalism. And whereas Chris was certified by Rescape and trained in green storm water infrastructure maintenance practices, bringing expertise to green storm water infrastructure design and maintenance and best practices for landscaping maintenance. And whereas Chris completed 25 years of dedicated service to both

the city of PaloAlto's code enforcement team and the watershed protection storm water program. Now therefore, Vicky Vinker, mayor of the city of PaloAlto, on behalf of the entire city council, do hereby recognize Chris Fujimoto for his years of dedicated service. Congratulations. [applause]

Well, thank you, Vice Mayor. And does do any of my colleagues want to make any comment? Council member Bert. Well, um, just briefly, I I as I was really hearing your career path through so many really critical, uh, environmental initiatives that this department and this city has led on. Uh, I I think we could have saved a lot of business cards and just given you one title of environmental warrior. And uh, I don't know. I I I I I think it must be fulfilling to have had a career um that uh let you uh have such positive outcomes uh for our community and our environment. So, thanks. Any others? Well, I add my thanks and I think that Council Member Bert summed it up perfectly with Environmental Warrior and uh you know, we're just grateful from the the green storm water to the creek cleanups to involving the public. It truly on behalf of you know, all of us who benefit from a cleaner watershed and and cleaner creeks. Thank you so much. And we would be honored if you would come up to the deis and have a picture with us.

All right. So now we can move on to item two which is a closed session item conference with legal counsel existing litigation. Um colleagues oh wait any public comment on this item? No request to speak and no hands are raised on Zoom. Okay. Thank you. All right. Can I have a motion to go into close session? Some moved. Second. Very good. May we uh kindly have uh call the role, please. [clears throat] Vice Mayor Stone, yes. Council member Burton, Mayor Vinker, yes. Council member Lith Haynes, yes. Council member Lou, yes. Council member Rectal, yes. Council member Lowing, yes.

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. So this close session is estimated to put us back here around 6:10. We might be before that. We might be after that, but that is our best guess. So until then, we are recessed into close session. Thank you.

Okay, we are back from closed session and there is no reportable action. So we will move on to agenda changes, additions and delete. We have any public commenters?

We have no request to speak for items not on the agenda in person. Okay. And per our policy, I just wanted to state that because I do see hands raised on Zooms, but per our council procedure protocols, we only accept Zoom comments in person for those that do have their hands raised on Zoom.

I see. All right. So for so to clarify for matters that are uh on the agenda that are agendaized, we will take uh public comment in both forums. But just so the public is aware, for matters not on the agenda, we require presence in chambers and we have none. Correct? Okay. So now we are even more ahead of schedule. [laughter] All right. So with that, we'll close public comment. I I kind of wanted to wait for three more minutes since it's agenda is later, but uh why don't we close it? We'll move on to uh council member questions, comments, and announcements. I don't see any lights, so I will start. Um just wanted to report that last week um I attended the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington DC and there were many topics of course discussed but there were two that got the most attention by far from the mayors in uh both plenaries and uh breakout sessions. The first was AI and it was everything from uses to for for efficiency concerns about privacy but mostly it was grappling with data centers that power uh AI and you know cities were grappling with the fact that they're attracted by revenue generation but they're concerned about the things we know water requirements energy costs energy supply loss of the ability to use land for other purposes but it was so clear that they are craving for a conversation because these are complex issues and all the little and big towns across the country are independently trying to sort this very complicated question out. So it was fascinating to see how much time and attention was devoted to that. The second will not surprise you. It was

immigration enforcement and ICE uh in communities. And I will tell you that mayors from across this whole country are profoundly concerned about the impacts we're seeing in Minnesota and the possibility that it could happen in any of our communities. There were three different sessions that I attended where it was the primary topic. And to be clear, the uh conversation was not focused on federal immigration policy, but on the fear that has descended into communities. Um they talked about chaos. They talked about turmoil, and I don't have time tonight to share more than just a couple brief snippets, but there was a 10-minute speech from the mayor of Minneapolis who came in person to speak to all of us, and it brought the crowd to their feet. And uh just a couple quick snippets. He said, "For people who are watching the news, I'll tell you that it is that bad." He said, "As mayors, we operate in the reality business. Despite what you may hear, crime is down in virtually every category and neighborhood. Minneapolis is a safe city, but it is less safe when families do not feel comfortable going to school or buying food at the grocery store because they're worried about their family getting ripped apart. And you know, he went on and for any of you who are interested, um I have a a tape audio tape of what he said. Um but it it was it was tough to listen to. And then we also heard from the mayor of Portland. Um, and I'm not going to share his remarks except to say that, you know, you could really hear the profound concern that he had for his police force. He said the exhausted officers were working 100hour weeks and it was just unsustainable. Um, but I think the thing that stuck with me the most was the mayor of Adinum, Minnesota, which is a little suburb of Minneapolis. Um, so it's kind of like

where PaloAlto is from San Jose or San Francisco. It's about the same size. And so I asked him yesterday, so he spoke in a a breakout session. And it was it was amazing. And he sent me his remarks yesterday. And I'm just going to again just a quick snippet from him because I I found it very moving. and he said, "The work of federal enforcement has entered our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, our churches, and our medical facilities. The effects are not abstract. They are human, immediate, and consequential." And as presently carried out, are reshaping our cities in ways none of us who were elected to lead our communities can ignore. We are told the actions are precise. They are not. We are told their effects are contained. They are not. Fear has not confined itself to a single household or stat status. Citizens withdraw alongside noncitizens. Anyway, it it goes on. Um but the last uh one of his latter um comments I want to add in says, "Finally, there is a burden placed upon local government. Mayors and city council members are left to explain federal actions we do not control, to calm affairs we did not create, and to mend relationships strained by forces beyond our municipal boundaries. We are asked in effect to hold the fabric of community together while others pull hard upon its threads. [gasps] And [clears throat] it was moving um and most of the other mayors had their own stories and concerns. So, it's something that is feeling is being felt on the front lines. The US Conference of Mayors put out its own statement. You can find that online. Um, and you know, this is not a fight that we seek and we have no present information that ICE is coming to PaloAlto,

but if the fight is brought to us, I think we're now on notice that we need to have some need to be ready to some degree. we need to to be aware of of what we would do. And you know, it's it's clear that we're not going to do we're not going to interfere with lawful operations. There's a supremacy clause in the Constitution and we respect the law. Um but as our police chief has said and our uh the law in California dictates we will not work with ICE and my understanding of how the normal normal course goes is if they attempt to commandeer city property for their use. There are standards of practice that are typically followed. They let us know when they're coming to town. We can go say to them if they decide to use our property, we do not want you to do that. they would then be expected to move. If they don't, we can then have a discussion here, I would suggest amongst us as to whether we take legal action or what we would do. But that is something that we can address and I would urge us to do so if the case comes up. Um, our police have a duty to intervene just as they would if their own fellow officers or mental park fellow officers were uh hurting and harming a bystander. So, not interfering, but if there was ongoing harm, they are there to protect us. And I believe staff is preparing some direction for city employees because of all the various workplaces we maintain here in town and the various things we want people to be ready uh for how they would appropriately and lawfully respond. And the then the fourth we touched on um last year which are options for legal actions. And I would say that I just want to share with council that this afternoon we actually received a an invitation from the executive director of the US

Conference of Mayors. So, the federal government has sued Minneapolis, sued the state of Minnesota to compel them to work with ICE, and they are fighting back um to say that that is not constitutional. And there's an amicus brief being filed by a consortium of cities and counties similar to amicus briefs that have been filed in similar actions elsewhere. And we've been invited to join. Um I think it's something we should take a serious look at. We may have trouble me meeting the deadline. Um it just came in, you know, a couple hours before council, so I haven't had time to really look at it. In the resolution we passed last year. There were two options for bringing it before us. We could mention it tonight from the deis, any two or more of us. Um or we can send in an email uh any two or more of us and ask that it be scheduled for a um close session. So, I will likely do the latter. Um, but I wanted to let people know tonight um because I'm happy to share with them the email so they can take a look at the other uh cases and uh briefs that have been filed before in uh other actions. But friends, it was rough to hear this stuff firsthand. And I think that um I'm glad I live in this city uh with all of you here on the deis and uh our staff who's aware of how to respond in these instances. And I think that together we'll be able to do our best within our power uh to protect our residents. Thank you,

Vice Mayor Stone.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. And I just want to second all of your your comments and appreciate the work that you did at the the mayor's conference. I I just kind of wanted to follow up. I was so impressed and incredibly proud last Friday my high school that I teach at Carlmont High School did a mass walk out covered in the in the news. I teach at a school that has I I guess has the reputation of not being overly politically involved. And this was the first time at least in my five years of teaching there that I saw a majority of students really speaking out and making signs and show well showing up not showing up to my class on Friday although I was very proud to only have about five students in each in each class when it happened. So showing up by uh by walking out and there was one sign that one of my students made that I just wanted to share the message and it was a beautiful sign. and I can show it to any of you, but the message was first they came for the immigrants and I spoke up because I know the rest of the goddamn poem. And I thought that was so incredibly powerful and it was beautifully written on there. There were a lot of other also beautiful messages but more crude that I won't share. Um but I know Carlont was not alone and this is something that's been happening not only around the region but across the country as well. PaloAlto High School gun also had um very successful walkouts. And just following up on on the mayor, I know the mayor and I have been in a lot of conversations about this issue and we've been talking with staff and I know we've both had conversations with our acting police chief really trying to understand [snorts] um what it is that we are allowed to do and what it is that we are prepared to do. I would encourage staff to make sure that we are communicating that with the public as well because there is just so much fear in this community and uncertainty around what it

is that we are allowed to do and what it is that we are prepared to do in case as the mayor put it the fight comes to us. I know my [clears throat] my wife is a Mexican immigrant. There are many people in my family on that side that are incredibly fearful and are not leaving the house because of fears that they would be approached and we know what we've been seeing in other parts of the of the country that it does not matter if you are legally allowed to be here that you may be detained or even killed and so to make sure that we are not complicit and that we are doing everything in our power to protect our our community um is I think critical. So, just want to make sure that we continue that that work and again encourage staff as well to communicate all with um with the public as well to try to um address some of those so those fears. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Council Member Liths.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you for your leadership back east and for relaying all of that to us. And thank you, Vice Mayor, for your comments as well. I want to third the idea I think that we meet in close session to talk about uh whether to file an amicus brief. I would support that. Um on m much lighter notes I just wanted to give two updates on um events of last week. One I want to commend staff for the OSV open house that they ran last Tuesday at Mitchell Park. Um, and forgive me, um, Council Member Lowing, if you were going to make a update as the chair of the OSV, uh, ad hoc. Um, the the entire ad hoc was there. Uh, lots of of staff were there and most importantly, a lot of community members came out to really learn more about what the city is doing to address the impacts of RV dwellers and their vehicles on our street streets. um as well as to learn what the city has in mind by way of additional supports for those folks. So I thought it was well uh planned uh well executed and well attended and um an example of our efforts to be communicative and transparent on an issue that is um is quite complex and sensitive to discuss because there are sort of many you know people on both sides so to speak of the issue and um often hard to find common ground. So, I thought staff did an excellent job and just want to thank city manager Shakata, uh, deputy city manager Shantel Cotton Gains, um, I think assistant city manager, um, uh, Melissa Mcdana, uh, and whomever else on the team put that together. It was really excellent. And then um I'll just note in case folks missed it in the newspaper um our regional prominent

regional theater company Theater Works which was born here in Palo Alto issued a press release last week indicating a desire to partner with the city to relocate uh their um their efforts to the Cberly Community Center. Uh so this was in the news last week. A lot of outlets picked it up. We are delighted that they believe in the vision that this council has set and that this community is asking for the the new Cubberly to be and u they become our second potential partner in the work. The first being the Friends of Palo Alto Recreation and Wellness with which we already have a letter of intent signed. And so um things continue to move forward with Cubberly and uh there's nothing like a vote of confidence from a third party to say we see what you're doing. We like what you're doing. We want to be a part of it. And I think that's the um momentum that has come from the letter of intent from friends of recreational wellness and from uh the uh intended partnership with Theater Works. So stay tuned for more on Cberly, but great news last week. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. [clears throat] Okay. And looks like there are no further comments, so we shall move on to our study session. Um, item 3, 44 and 48 and Cena Avenue. So, I don't know if this staff going to start that presentation.

Uh, thank you, mayor, and good evening, city council. Um, Claire Rayold uh with our um planning operation will [sighs] uh give this presentation. I'll give Maha a minute. Oh, h she said it has two slides per screen. Um, that's weird.

Okay. All right. Well, we'll work with it then. [laughter] Good evening, council members. Um, uh, apparently this is showing two slides per screen, so um, hopefully you can, uh, follow along here. Um, so tonight we're here to talk about the 44 and 88 Incena Avenue project, a pre-screening application, uh, submitted by Ellis Partners. Um, council pre-screening process is required for legislative changes including reszonings as what's currently planned for this property. Um the purpose is to provide early feedback. No formal decisions are made at these here um uh study sessions and council members are expected to refrain from forming firm opinions as the proposal may return for future formal action. If you can move forward next slide. Oh thank you. Um so the conceptual project is to reszone from community commercial to planned home zoning uh to allow for 158 uh residential rental units. Um and the project proposes two sevenstory structures including three levels of above grade parking garage. Um, so this would be um straddling the 70 and Cena uh project uh that was recently approved by council uh for 10 town homes. Um and so each side of the um of that project there would be a a structure. Um the location is the north parking lot of Town and Country Village. Um and then uh it's hard to see on this but um but we noted where the 70 and Cena project is between these two um these two

buildings. Next slide. Um conceptual project I just noted out the um height proposed height is 85 ft where the district allows 50 ft. uh lot coverage um for each of the respective lots is roughly 93% of building one and on building two it's roughly 71% of the lot um where 50% is typically what's allowed. Um and building one is proposing uh 2.86 floor area ratio. Building two is proposing a 2.41 uh to one floor area ratio. Typically in this district um only mixed use is allowed and uh 0.5 of that uh is the maximum allowed for total and 0.15 is the allowance for residential. So this is substantially over what is um allowed for residential at these properties. Um noting the density um parking services um basically they are replacing 150 parking spaces on the site um surface parking spaces that would be removed. They're also adding 165 residential spaces for the new residential units. Um and then they would be required to provide 158 bicycle parking spaces as well. uh bicycle parking is not fully shown in the plan in this conceptual plan set. Okay, bear with us for a moment. Thanks. Um if you could go to the next slide.

All right, bear with us for a moment. [snorts] Just generally uh in terms of the open space, there's a fourth floor wellness deck on both buildings. Seventh floor has a sky lounge on both buildings and then there's a seventh floor sky deck on building one. Uh and then these general elevations show um uh views from from town and country village. Uh if you could go to the next slide. Oh, okay. Sorry. Um this is the view from uh Incena Avenue of each of the respective buildings. If you go to the next slide um this is the view from um uh El Camino Riale looking at the um end of the buildings. And if you could go to the next slide and then the view from Cal Train station or sorry the uh Cal Train tracks and if you could go to the next slide. So, just some key considerations for council to uh think about tonight um as you um provide your comments. Um think about thinking about the transition um to the neighboring context. um height and daylight plane um especially as it relates to the 70 and Cena project and Town and Country Village um on uh behind the properties and um do want to note that uh Town and Country Village is identified as a historic resource and so as part of the formal application we would be evaluating um how uh this

project might affect the historic integrity of that neighboring um property. Um I do also want to note that there are nine existing parcels on this project. Um and you can see the different parcels in attachment A. Um the applicant does not intend to merge these parcels to create these two buildings. Um so there would need to be further discussion about how they're intending to do that. Um there are options that they might be able to consider for that. Um but um I think that further explor exploration needs to be done if they're not um looking to merge those parcels. Um consideration of parking and circulation. We talk a little bit about it in the staff report. Um but there will definitely be analysis of how um this will impact traffic and the traffic coming in for this new facility. Um and then existing utilities again we note in the staff report but there are existing overhead lines um along in CENA and um those would need to be undergrounded um to generally meet uh general order 95 requirements. Um there would also need to be um there are a number of utilities that run parallel to the CAL train tracks that would need to be modified or otherwise relocated if feasible um for this project. Um and then just thinking about the public benefits of the project currently the project would be required to provide 20% of the units um at 80% of AMI which is 32 BMR units. Um, so just your thoughts on the public benefits for this project. Next slide.

Um, I do also want to note that um, SB79 is an important new law that's coming into effect July 1st, 2026, as I'm sure you're aware. Um, I just wanted to generally note that under this new regulation, they would be allowed to do 65 ft um, a floor area ratio of 3.0 0 to1 and approximately 100 dwelling units per acre. And if you can go to the next slide, um for SQA status, uh no review is required under the California Environmental Quality Act for a pre-screening application. Um but we would analyze in accordance with SQA for the formal application should it move forward. Next slide. And with that, staff recommends that council conduct a pre-screening, provide informal comments regarding the applicant's request to reszone the property, and um and reminder that comments are not binding on the city or the applicant. And with that, I'll turn it back to you and recommend that you hear from the applicant.

Thank you very much for that presentation. And yes, I would uh invite the applicant if there's someone uh here to speak on behalf of the applicant tonight. Welcome. If you could just let us know who you are and then please go ahead. Good evening. Um Patrick Flynn with Al Partners. Uh good evening council members and staff. We're excited to have the opportunity to present our project to you and receive your feedback ahead of a formal uh development application that Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt. Do we usually give 10 minutes? Yeah. Madame Clerk, could you start the clock, please? Thank you. I'm sorry. Please, please proceed.

Uh, my name is Patrick Flynn. I'm senior vice president with all partners and enjoyed here tonight uh by Jim Ellis, our co-founder and managing principal, as well as Dean Rubinson, who has led our prior efforts on this project. As the leader of our entitlement residential practice, I've been overseeing the project uh charged with the design of the highquality residential development we proposed to bring this important site. [gasps] As you may know, Ellis Partners has been a steward of Town and Country Village for over 20 years. We recognize the important role that Town and Country plays in the community, and that sense of responsibility impacts every decision that we make that could impact the experience of our retailers and those that visit the center. As you may recall during the incept incena entitlement process, we learned from staff that our north parking lots could be developed for residential uses and also heard repeatedly from this body that the city believes that this is a unique site for residential development and would like to see much higher density than what was proposed for 70. For the past year, we've been partnering with our architectural team led by Jones Architecture to design a highquality project that achieves our shared goals of meaningfully impacting the local housing shortage while being truly sensitive to this important setting. Our project will provide muchneeding housing for the city, will provide additional customers for the businesses at Town and Country Village, and will add to the architectural legacy of PaloAlto. I'm happy to confirm that we're in contract to purchase the property at 7D and Cena, a transaction that began after we made this project submitt and one that we hope will close this spring. We expect that our former formal development application will incorporate the 70 incena parcels into our development so that we can develop a project that spans the entire north side of town and country village. [gasps] We're expect we expect the design of this combined single building project to be quite similar in character to the

current design and will provide closer to 200 units of new housing. We discussed this potential change with staff and they assured us that this PHC pre-screening could still serve to satisfy the requirement of a pre-screening hearing for that future project. With that said, the project we'll be discussing tonight is composed of two structures that are separated by the previously entitled 70 and Cena project. Given these considerations, I'd ask that you focus your comments on the project's overall merits and not its relationship to the approved 70 and Cena design. I also want to touch on parking, which I know is often a challenge with properties as popular with properties as popular as Town and Country Village. We're committed to replacing every single retail parking space in our new development and there will be no lost commercial parking spaces. Additionally, we're working to identify a plan for parking during the construction of our project to ensure that construction is as smooth as possible for our tenants and customers. We're eager to hear your fe feedback on this exciting project and appreciate your patience as we work to create the optimal project for this treasured location. Given the unique history and ownership of these parcels, we do have some challenging utility easement conditions that will require flexibility and creativity of the city's utility groups, and we hope to receive council's support of these efforts. With me here tonight is Alan Jones, the founding principal of Jones Architecture. He will present the project in more detail and will be available should you have any questions.

Hi, Alan Jones, Jones Architecture. Can you go to the next slide, please? Um it's a little hard for me to read, but it um the Oh, thank you very much. So, as Patrick mentioned, the building the project includes two buildings. Um it's 158 units total. Um go to the next slide. Um the site is located, as you know, adjacent to downtown and Stanford University. Um it's surrounded or the streets are um El Camino, the bike pathway and then in Cena Boulevard. Um as Patrick mentioned that we think the site is perfectly situated for housing. Go to the next slide. [sighs and snorts] I'm just I'm just going to give you a couple highlevel um this is a diagram we put together. The the red hatching indicates the portions of the project that um there are pedestrian frontages along Encina along the driveway that enters in to Town and Country and then back in the back corner along the sale. Um the blue diagrams are pedestrian circulation and vehicular circulation pathways. Um the green arrows open up to the south. That's the portion of the project that have the views that the building steps back and opens up to. Um the path of the sun is shown. Um but high level the project is taking cues like our attitude towards designing the project is that it takes cues from the site and we've really responded to the site context. If you go to the next slide um in terms of the architectural language the project is directly responding to its context. Um, we've looked closely at Town and Country Village. It has, you know, a craftsman influence and also a mission style influence that we've taken into account. Specifically, it's characterized by low

slung red tile roofs, deep porches and overhangs, um, rich detailing, overall horizontal massing, and um, warm cladding with texture that is friendly to be around and is rich and inviting. You go to the next slide. [sighs and gasps] This is a vignette that shows the central um there's a central driveway that it connects to in Cena from the from the shopping center. Um we visualize that as being both pedestrian connectivity as well as access to the parking. Um these are early images of the architectural language. The first two floors which are shown in white are the the parking levels which are enclosed with a heavy thick skin that has light delicate screening that conceals the cars. Parking is also located on the third level. That level transitions to kind of a screened language that takes cues from the cladding of town and country village. the Bordon Batten sighting. And then the body of the building is shown here in the greenish gray color which again is a warm texture that is similar to Town and Country Village. And the top of the building opens up into covered terraces and roofs and those amenity spaces that open up towards the south. Go to the next slide. Another view um showing the pedestrian connectivity along the po with a similar um the building in the background. This is building two. Go to the next slide. Um a view along Encina where you can see the the parking garage that is the first two levels and the third story. Um I think the great thing about the project is that it's replacing all of the parking within the building. So the parking is concealed. We're still developing it, but the parking will be, you know, behind the delicate screening

that's shown here. And then you can see the the midlevel of the building, which we consider the body of the building with inset balconies, lots of glazing, and then the open spaces that are the terraces and the roof that cap the buildings. Go to the next slide. Um, an aerial view from Enino. Um, showing the the the two buildings together. You can see the parking along the first two levels. And then if you go to the next slide, I think we've shown modulation. So this is the horizontal modulation. So lots of layering to the project. And if you go to the next slide, it has the the vertical modulation. We've broken the building down into distinct modules to help break the massing down. You go to the next slide. [sighs] Um and then the south side of the building that opens up towards the shopping center. The plan of the building are two C se C-shaped plans that are around central courtyards. Um you can see the roofs that are responding to the town and country roof. So this layering stepping back providing outdoor spaces and really breaking down the massing. If you go to the next slide, you can see the horizontal articulation with lots of layering. And the next slide shows the vertical modulation. So broken up into small bays, you know, finely modulated. Um being careful with the scale of the project. You go to the next slide. You know, overall, you know, project that provides much needed housing. Um as I mentioned, all of the surface parking is being concealed and located within the building, full replacement of the parking. The project provides one toone parking, more than onetoone parking for the residents. Um and it it's still early in the design. We look forward to your feedback, but we think the project is responding to its context and has been

designed to be, you know, to fit within the within the context. So, I'll leave it there. We we have plans and lots of other diagrams in the appendix if you want to look at those. Um but I'll leave it to questions. So, if you can go to the next slide. I'm sorry. [sighs] Okay. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Um so with that, uh let's see if uh let's let's go ahead and ask a round of questions. Then we'll see if there's um public comment and we can then come back to the DAS. So colleagues, Council Member Bert,

thank you. We'll see if my voice holds up. Um, a couple questions related to Ensena. Uh, first, uh, the the entrance is going to be, well, it's more of a comment. The entrance is going to be a tunnel there. Um, Town and Country has three entrances. Two of them are highly congested. The Incena entrance is not. Um, and so I've long thought that we need to accentuate the Encena entrance and perhaps rationalize that by either the addition of a signal or relocation of the signal in front of PA. Um, this have to be talked about with them. But if you had northbound cars ingress and egress that don't need a signal into the front parking lot at PA, the back parking lot would still be from Incena. And I suspect um uh patients would find the new equilibrium or patients and workers there. But it's long needed that. And this would we have a as you're going southbound on El Camino uh the left turn for into town and country uh gets converged with the left left turn onto Embarcadero. It's really backed up. This goes back to a 30-year history where we looked at two lanes on left turn there and didn't do it at that time and we were supposed to keep an eye on it and what to do. So, I really I've been advocating for relooking at that signal for a long time and I think this is the trigger where we should really take a serious look. Comment on the roof tiles. I'm sure A or B will we wait in, but um that compatibility visually is really nice as long as we're a bird or an airplane. Uh because it has to have the roof slope or they're not going to

be visible from the ground floor and it will defeat the purpose of that compatibility. Uh so I just your first rendering showed a relatively flat roof. I'm sure this can be addressed, but from the aesthetics that are going to be real important here, seeing the roof tiles is critical. Um, on the parking in Town and Country, as fewer vacancies are occurring in town and country, parking system uh capacity there is right now really constrained and there are still vacancies. Um so two things that related to this project and the town and country that I think can really address that. The first is uh we have our PaloAlto transportation management association which provides really effectively uh transit passes, bicycles um and um other vehicles to avoid trip generation and parking spaces are so expensive and valuable. This is a basically a free program for all the employees in town and country and we it's been growing throughout the city to really have that be a vital part of this program. It would be the most coste effective way for you to address your parking problems. Second most cost effective or or maybe cost effective but leis uh I don't know if it'll be as effective is improving the bicycling there. Um the the bike racks are still inadequate. It was never designed for a bike destination, but as you're constrained on parking, PaloAlto residents and certainly from North PaloAlto, getting a portion of them, a higher portion of them to ride there uh rather than drive, cuts that incredibly expensive parking expense expense and and allows you to continue to expand the retail, which right now you're

constrained from parking. Um and with that be racks, more racks in better locations and addressing a very difficult problem which would be a bike circulation pattern there. And I don't know how that would be solved, but it's it's worth taking a hard look at it. Um and I think that covers all my um comments. uh real glad to hear that you're uh working on the 70 and Cena being merged here and um um it's it's a very interesting project. Thank you, Council Member Lou.

Thank you. I just had a couple of clarifying questions for both staff and uh uh potentially the applicant. Uh so there were a couple of things that were noted that I thought were unusual, so I just wanted some clarification or elaboration. one the point about parcels not being redrawn and secondly about utilities. Um I'm just want to confirm if you want comment on any of those points and how to uh uh reason about them.

We're not necessarily seeking comments. Just uh I wanted to note those I think in especially the parcel component is a little bit unique. it would be fairly rare to have a building across property lines like this. Um, we did explore with our city attorney as well as with um our uh building um assistant building official to discuss, you know, is there even a feasible option for this? Um, and it seems like in San Francisco there may have been some scenarios where you might h be able to do kind of a a master um tenant agreement um across the different parcels and that would allow you to not have firewalls at each um um parcel line. Um, but I think it's something we have not dealt with in the city of Palo Alto before and so I think it's something we'd need to explore further to understand exactly how to make that viable.

Okay. So, it may be a technical issue but not one that has any trade-offs to the city in terms of correct uh land use taxes, anything. Okay. Um, [clears throat] and utilities I know were flagged by both the applicant and uh you uh is there anything to note besides that they will be tricky and require coordination and be potentially expensive but that the applicant would pay for it?

Yeah, the the only thing we were still exploring is there there are quite a few utilities under um the uh northernmost parcel that's adjacent to the Cal Train tracks. Um there actually used to be like a private street there. So there are a number of utility easements. Um and so we have to kind of work out what is feasible to modify um and how it might be modified or if it can be moved. Otherwise they might need to modify their building so that they're not over those easements. Um, so I think there's going to be a lot more exploration that needs to happen for those uh particular utilities along the frontage. It's more just about undergrounding the utility lines. Um 70 and Cena had planned to underground at least one of the lines. Um because this is a higher uh development, I think all of the lines are going to need to be undergrounded.

Okay. Thank you. Other clarifying questions? Um, council member Lith cuts, let me just stick with my clarifying question only. I appreciate the reminder. Um, I this is a question for staff. Thank you for the presentation. And I know in the staff report it indicated that um this was not a housing inventory site designated in our housing element. And I wonder if you can clarify for the public what that means. What does it mean when you decide to put housing where you didn't say you were going to put housing? Does that help us? Does it harm us in any way? I think people will be interested.

Sure, of course. Um, so it you can still place housing um and it would still count toward our regional housing needs allocation even if it's not on our housing inventory site. Um what it would mean if it was on the housing inventory is that um housing inventory sites can can do um exclusively residential um even if the zoning might not allow exclusively residential. In this case, it's not on our housing inventory and the site currently as zoned doesn't allow for exclusively residential. It only allows for mixed use. So, it would just be that as part of the reasonzoning process, that would be a request that they're making um as part of their proposal. [sighs and gasps]

Thank you. I think the rest of what I'd like to say or comments, so I will end here.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Just want to hear from um the public and then we can comment on what they say as well. So, uh Madame Clerk, would you uh please uh guide us through any public comment on this item? Yes, we have three three requests to speak on study session item three. Correction, four requests to speak. Our first speaker is Herb B the mention of SP79. uh I don't know which of those existing nine parcels uh would would fall within uh that that that law. But it seems to me it's reasonable to assume that it would apply only to those parcels that did and not apply to merging parcels and and and apply to to all of them. There's also uh a a question of uh my notes here that uh there uh what was uh using the P PHZ zone. I I believe that needs as I stated a number of times uh an amendment to the zoning code. uh and each time it's been brought up, staff has given a different reason of why it didn't. And so I I think uh that would be important. Uh in terms of uh the application itself, I recall another application going forward uh with these addresses 44 and 88 in Cena that included fewer parcels uh in which it

was claimed that there was a housing inventory site. And I point out as I did now that only uh the parcel closer to the tracks uh is the one that's a housing inventory site and combining merging parcels and thus grant the same rights to to the other parcels. Uh there there's also uh the the question of uh whether you need any restrictions on who can uh purchase or or lease the property because uh when Stanford uh dropped its uh previous requests for amendments to to its community plan uh the board of supervisors under the supervisor Sin's leadership uh allowed that required in the community plan. Uh housing is medication on the campus site, but also could use then existing sites at Stanford owned. And I believe there should be deed restrictions for all transfers that uh these units cannot be sold or leased to Stanford University. And the current supervisor has also indicated that Stanford needs to provide its mitigation on housing on uh its own campus. uh so as this goes forward I don't know you know whether this is the actual uh proposal we're being asked to do you know for at one point in the previous application staff said it was housing inventory site and it didn't include the parcel that uh really is on housing inventory site and now staff are saying it's not a housing inventory site so we may just be getting lots of comments and questions from the council public

for an SB79 n application. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jonathan G.

Um firstly, thank thank you for your service especially in the evening hours. It's much appreciated. Um I want to address the um proposition at the town and country center which was item three on the agenda. I have a few pages that I distributed that you could share between one another. The council is very aware that retail in um the city of PaloAlto is um at a low. There are empty storefronts on California Avenue, on downtown Panoto and El Camino. And um the city is doing various missions to revive retail such as changing zoning, converting some retail to gyms, loosening some regulations. At the same time, there are also protests at the corner of El Camino Rial and Embaradero. They are on the sidewalk, which is public property, but sometimes they spill over into town and country. Some shoppers feel unsafe. Occasionally, a flag is hung on on town and country property. Um, so the goal, I hope, is that shoppers and retailers should be made to feel safe in their um experiences. I will give you one example. In uh 2024, my son was an employee at a clothing store at Stanford Mall. There was a demonstration in October of that year. The Apple store was defaced and vandalized. A policeman's foot was run over when he was giving chase. And I hope that incidents like this, my son was actually escorted out the back door for his own safety of the shop where he was working. So I hope an incident like this will never happen again and that the council will do what it can to ensure safety of the public, the uh retailers and the customers at Town and Country. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Adam S. [sighs]

Good evening. My name is Adam Schwarz. I am here tonight on behalf of the Palo Alto Forward where I am a member and volunteer. I'm also here as a 10-year resident who lives around the corner and uh raised my kids here in PaloAlto. I want to thank all seven members of the city council as well as um our city staff for the great work uh that's been going on for years now in uh building more homes. Um the PaloAlto Forward is in strong support of building new homes um at the Town and Country uh mall as we're discussing tonight. Um, we hope that the city council and the city staff will be as encouraging as possible um to the owners of the mall and these developers to to put up homes. Um, I visit the mall uh regularly um as a driver, a walker and a biker and I think this is a excellent place for uh 150 or many more uh new homes. It is uh near buses and trains and bike lanes and stores and because it's here um in Palo Alto. Um perhaps most importantly, it is near jobs. Um my mother would like to move from out of town uh to Palo Alto. My kids who grew up here would like to stay in PaloAlto. And the kinds of apartments that uh could be built in these new homes are exactly the kinds of place it would be uh great for them to live. And so, uh, again, thank you to all of you for, uh, your support for years of new homes and, um, the Palo Alto Forward urges you to, um, give as much encouragement as possible, um, to, uh, building these new homes at this location. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Deborah G.

Um, I was unable to get an answer to this question. I I don't know if these apartments that are being built are being built for sale for individual home ownership or are they being built um by a real estate investment trust for rental. This is a big concern of mine because I know that Redwood City has fulfilled its housing mandate by allowing corporations, corporate entities to build um you know ma massive rental units. And right now the city of Redwood City Council is getting an earful from tenants because these um corporate owners are raising prices on the rentals in coordination with each other and squeezing the renters. Um I I don't think that having um massive units being built just for for corporate ownership and corporate profit um in perpetuity is um to the benefit of the community about traffic um I mean if if they are being built for purchase and for home ownership I think it's a great project uh about traffic in and out of town village the problems with the entrance in and out of or um embark are on the city of PaloAlto. It is the city of PaloAlto that could mitigate the problems at the of traffic on the Embarodo entrance. It's um some traffic and jerine and I have been mentioning this to transportation for a couple years. Bye.

And that concludes public comment on study session item three. All right. Thank you. Uh thank you to the public and thank you madam clerk. We'll bring it back here to the deis for whatever you want to do. Uh questions, comments, but providing the uh advice sought tonight. [cough] Council member Liths.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and um thank you to the members of the public who spoke. I want to disclose, I'm not sure we're required to in a study session, but um out of an abundance of caution, I want to disclose that I have met with members of the Ronald and Anne Williams Charitable Foundation board, which is the land owner of this property and um Town and Country Village and with representatives from Ellis Partners, the long-term lease holder from whom we've heard tonight. Um to the Williams board and members of Ellis Partners and the Jones and BDE architecture firms, I want to begin with gratitude uh that you have heeded our call for partners to help us get housing built in this city. that you heard in our conversations with uh the folks who own 70 and Cena uh a need for much higher density in this setting that you are making consistent efforts to purchase that property getting you to a much more coherent housing project in the aggregate on that back parking lot and closer to 200 units which is incredibly exciting. The 158 is already very exciting. um that you will take your architectural cues from town and country village makes perfect sense. But I just want to acknowledge that that is um you know a beautiful plan. Um I love those red tile roofs and um of course they evoke not just Town and Country Village but Stanford University right across the street. So, it's um bringing, you know, an architecture many of us cherish um into the modern era and I I just love to see that replicated um and it feels really appropriate across from the university as well as adjacent to the village. Um I agree with my colleague council member Bert's concern on the slope of those roofs so that they can be visually appreciated closer to the project. love the plan for decks at a few different levels in those residential towers and the ways in which

it's stepped back as it gets higher. Um, and I will echo the concerns about the traffic flow that we've heard tonight from colleague my colleague and uh public commenter. Um the way that I frame it is, you know, you're you're going to have hundreds of residents now and um they're going to be bringing in additional traffic and as you get those retail vacancies filled, uh it just looks as if we're we're in for a potential snarl. Um and of course there extra safety sensitivities given that Palto High School is across the street and we know that the P kids really enjoy, you know, there's a special light just for them. Speaking of traffic flow, they love to come across to the village to get an ice cream or, you know, shop at CVS or whatever the case may be. And so figuring out that flow of traffic so that your uh commercial customers and your residents are in harmony with one another. You know, the last thing we want is, you know, those people who live there are screwing up our parking at Town and Country. And so, um, I know you'll keep your eye on that, but to me, I see that as the largest concern. And again, just thank you so much. It's very exciting to see this.

Council member Lou,

thank you. Uh, I'd like to echo uh, Council Member Liths's comments. Uh, I really appreciate housing at this location. I think the public benefit of the affordable units is strong. Uh, I really appreciate the work to unify this project with 70 and Cena. Um, I will also echo the comment that I really like the design. And I like the materials. Um I like how there are some efforts to make this uh green. Like I saw at least ivy on at least one of the coverings. Uh though I would uh always love to see more planting um in future plans on upper levels. Um, I really like how it's just a very serious and clean building, but it also has that local context and that slightly fun postmodernism. Um, I did have comments on circulation. Uh, I think above grade parking is always uh underground is always better, but I understand the costs. Uh I don't know if uh undergrounding will ever become possible uh for at least one of the levels um at any point over the development process on cycling. I know these planes are tentative but uh in one of the slides the bike room is sort of off to the far side of the development. I'm not sure if there's another bike room that I'm missing but uh a bike room or bike parking should be reasonably accessible to uh all of the residents. I'll echo the point that just getting more bike racks in general uh including outside the building along the alleys and other contexts for visitors would be uh a plus. Um, I am not sure uh um

uh what the bike circulation looks like for the uh roadway that goes under the building that that already exists within Town and Country. I imagine bikes will take it. I also imagine that'll be reasonably designed so that it'll be well lit, preferably have some actual space for bikes uh or pedestrians so that that walkway can be safe. Um people will very often not realize there's a PO or just walk or bike there uh along the roadway. Anyways, um uh I think the only other thing that I'd think about and continue to look at in future plans is what access looks like from the Embaradera bike path. Um making sure that that feels open and welcoming. And uh I'd also be curious what that alley between town and country uh and the project looks like in future developments. Um just making sure that that is also a safe road. um uh impreferably as planting or as pedestrian friendly. Uh so those are my comments. Uh I appreciate this coming before us and I look forward to seeing the next version.

Vice Mayor Stone.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I I echo what I've heard so far and concerns about the this the rooftop as far as being able to see those tiles better circulation concerns as well. But generally, I think this is a really good project and a great location. So, I'm happy to see it move forward and can't get much of a better location for housing with shopping, Cal Train, Stanford, El Camino, Roy Rial, kind of everything central there. I really do think it is a a beautiful design that fits into the into the character of that part of town and as mentioned blends town and country and Stanford University. I really do think it's a it's a beautiful project. I appreciate the good mix of unit sizes and we're getting a good amount of two and threebedroom units and we're always talking about the need for for familysized units and this will be able to achieve that. For me, I'm happy to see that this is a rental project. We don't see too many apartments coming forward and so to see more um to see more of that is I I think a good thing. I mean, we're going to need to have a balance of that and most of what we what we get are are condos. So, I think that is a a good thing. In addition to just some of the concerns and I think pretty modern concerns, I'm I'm concerned about um so just the the lack of parking given 165 are proposed and our code would typically require 218 for that proposed use. But I think given the proximity of this project to public transportation and different types of public transportation, VTA, Cal Train, good bike routes, great pedestrian access to shopping, entertaining, entertainment

districts, jobs. Um, I I think it's going to I I I think it'll be be fine. I'm also more comfortable with the kind of the inadequate parking just given the nature of this location. I think oftent times we we raise concerns about potential spillover of underparked projects into residential neighborhoods and then cars um kind of adding up into those into those neighborhoods. That seems really challenging in this particular location given the surrounding uses and I know there's going to be a lot of partnership with Town and Country and and Town and Country has always been really good at enforcing their own kind of parking. I remember as a as a student at Pali getting several parking tickets anytime I tried to park at at Town and Country. So, I know they're they're on it. And um oh and and appreciate the clarification tonight then on the BMR units because that was my only other concern kind of coming into tonight since that wasn't that wasn't yes yet known to us. So I I think the 20% at 80 20% BMR at 80% AMI I think that's a I think that's a a good number to to be at this this project. So thank you for bringing this forward working on it. I'm excited to see about the potential deal with your with your neighbor cuz I know that the height issues could be a challenge. So, so to know that we can get a a project that's going to be even more compatible and potentially provide even additional units is a a really exciting opportunity and I'm looking forward to whatever kind of variation this then comes back to us. So, thank you again. Those are my comments. Council member Lowing.

Uh thanks very much. Um so yes to to the applicant. Uh phenomenal progress since we talked about it being a good idea. So you've come a long way from a good idea to really I think what could be a remarkable project. Um and stepping up to ownership instead of just land lease. That's sign that's sign suggests that you're getting kind of serious about this. So, um, really glad to see the commitment to the areas for all the actually the things that that you said, but we've all talked about, which is because of all of the proximity to so many things there, it's just the the right place to do it. And so, I I thank you for that. Um, echoing a couple things that have been said by staff and and my colleagues here. Um, you know, sort of my biggest concern is the access and circulation. um we we have to turn over every every stone to figure out what to do there. Um because that that could stop a magnificent project. So I know we're all committed to that, but it could be a crisis if it does if it doesn't work. The other thing I [clears throat] want to come in on was um somewhat similarly to uh Vice Mayor Stone. Um totally appreciate that you're replacing all the parking that's going away and that you're providing adequate paring for the new residents, not leaning on the the state law so that you don't have to do anything. Uh which is not good for anybody, including the developer always in my in my opinion. Um, but the issue of, you know, you're still going to get a some some ceiling there where you just can't squeeze any more customers in there. Uh, you're already there now. So, just replacing those u parking spots doesn't get you very far. And yes, we're all hopeful that folks will bike and take buses, but we don't know that. So, if there's any way you can take another look at that, uh, as expensive as it is, um, and that

was also noted, it just gives [clears throat] you more headroom to to to do growth there. Um, uh, the other thing that's just to me is a big huge expensive question mark right now is all that utility stuff. So, I know we're all sort of looking at that and say we don't know the answers yet, but we have to figure out cooperative way to to get through that. [clears throat]

And then um some of the issues basically on packet page 13 uh in slide eight um you know talk about the transitions. You know ideally 85 ft would be a little bit smaller but that has its downsides. So we're not I don't think be pushing on that. Um we always get questions about daylight planes on projects like this. It's very sensitive to to the residents that are already there that are your neighbors. Same thing with more or less eliminating any setbacks in areas. If there are ways you can sort of soften that approach that that would be helpful. Um [clears throat] and then I will I will also do my one ARB offering here which is that I love the terracotta but I think there should be more facing terracotta uh to to go with your your uh project. But I think we'll be supportive of this and and you're meeting the 20% affordable which is which is the the baseline uh and doing the mix of units as as uh Vice Mayor said as well. So um I think this is uh I think this is really good progress and appreciate it.

Council member Rectal.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I'm very positive on this uh this uh design. it the be beautiful architecture. It's a great location. It's it's close to downtown. It's close to the train station. It's even a 10-minute bike ride to the research park. So, if you work in the research park, you could live here and have a a wonderful commute instead of sitting on El Camino. You could bike ride your bike. And frankly, it's probably faster to ride your bike to the research park than it would be to drive. So, I think this is a really good spot for biking. Uh my family rented a two-bedroom apartment and we had four bikes in their bike room. And so you have right now one bike per unit. I really would love to see that one bike per bedroom. I think there's going to be demand here is you're right next to the bike lane there and Pela is such a great bike network. I think a lot of people are going to be using the bikes there. So I would like to increase the the bike parking if possible. Um yeah. Oh, thank you also for the 70 in incena. This makes a better design, better urban design, better product. Uh that's a really big improvement. I thank you very much for pursuing that. Uh some metos with uh council member Bert the Palto TMA passes. I think that'd be a really good product to incorporate. Um Incena light, I think light would be great because it would take pressure off Embaradero, may improve the circulation throughout the town and country. It also gives you a much better ride. If you're biking there to Stanford, you now can go take that right over to Stanford as opposed to right without a light at Encena. You'd have to wiggle around and and cross at Embaradero. So, I think there's a lot of advantages to having uh a bike light. I mean, a a light at Ensena. Uh in the design, is there a spot for Uber pickups or Door Dash drop offs? I'm not sure if this is for the applicant or for the staff.

I don't know offhand. I don't know if the applicant can answer that. I'll say that we're not at that level of development of the design, but are well aware of the prevalence of those types of services. So, we would accommodate something similar. Okay. Very good. What often comes with that though is a loss of street parking. So, we would just ask for, you know, flexibility within uh you know, losing a street space to allow for a white zone or or that sort of thing. Yeah. The problem is that if there's not parking there, they're going to double park. And that's work and and this will become it's a really quiet street right now. There is going to be more traffic on it. Yes. And I don't think we want to make Uber people block our traffic. So

it's a known it will happen. So make sure we we plan for that. Uh let's see. Is there anything else? And no, I just I'm I'm very glad you brought this. I'm very glad it expanded into a single design. It's going to be great improvement. Thank you.

All right. Well, I'm going to make it uh unanimously positive comments. You've gotten some pretty uh strong feedback tonight and there's not a lot left to say. I I generally agree with the comments that have gone before. Um but I'm very excited that you're under contract for 70 and Cena. Um I love that you can then sort of think about these buildings collectively. That's a unique uh well not unique but rare circumstance and often times you're trying to look at one or the other. Um so that's a great opportunity. Do you have any present um intention to perhaps uh revise the other or 70 or do anything to to make them more cohesive as a whole or what are your thoughts? anticipate

we anticipate that our our formal application will be a single unified project that spans all all across all the parcels. Okay. So rather than having a building one building two that has the kind of missing tooth as we called it in the on the on the site there will have all the whole north side of the of the property to work with. Okay. So whereas the the the drawings we have tonight have that correct. Yeah. They have the missing tooth. of the project as as approved is in there because that this was submitted prior to our going into contract on the property. Right. Great. Well, I'm eager to see uh how that enhances things um when you're able to do that. Thank you.

Um and I I echo the comments on parking. I really appreciate that you recognize and accommodate the uh the town and country customers, their parking loss with the three stories of parking that you're contemplating. Um, just quickly, uh, just to answer the member of the public's questions, do you anticipate these would be rentals or or condos? We're we're preparing for rental units. Yes.

Okay. At this point, um, okay. I I think then, uh, the last thing I would mention is also a plus one to um, just needing to keep a close eye on traffic circulation. I think a lot of people cut through from Embaradero over to PAMP to the medical foundation now, and that's, you know, not necessarily the right thing, but it's an actual thing. So if that becomes less available, it's just going to be part of the overall management of that uh area as the design moves forward. Um so great and appreciate the uh 20% BMR. Like I said, a good good mix of housing um like the red tile roof. So it's just just a plus one to pretty much what you've heard. Great. Thank you.

Council member Bert, your voice is up for a little little more.

Uh just two additions um that I should have mentioned before. One is that if there is a movement toward utilizing Ensena as a gateway entrance to town and country, then signage will be really important at El Camino, but also really prominently where that tunnel is on the building because it's not a natural kind [snorts] of um intuitive entrance. Um, and then the other thing is I got thinking about the real challenge you're going to have during construction mitigating that parking loss. And it's the employee parking that you can mitigate. You can't tell customers to go to some satellite parking and take a bus in. Um, and so utilizing the PaloAlto TMA for that purpose, uh, and then extending it long term, I I'd really recommend it. Um, it's free to you. um and very effective. Thanks.

Thank you. And with that, seeing no more lights, I think we will close this session with a gratitude to the applicants for coming and bringing this forward to us today. Thank you. And to staff. [laughter] All right. So, next up we have our consent calendar. Um, do we have any uh public comment on the consent calendar? No request to speak and no hands are raised. Okay, colleagues, do we have any no votes or request a poll? Seeing none, I'll move the consent calendar. Thank you. Second.

Thank you. Let's go to a vote. We are efficient tonight. We are on it. Mayor Vinker. Yes. Council member Lowing. Yes. Vice Mayor Stone. Yes. Council member Rectal. Yes. Council member Lou. Yes. Council member Bert. Yes. Council member Lith. Yes. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. And with that, we're on to the city manager.

Thank you, Mayor. I've get the city clerk's assistance with a few slides. This will also, I think, be pretty expedient. Next slide, please. Uh just want to ensure we've got public awareness that we have uh mosquito treatment. Uh this would be aerial mosquito treatment in the Bayland starting this Wednesday or on this Wednesday. Uh we would typically have a little more lead time, but with uh ongoing regional activities, including this being Super Bowl week, uh I think communication is a little more compressed and wanting to ensure that uh uh this work occurs uh in a timely manner u but also respecting a variety of uh constraints over the week. So with that uh additional information will be follow uh following for the public in terms of which trails uh may still be available on Wednesday. Um but again just ensuring public awareness of this. Next slide please. Uh also uh looking for public awareness of uh vegetation removal or reduction uh that's being uh undertaken uh with our partners at the Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council as well as a number of other agencies in the vicinity of the 280 uh freeway and PageMill Road. uh this really to reduce uh fire fuel uh and as such uh is a preventative maj uh measure in our wildland uh interface. So again uh this uh work will be ongoing uh throughout the week and uh as uh motorists and residents see activity in the area they'll know what it's about. Next slide please. Then looking forward this being the first meeting in February, we have a number of events uh over the course of the month and would simply like to uh refer community members uh to our website

pelto.gov/february festivities. The largest I think here is the Lunar New Year Fair at Mitchell Park on February 22nd, Sunday uh the 22nd. So, want to ensure that we uh flag that for community members as well as all the other uh events noted here. Not the least of which is the summer camp res registration that folks put in their calendar. Ensure uh that they're able to sign up right away. Next slide, please. Then finally, just looking forward to a few of the upcoming city council meetings. I believe yes, we did uh we were able to get on uh March 2nd the rescheduled uh sustainability climate action plan work plan. Uh so the item 8 that's being deferred from this evening is now scheduled for March 2nd. Let me just go uh quickly through the others. Uh next week on the 9th we've got a weed abatement uh public hearing uh coverly project update and the council's uh procedures and protocol handbook update. Then uh no meeting on the week of February 16th with the uh holiday, President's Day holiday. Then next meeting being on February 23rd. Uh currently scheduling a report from our oversized vehicle ad hoc committee and time-sensitive items on the midyear budget actions as well as the uh followup from your retreat on the uh 2026 council objectives and work plans. And then the first meeting in March, a study session on PaloAlto link again the uh rescheduled escap as well as the reliability and resiliency plan and then a number of other items scheduled uh beyond that uh just listed for awareness. With that, mayor, back to you.

All right. Thank you. Um so we are scheduled for a break. We are quite ahead of schedule. So I don't know if anybody needs a break. I would seeing nos. What I would just ask is could we have a slow transition? Just give me a couple minutes and we'll keep going. But then we'll move on to to our action item. I'll be right back.

All right, we are back. Um, and we uh will move on to our single action item of the night. uh approval of FY2026 ARB, HRB, PTC, and UAC work plans. All right.

And I hope the public's able to follow our our acronyms there. [laughter] Um but it will, I think, be explanatory in a moment. So our our thought in terms of uh working through this item, uh again, the council knows this, but for public awareness, this has previously been scheduled as a consent item prior to the end of the calendar year. uh given that the the agendas were pretty packed at the time, we've uh subsequently uh or this was pulled and as such we've have it scheduled uh for action. Our thought on the staff presentation is to go through all of the commissions and then uh allow the council as you uh please to uh uh then turn to questions uh on individual uh commissions. So with that, let me ask our staff leads uh for all four commissions uh to proceed, leading with uh assistant director Armor from our planning development services department.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members. Jennifer Armor, assistant director of planning and development services, and I am going to present to you um three of the work plans that we have for your discussion this evening. Um two of those are also on behalf of Steven Switzer, our senior historic planner, who's the staff liaison for the architectural review board and the historic resources board. Uh we have asked the chairs of each of these boards and commissions to join us. Some are available in person. Um I think we've got one or two who might be joining us remotely because uh you're so ahead of schedule. So thank you. Next slide.

We want them to be done early too. [laughter] [sighs and gasps] So uh first we have the architectural review board. first or next slide. As provided in the accomplishments section of the work plan that was presented in your staff report packet, um the ARB continues to be very busy. They reviewed uh at least 20 projects over the year including we've got a couple of examples here where you've got the before and the after the changes to the looks of those projects provided in they provided input on numerous standards guidelines ordinances and plans and they selected six wind winners out of over a 100 potential projects for the 2025 design awards. Uh the winning projects are pictured at the bottom of this slide. Next slide. For the work plan that was approved last July, the architectural review board um listed out uh the items that they spend their most time on and the things that they think are important for the coming year. [snorts] First, of course, is the review of planning applications. uh but also providing feedback to staff and council on the creation of new guidelines, ordinances, streetscapes, and assisting the city in consideration of modifications to standards. Uh in addition, reviewing and discussing and providing feedback on area plans and streetscape improvements and uh working to improve coordination between the architectural review board and the other boards, commissions, and councils. Uh we will continue on now to the next slide with the historic resources board. Next slide. So for the accomplishments for the previous year, uh again very

busy year and they had 21 new properties that were added to the historic inventory. Five projects considered and recommended for upgrades on that inventory. uh category upgrades, five development proposals uh including this example shown on the screen at 1023 Forest Avenue which was a rehabilitation. You can see the original photo from the early 1900s before it was damaged in the earthquake and uh in the center there the image of what is proposed to restore that. Uh in addition, they also have now established a local historic preservation award program that we do anticipate holding um early this year. Next slide. So the work plan um as listed by the HRB and recommended last July uh included five items. One, consideration of some modifications to the code in to clarify the HRB's role. Two, education and uh other resources online. Also preparing an update to local inventory resources, resource list, additional preservation incentives, consideration and recommendation, and establishing that historic preservation award program. The HRB members have already started research to into many of these work plan items. Um though they understand that additional council direction would be required to allocate staff time to these efforts. Next slide. And so then uh the third item that I am presenting tonight before we move on to utilities is the planning and transportation commission.

The accomplishments uh listed in your packet are very extensive. They did a lot of work over that year. I can't list them all. It was hard to try and summarize and provide you examples, but they provided input on nine different transportation efforts. They worked on at least nine different comprehensive plan housing element implementation and council priority tasks. and they reviewed um the components of six different development projects. Some examples listed here include the PaloAlto link, the safety action plan, the uh El Camino Real Retail Node MAPAP, and a 100% affordable housing project at 3265 El Camino Rial. Next slide. for the upcoming year or the year that we're in the middle of now. Um they have prepared a list of nine items. Some of these are carryover from previous years, but also some are added u to the end to recognize the uh expansive work that the planning and transportation commission does. So work on the retail ordinance update, area planning, housing element program implementation, state law implementation, parking programs by comped transportation plan update, comprehensive plan policy implementation, uh zoning code updates and project review. With that, uh that concludes my presentation on the planning transportation commission. And so I will pass it on to director Curatori. uh to present the utilities advisory commission work plan.

Good evening. Alan Curator, director of utilities uh for this for Thank you very much for this brief introduction. Next slide, please. So, the utility advisory commission also had a very busy year as well. So, they review all of the utility rates. Uh so, our revenues are $470 million a year. Um, so it's a significant uh level of effort uh for our commission. I did want to mention that they also included a look at uh voluntary electric or residential time of use rates as well and made some recommendations on that implementation which will be coming to and open to the city uh later this year. Want to also mention they uh recommended to retain our western area power administration um hydro electricity um base resource contract. So, that is a 30-year agreement. It's executed every 5 years, and that represents about 40% of our carbon-f free uh energy supply for the city. Um, and this brings us tying into our integrated resource plan, which gets us to our 60% by 2030 goal. So, it really ties in that all together. Next slide, please. So the main issue for u the utility advisory commission is um they're our key uh commission that looks at our utilities wildfire mitigation plan but also our grid modernization. I'm going to hit the utilities wildfire mitigation plan first because that's a picture of one of our staff removing some of the poles. So this mitigation plan is updated annually and this year um we're talking to the commission about updating our PSPS notification process. So how we communicate to the public both in text um and notifications. We really took a look at what the other agencies around us are doing to make sure that we were consistent with that process and that we brought that to the commission. Also

wanted to highlight the grid modernization program as well as part of the accomplishment. We gave accomplishments, we gave them an update. This is an annual update that we provide. It's a major multi-year effort uh for the utility uh and also looking at our uh construction of our fiber system. And then had a very good and robust discussion on the need uh and recommendation for a second transmission corridor. Uh as the council may recall that we were successful working with the Kaiso. So um you know kind of spoiler alert that project is moving forward along uh a existing PG transmission and we are very hopeful to move that project forward u into the 2030 timeline. Next slide. So this is the annual work plan. It's a relatively long list. I want to provide just a just a very high level upgrade highlight uh of the annual look at. So the utility rates um are key for us in terms of affordability to our customers. So one of the key initiatives that the UAC is bringing forward is actually charging credit card fees to our residents and businesses um so that there is not a additional cost to our rate payers. So that's a part of our cost recovery. Um we have brought forward that to the UAC. We anticipate that will save approximately $1.2 2 million a year in additional revenues to make sure that we keep our low rates and then um they have provided feedback especially for our utility rates on our water supply. Uh one of the items we're bringing forth to the commission is data center competitiveness. So data centers as you know AI looking at bringing more of those uh customers to PaloAlto as part of of our mix. So that is coming to the uh the commission on February. And then our capital projects um and our grid modernization. So we have taken a hard look at the grid modernization project in terms of a phasing incorporating the second transmission

line and looking to make sure that we're bringing forth um this the projects especially for our receiving stations. We are understand some of the issues in regards to supply chain. It takes about four years to get transformers now. So we have a multi-year project now where we've taken into account those projects and looking at how we can integrate them affordably for our customers. Uh a major initiative is fiber to the premises. um very detailed discussions on the amount of take rate, how we going to outreach to our customers and customers satisfaction, what we call cost per passing, how much it takes to get to each customer, and then our cash flow projections. This will be an ongoing effort as I know the community is very interested in moving that forward. And then of course the long-term strategy for our natural gas utility. there was a gas transmission uh excuse me gr gas transition plan that was brought forth not only to the UAC but to escap. So our next phases there is looking at our engineering modeling. So what will that look like as uh customers move and electrify and how can we uh cost effectively kind of reduce the size of the natural gas utility by also keeping it affordable and serving our customers. So that's a highlight of the work plan. um and here to answer any questions. I did want to mention uh Chair Greg Sharf is here as well, so um feel free to ask him the difficult questions as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything further from staff? That's it. Okay, so it looks like we have two chairs uh here and and a couple others online. Um terrific. Uh let's take public comment first. [sighs] No request to speak and no hands are raised in Zoom.

Okay, great. All right, colleagues, questions, comments, Vice Mayor Stone. Well, first, uh, no no real concerns. Love that the HRB is doing that historical preservation award. That sounds great. I'm excited to learn more about that and hopefully be able to participate as an observer uh at at whenever that happens. So hopefully staff can keep us updated on that. My my only question potential concern regarding the ARB. When will the ARB be getting to reviewing and recommending aesthetic standards for wireless communication facilities? is I was just a bit concerned that on goal two it says that work is lower priority and um and so not sure what the implications are on it being a lower priority for when that work will be completed. Thank you for that question and we may have more to add but um at a high level because we have so many housing projects coming through and other priority applications um it is uh part of work plan balancing we do have that on our list of tasks um but it isn't something we've been able to develop and bring forward just yet.

Okay. We think in this calendar year at least we do hope to. Okay. But maybe second half first half correct. Okay. second. I I suspect it will be part of your discussion on February 23rd when we bring the objectives back for council discussion. Great. And then just is staff waiting on that guidance from I mean I know we'll be discussing it but ultimately is that that's going to require ARB review.

I think as as currently scoped it would involve both ARB as well as staff work and I'm sure city attorney's office work. And so I know staff is looking at a uh more streamlined uh way to proceed and uh would expect to make that part of your discussion. All right. And we're currently operating under the current standards until those new ones are adopted. Yeah. Thank you. That's it for me. Council member Lou.

Thank you. I just had a few questions and comments, but I'll just start with an expression of gratitude for all of our commission and board members. And I hope that the chairs here can take that message to their committees because uh it is a serious amount of work as we've seen and uh I have seen through uh every commission that commission and board members really go above and beyond and that uh when they are appointed maybe they are an enthusiast or a sort of casual uh sort of community voice on a topic but then they become serious experts um and become really invested in the work. So, I'm just so grateful that we have these good plans to pour over. Um, I had a couple of questions about the ARB to start. So, I know we've been thinking about working on the sofa objective standards. Uh, both part of the h well, it's part of the housing element. Um, I think it's been on the queue for a little bit. SB79 I think would cover most if not all of the sofa area. And so are we rethinking or are we able to pivot and make sure that the objective standards are focused on around an SP79 implementation and do we have the right hooks so that depending on what the SP79 ad hoc decides that the objective standards are appropriate for the densities that are decided there. Thank you for that question. For um the implementation of the housing element, there is a program that is targeted at the sofa guidelines and making those into objective standards. A component of that also was to encourage additional density um in that area. And as you stated, we expect that SB79 will um affect that component of that.

However, creating objective standards based on the sofa guidelines is something that is still uh part of our proposed work plan in terms of implementing the housing element. So, that is still something that's anticipated to move forward.

Right. But I think in the context of SP79 and I uh this is very approximate. I could definitely be getting things wrong. It's that local standards that make that level of housing intensity and height impossible are can de facto be ignored. So if our objective standards are focused on uh the kind of structures or density or housing that may not actually get proposed. um we could be missing a chance to create objective standards that are more suitable for the projects that might happen.

Thank you. That that is correct. That as we go through um and review the current non-objective standards, the guidelines that are included in SOFA and convert those into objective standards, we would be working to make sure they're consistent with state law as well, specifically SB79.

Okay. Okay. It sounds like we are tracking this and I don't need any other positive reassurance that the work will be sequenced appropriately such that it won't be made redundant and that it'll be integrated with uh the ad hoc work. Okay. Um uh another point was that I see on the streetscape improvement section and the area plan section that California A is considered uh University A is considered but Ramona is not considered. Uh is that right? Uh could we uh both take Ramona and California A together and uh of course depending on bandwidth uh and uh what staff finds in terms of feasibility of uh university have uh plans that that should potentially be or probably be dep prioritized. I would say that since Ramona is not listed here, that does not mean that they would not review it if it was ready to move forward.

Okay. I think one lesson we should generally uh take from my uh interpretation of what's happened in the retail committee is that uh [clears throat] Ramona and Calav generally that the principles are generally similar that the kinds of structures allowed are generally similar um and so uh there should be some flexibility. Okay. Um, okay. On HRB, uh, I like that we're thinking more about education. Um, I hope that, uh, uh, you know, I always had this, uh, thought in the back of my mind that we should have a signage program similar to a lot of East Coast cities where we literally put a sign in the ground and say this is where something historically significant happened because there's a lot of that in Paul Alto. That's a total aside. Um, the only thing I did have on HRB is that I think prioritizing zoning incentives is uh useful and maybe the most effective way to preserve history uh given um zoning and state law. Uh, I am over time. I had much briefer notes on PTC and UAC, so maybe I'll come back to that later. But thank you,

Council Member Bert.

Thank you. So, I have uh comments on three of the boards and then some overview comments on the process. So, what I don't get to hopefully u get in a second round. Um first on the ARB um on this is page um packet page I think 97 no um excuse me uh 94 project goal two which is um uh on the creation of new guidelines ordinances and streetscape. says that ARB would have unique feedback basically on the aesthetic environment and the staff report um referenced under the mission statement four sections of the zoning code that really pertain to ARB's role and got me to go back and read this uh because we've had this issue of of uh at times where the ARB has really been waiting in on a number of urban design related aspects of projects and there was a question whether kind of stepping outside their lane and when I read it's um it is uh chapter 18.76.02 O2 um it's really interesting because they give five purposes the ARB and one's the aesthetic and the other four really relate to urban design. And so I had underappreciated um just how much their mandate really does relate to urban design. It's not just the parcel and it's not just the aesthetics, it's how it really works in the whole fabric. which goes to a a longtime issue which is well wait a minute that crosses over to some of what the planning and transportation

commission does and this has always been kind of a a tension and uh rubbing elbows and we've never really sat down and said well what are those respective roles? Um if both have a role then how do we more efficiently address that? Should they be doing that together? um should be they be informed by each other's opinions that way. So, I don't know the answer, but I I would like to see that added to the work plan to address that issue. Um and then second, um [sighs] the the uh the issue of the sofa development that Council Member Lou mentioned uh uh is an important one. when we um establish the SB79 ad hoc, we definitely said well we one of the purposes there is to understand whether to fold the downtown housing plan into that continue struggle with that but it should actually be the downtown housing plan and the sofa plan and figure out how we reconcile that but once uh related to that is what's the PTC and for that matter the ARB role as we try to quickly struggle through the momentous impacts of SB79 and um I don't want us on the ad hoc committee to um be attempting to come up with those solutions along with staff in the absence of the input uh and real thoughtful input from ARB and and uh PTC because this is really going to be significant to the community. Um, and then, um, I saw a note that they had in there on, uh, proposing that the

objective standards for town homes on multif family be extended to, uh, objective standards for multi-story projects. And that seems like a really good recommendation. and um and their own recommendation that there there be work to figure out how to streamline and coordinate between maybe this was more the PTC PTC and HRB and so on in several themes here as we're looking at streamlining our processes uh not only do we look at reducing the time and the expense involved but how do we better integrate the uh insights of these boards commissions rather than we just have alternately here's the insight of one commission here's of another and we get here and we referee or but they aren't getting informed of each other often sometimes they are but not necessarily and not in an environment where they can actually have discourse and and understand why why are they proposing something that's different on ARB from the from that or just feeding off of each other. I just think we need to look at how to improve the processes to reduce the time and expense and improve the quality at the same time. Um, okay. So, I will um defer to the next round for the rest.

Council member Rectal.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, first, just an overall comment. Both PTC and ARB quite often send representatives when they've reviewed a a a project to council and they usually sit there and we never ask them anything and it really would be nice to make that just a standard process that we always ask them for their opinions because they've worked really hard on this. They have some insight that may save us a lot of time. Um, also, yeah, thank you for the we re the KOSA report. UAC did a lot of work on that. Saved us a lot of time and we appreciate that. We just in retail reviewed the zoning changes and PTC did a lot of work on that and saved us. So, I agree with Council Member Lou. These commissions work really hard and do really good work and save us a lot of time and and really help the community. So, thank you. Um, okay. So yeah, communications for the PTC and ARB2 council. Uh but also with each other, uh one of the commissioners had proposed joint meetings between ARB and PTC and I'm not sure if that would work. The advantage is is that sometimes the project goes to one and you get one advice and you go to the next commission and it they change the advice and so you kind of feel jerked around if you're the applicant and having a joint meeting would give them one set of advice and if the two commissions didn't agree they could discuss it there and I think it would be a much more direct route. It would be much more complicated. So I'm not just saying it would work but I think it would be worthwhile to at least consider the pros and cons of that. Um, I think also communicating between the ARB and the PTC, maybe having monthly or bimonthly meetings of the chair and vice chairs, both have four of them together and talk about process and talk about projects that are coming forward. Uh, that I think would be useful and maybe between the mayor and the vice mayor and

the chair and vice chair of PTC that have some communication going on. I feel quite often the only communication we get is staff reports, right? we don't really interact and having flow both ways would be a good thing. When I was on parks and wreck, having lays on was very useful. Uh I'm not sure if that would work here, but I think it's it's worth worthwhile to think about how can we communicate better between PTC and ARB and also between those commissions and council. Um okay. Yeah, I'll echo uh Council Member Bird about you know urban design is an important part of ARB and I agree with that. uh aesthetic standards for wireless. I I agree that's an important uh priority although not as high as housing. So I understand we only have so much workforce, so much bandwidth. Um PTC when you're talking about the project goals, which is the new neighborhood number two, uh it doesn't talk much about transportation, particularly bike transportation, and that's going to be a critical part down in San Antonio. And then later on, you talk about bike plans, but you don't talk about the new neighborhoods. And so I really think those are two important things and unfortunately when we plan new neighborhoods we plan cars, we don't plan bikes and having those linked explicitly in the work plan I think would be a really good thing. Um we also have the retail committee and the planning transportation that has some overlap. Uh having some communication between that I think might be useful. And I again I don't know if joint meetings or if it's just the chairs get together and talk but I think we have to improve our communication. Uh for the UAC we have AMI which I just think is a wonderful source of data and uh are we doing everything we can to exploit all that data. We have this time of use pricing and can we scrub that and understand what is the use profile when

we're forming the time of use uh options. what what options should we give what people what's the demand out there and we have that demand through the AMI but also for uh leak detection for water uh AMI is great for that and are we exploiting that maybe we are I don't know but uh data is wonderful and AMI is going to give us so much data we don't know what to do with it um for grid mod I think we need reliability goals and set specific reliability goals uh especially as we electrify we need electrification reliability and uh but also path forward. We can pick you know 99% or whatever and that doesn't mean anything unless we think well if we upgrade this product that will reduce so many outages and and have some realistic path forward for that. and um oh also mentioned about the data centers that's a real source of electricity but also it's going to be a big source of water and um are we considering purple pipe water for those data centers at all because some of these data centers use so much water chashes BT is like a half gallon per search or something it's amazing how much water they use and can we use purple pipe water that would be a really good way of because we have so much purple pipe water, it'd be good to use that instead of having fresh water. Um, the plan also has talked about gray water. I'm not sure what our plans are for gradewater. Uh, I'm curious what we're going to be doing, why that's in the plan. If we can do it, it'd be wonderful, but I I don't know what the plan is right now. Um, and also just in general, purple pipe water. Do we have plans for that or is that something that's kind of gone the way of the dinosaur? I'm not sure. And finally, uh, HRB, I want to echo Council

Member Lou's comment about historic markers. I think that'd be a really good use for HRB is to have more historic markers. Okay, that's all. Thank you, Council Member Lowing. Our

our commissions are extremely high quality and and hardworking. [clears throat] Uh, I see that reflected in all these work plans and I think that, you know, unless they're missing something that that we've asked them to do, we probably don't want to get too deep in telling them what to do. They they should be telling us what to do in some cases to get out ahead of things. So, I appreciate those efforts and as you all know, I've spent a lot of years on those commissions, so I know what the dayto-day and monthtomonth is. Um, I want to chime in on this thing that keeps coming up and has for years and we're talking about it multiple uh comments tonight on overlaps between commissions or communications between commissions. Um, last year as mayor and with the vice mayor, we met with the boards and commissions, chairs and vices to be listening listening posts more than anything else. And I thought it was productive. I hope it was for the uh for the commissioners. Um but we have to I think you know take that input somehow package it and take some action. Um there's for example in the ARB I'm sorry in the now I've lost it packet page 98 yeah on packet page 98 of the U ARB [clears throat] proposal they're essentially making a proposal to us that um ARB has little formal interaction with city council etc. uh and they've got a four bullet point thing about all kinds of gettogethers including at the end HRB PTC and council leaison to the RB facilitate open communications. Um I don't think we can just sort of debate that tonight and say yes or no because effectively it's it's an action item. Uh but I think it deserves some study and a response. uh whatever we think the best [clears throat] um sort of channel for doing that is. Uh it could it could be, you know, the mayor meeting with them. It could be

a referral to PNS, which might take a little bit longer, but [clears throat] this is essentially a proposal within their work plan that that we ought to respond to. Um you know, not only not not just out of respect, but because there's some ideas here that we we want to kind of uh chew and and decide on. So, um I'm not sure we can come up with an answer tonight, but that that that's that's a concern that I have. And then, um another thing I want to talk about is uh UAC has also suggested where I'm the lison on uh that that they want to do what Keith Commissioner Rectal said of have a person come and represent them sometimes. And I think those can be really valuable. Um, and it's incumbent upon the commissioner to not be redundant of everything that's been in the in the staff report, but for us to be more than just um have this person on standby, uh, at least have them, you know, give a give an opinion on what's on what's happening. Uh, and the last thing I want to talk about is um sort of a process issue. And I know this might sound funny, but my question is, are are we meeting often enough in the commissions for all the work that we're trying to get done? I mean, I've watched in UAC the last two years particularly, it's getting more and more and more and more work, and they're trying to get that all done in uh one meeting a month. So, something's going to change there. It's either going to be less work or more meetings. Um, and similarly, PTC uh has has a load. On the other hand, uh I noticed in the uh report a couple weeks ago that there have been a lot of canceled meetings on commissions this year. So that can happen because you know staff isn't ready. But it it it's sort of the other side of getting the work done is we've got these meetings scheduled and then we don't even do them. So I don't know what to do about that. I just want to point out that

that's a factor [clears throat] in in our work right now. And I feel for example on retail like we've been looking for at council for proposal on other retail like uses and zoning in retail areas for quite a long time and you know we still don't have it. So I don't know if that's because staff isn't ready or the consultant's not done or we're missing meetings. Uh, and the same thing with retail nodes. We've talked about briefly here. And I I think both of these are still coming, but it just seems like it's taking a while to get here. And um, then we're just kind of losing time with our our retail vibrancy and and economic development. Um, so I think these work plans are are quite productive, but they're requiring some response and we need to find out the mechanism to do that. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. And uh I really echo my colleagues, but particularly Council Member Lou about the amount of work that this represents. It's truly extraordinary. Um and it reflects our extraordinary community and the people who will step up to do it. So just a lot of gratitude for that. Um, I want to echo uh former mayor Lowing because it was when you were mayor and the two of us met with the commission chairs and vice chairs and the ARB PTC connection came up and we talked a little about that and um I think we kind of uh supported exploring whether there should be more interaction and I don't know chair uh if you want to say anything anybody about that. Um, yeah, please go ahead if you have some comment on that, if there's any followup or

Thank you, Mayor. Um, yes, as some of you know, uh, Commissioner Hirs and I have been working on this off and on over the past year. Um, and we do have, uh, a structure that we think would be appropriate. um and uh not only how it might be organized but what topics might be covered as a part of that and we hope to uh arrange some kind of staff mediated um long-term process for implementing that. Well, that's good news. So, even if it's not expressly on your work plan, it is something that you're pursuing right now. I was uh excited to see that the ARB mentioned it explicitly. Oh,

okay. So, I missed that. But so, in in that sense, we didn't need to, [laughter] but yes, it's important that it uh that it was stated. Great. Okay. Well, I think you heard some support for it tonight. So, thank you. Thank you.

Um and uh yes, Council Member Rectal had mentioned about getting information flowing both ways. And uh I agree with that. And um I believe there's a proposal coming from PNS soon that we dealt with uh a couple meetings ago that was talking about BCC interactions with council and whether or not um each of them can have the option to come before council once a year with either their work plans or specific issue or anyway we can we can I think have a more um full uh conversation about that because it should be an agendaized item and the city manager is nodding. So I think I've got that right. So we'll have an opportunity to explore that further. Um as we will the grid mod uh reliability goals I think on March 2nd when the RSP comes here. Um people's thoughts about that can be brought up. Um so data centers I think many of you know that's one of my favorite topics. Um so I'm excited that UAC is going to be taking a a deep look at that. I I am curious kind of how that came to be and what the output will be and where it will go. So maybe Mr. Director Curator, do you want to

Yeah, let me give a little update to that. So the the um UAC really looked at as a data center competitiveness in terms of you know what data centers would come to PaloAlto what opportunities would there be uh is the utility prepared to accommodate that and what are the impacts to to rate payers in terms of that. So we did a very uh deep dive in terms of that. So we have a series of questions we'll be bringing back to the commissions and then on a policy level what the those systems look like. So kind of the state-of-the-art what the data centers are like. You know they do not use a lot of uh portable water anymore. They have closed loop systems. They they like to use recycled water especially given the corporate awareness here. So we have opportunities there. So there's a lot of places where you can tick and tie and kind of discuss that level of detail. then the UAC would bring some thoughts uh back to the city council for their consideration on a policy level.

That's great. I really appreciate that because there are a lot of complex things to to balance and weigh and it starts with uh you know the utilities ability uh the capacity as you said whether there's impact on rateayers there's a lot of disagreement about what that would be and um you know what the demands are but then there are you know contra potentially contravailing considerations with respect to water use but even beyond the utilities um uh you know just the look of thing, traffic things, v various um considerations. So, I'm glad very very glad that you all are taking that on because I think it's something we really need to have a direct uh conversation about. Um and more and more people are. So, it's a little hard in some ways to see around corners as to where the technology is going to go as well as the demand. And there's so many variables about this, but we we got to do our best. So, I appreciate that you're taking that on. Um, I am just out of time, so I will stop there and we'll see if we can wrap this up with the next round. Um, Council Member Lou,

thank you. I'll just make some quick notes. Uh, I agree with Council Member Lowing, uh, that the ARB's sort of requested objectives are pretty thoughtful and reasonable and especially some of the process things do deserve a response. Uh, I like that they uh uh ask for a California a uh area plan. I think um you know it's it's something we I I think we all want pending the resources and so it's good to uh I don't know aim high just you know try to realize your dreams. Um, and I also have heartburns that we don't have a calav or that we we're not really talking about a calav plan. I don't know uh if there's some way to squeeze that in uh potentially in context of the SB79 committee and um the ARB. Uh but uh would be interested if possible on the PTC work plan. The one thing that stood out to me is that there's an item for the bike and pedestrian plan updates, but there's not uh clear priorities about actually um uh realizing specific projects and design or trying to get some quick build projects through the uh pipeline. Um, and this segus into a thought also about PTC and uh, council dynamics um, and communication. Uh, I'm thinking about a specific traffic calming project in Crescent Park that has been in PTC for a pretty decent amount of time and is coming to council, I believe, in the coming month or two. So, I think that there was a

uh some kind of missing dynamic where if something is really stuck in PTC, uh it could have come to council sooner or that there could be some kind of two-way communication so we can get issues agendaized um from the transportation department or from PTC uh on a more uh flexible basis because we will need to do a lot of traffic calming and we'll need be able to do this uh smoothly and quickly. Um yeah and uh I don't have uh too much else to add about the UAC but um I've always really appreciated its insights about rates and the commercial uh side especially around fiber to the premises and I think maybe not this year but next year there is going to be actually enough data to uh draw some conclusions about the pilot and um I think that's a exciting opportunity for the UAC. Uh I hope we can get some feedback from the UAC about that this year if uh not soon the year after. So thank you

council member Bert. Yeah. Um, first I support the oral reports by the council leaison that they be given that opportunity as a defined part of the process um when they come uh because often we forget they're there and and unless somebody asks them a question they they may be chomped in the bit to say something and they they don't even get the chance. Um, and then I think that uh specifically their work plan should include a reference to SB79 even though we don't know yet what their role will be but we know it's a big deal and they should have some role. Sorry I see

if I may just quickly I'm sure it will be part of the work plan for next year. Uh last July when we were adopting that we did not know.

Well that goes to some of my process question comments at the end. Um and then similarly we we have a need but the retail committee just reviewed um the retail recommendations from PTC which were really thoughtful and extensive but we had uh feedback back but it goes okay if they read we read their notes or get their report or if they see ours but there's no discourse that's there that could speed up this whole process and if we add an occasional joint meeting whether it's the PTC and the retail or whatever that ad hoc committee may be in the future. Um similarly on the UAC and the SAP and that goes to my next uh issue um is that um ever since we created the SAP we've struggled with what should be the UAC role and as an interim we as part of our community or our advisory committee we included um a UAC member the vice chair currently uh but that doesn't really function to uh have that real two-way dialogue and to sort through what are the respective roles of those two entities. And so we just are kind of proceeding in parallel and um in somewhat opaque um uh understandings of what each other are doing. We'll get reports, but it's just not clear and we're we haven't struggled to figure out what should be the respective roles. I don't know the answers, but I think we need to get it down on the work plan to address it. And that includes on the SCAP work plan this year, and that's probably where uh some of that work should be done. Um,

one specific um, issue is that um, I would like to see the UAC make recommendations on uh, electric reliability uh, that are quantitative. What's the reliability that we should uh, when and how perhaps get to our former reliability which is just a bit down. uh we're just a bit down from it, but what reliability should we aim for or really put a clear goal on if we're looking for the community to switch to electric? And we hear time and again legitimate concerns that, oh, you want me to give up my gas, but my my lights went out. And how do we address that adequately? What is adequate? We don't have yet um those specific goals. And I think we need to figure out what they should be and uh set them and if they then need to be evolved over time like everything else we can do that. But I think it's a real critical importance in our entire electrification program is to figure out how good should should our electric reliability be if we want people to go electric. Um and then um [sighs] um oh I just noticed that under the accomplishments for UAC it was a little different. It was more focused on uh what are really utility department accomplishments and that's different from how it was treated by the other boards and commissions. I think it's in it was intended to focus on what the commission did as opposed to the department and just a an aside comment on that. Um and that those accomplishments would align with their mission. I when I read the mission I said oh yeah I'm sure they

could really address that. Lastly, on the process, um these were largely completed in June, uh or very early July. Um and when we get back from vacation, August and September are typically light council schedules and then October through December heat up or early December. And as a result, I assume that's part of why it came to us as a consent item. Um, and I think we should put a clear schedule says here's the date that the boards and commissions need to have their work plans done by and then we will schedule them for August and September to come to the council when we have a real opportunity and they're timely. So, we're in February. These were completed in July, composed in May and June, and they're almost a year outdated by the time we're getting them. Now, some of it still carries forward, but some of it isn't. And we have to figure out how to solve that problem. And that goes to what process we should have. This I think this discussion tonight is real valuable. We broke it into half of the boards gives us you know rather than try and do it all in one evening. We used to have periodic joint sessions with certain of the key boards and commissions and that was really tough to manage and schedule. And so then this process came forward of well the work plans and it's really this deliberate way in which the boards and commissions have a clear set of goals including things that they're re recommending that they do on a proactive basis and they need the council's consent for that to enter their work plan and that's what this process is endorsing in many ways. Um but then we skipped from having a discussion where we could have discourse on this to it

showed up on consent and I think at a minimum we need to have this kind of meeting built into our procedures because it's of real value. Um so I think that covers um yep that's everything I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, I want to go back to a couple things, but um, first I just wanted uh, when I uh, asked about the data centers, there's been a lot of stuff on utilities and we're lucky we have our utilities director here, but we also have our UIC chair. Is there anything you want to add to anything that's been said because I feel like you're here, we haven't taken advantage. If there are things you want to respond to, I would invite you to do that. Yeah,

I think I would just say thank you for the opportunity to um to address you and the data center thing I think is really interesting and we're supposed to go that next Wednesday and I think our look at it was how how does this affect rates in terms of is this good for the rate payer. [clears throat] I think that's the thought and that's it is a very complicated process to understand that and so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to be able to tell you, you know, definitively if we get a data center of, you know, x megawatt, is that good? How big is too big? Where does that slip up, you know, slip over to not be useful for the rate pair? So, that's really what we're doing there. Um, I also think maybe you haven't gotten this much. I think we're a little skeptical on fiber to the premises and we're hoping the pilot gives us real information before the city spends too much money on that process. I think that's that's something we're looking at. And then in terms of grid mod, which is obviously the big thing, I think we're very much in favor of the utilities approach, which is to do what makes sense in terms of phasing phasing it as opposed to going out and rebuilding stuff before it's needed to be rebuilt given the costs. So, I think that's really the thoughts. I don't know if you guys have any other questions, but that was really where we are.

Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Um I'm I guess the uh the other thing is do you have any thoughts on interaction between the UAC and the ESCAP committee? Um you know I think when that that same council item comes forward from PNS about what's the relationship between council and BCC's. We'll we can discuss it more fully then. But if there's anything you'd like to share tonight about how we sort out those roles and uh any places you've seen a need to revise or do something. Yeah, I I definitely think I've been thinking about that like council member Bert said, what's the right approach on this? And right now I think it's completely parallel. I think the ESCAP committee has a much more narrow focus at least. That's my opinion of it. I I don't really I could be wrong. I mean I don't spend enough time watching the SCAP and doing that but my sense is their their charter in their mind is how do we meet you know the SAP goals whereas we have a broader charter which is how do we make sure that we go ahead and try and meet the council's goals while keeping rates low while making sure the utility functions properly to make sure that you know money isn't spent in a way that the utility can't afford those kind of things and I I think that's a broader charter and um you know I think that's the better charter if I have to say it. Um so I I and I don't know how you integrate that as a council. I've been wondering about that and maybe just having two parallel bodies that talk about this and could make very different recommendations depending on and that allows you two different thought processes. But remember we have the larger charter and when we think about it more holistically.

Yeah. I mean, I would characterize it as like a ven diagram and overlapping charters because ESCAP is broader in other ways, but I I take your point and I think that this is something uh Council Member Bert mentioned we could also address in the ESCAP work plan and think about it further, but I was just curious your thoughts. So, uh thank you for that.

Sure thing. Um I did want to mention that uh when we switched to this sort of appoint half the boards and commissions you know at one point in the year and six months later do the other half. I believe that led to the then they do their work plans after they're appointed and that's why we're doing half at a time. It's not so much I think that there's there's a staggered preparation. So I agree with you that they are stale by now and we we should address that. But I think the the the reason we do half at a time is that they're prepared sort of one group. Is that correct? One group and then the other group.

That is correct. Um and I know we've had some parallel discussions on on whether it's actually helpful or not relative to the new commissioners. I think it also uh reflected uh the recognition that if we brought all the commission work plans to you at at once that would also be bit of a load on your agenda.

Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So I see no further lights and we need to figure out uh we need to uh take action on these uh work plans. Uh they are seeking approval. So if there are uh it could be an emotion motion to that effect. if there are uh amendments that people want to propose uh to them, but I would entertain that at this point. Council member Bur.

Yeah. Um so first I'll I'll recommend the um um the proposed work plans with uh a few amendments that I can go through under PTC to add a reference to um uh SB79 as a project um under the UAC um to add a that they propose review. advanced staff propose um uh specific goals for reliability as a project and I think oh similarly under ARB that SB79 be included as a project uh that we endorse their recommendation to expand the objective standards on residential to larger multif family objective standards. Um and that we endorse their efforts to coordinate and streamline what they do with HRB and ARB.

Second. Okay. I'll just say briefly that um those last ones I think their work plan was asking for our support for that. So it's not writing it a new just affirming that yes we agree and support it. Council member Ectal, do you want to speak to your second? No.

Council member Lou, I you have comment? I think the ARB recommendation was not to apply uh objective standards to more um larger multif family but to actually uh apply it to town homes. So in that recommendation it says that some of our current standards focus more on larger multif family. Point out on pack page 97 uh objective standard refinements number one.

Oh yeah. Um, so I think uh just for clarity, it's it should be uh I I fully support the concept and the motion, but I think it should be for town homes. Um or uh if if I'm not wrong, uh or if I'm not right, it's also just a little bit ambiguous. So clarification could be good. Perhaps the chair could clarify or you go ahead.

Thank you. I can I can step in and clarify. That is correct, Commissioner or Council Member Lou. uh that that was intended to identify the fact that we have objective standards for larger multif family but that they don't always apply well to town homes and the ARB um has actually had some discussions on that topic previously uh and they were interested in trying something forward

I had forgotten that from when I read it this afternoon I'd like to change that um amendment to reflect Um let's see. Um that the uh endorse uh their recommendation to expand the objective standards to town homes. Okay. So now does that read? Yep.

Okay. That reads how you'd like it. Okay. Um, can I just ask I'd like to ask uh I think the utilities director um about the um specific goals for reliability as a project. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, so I think what we can bring back and talk to the UAC about is looking at our um reliability metrics in terms of outages uh response times, how that ties into the projects and our operational goals. For example, we've modified one of our staff members in terms of them staying later in the evening. So, we have a troubleman available from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. And that means we'll have someone on site and we anticipate that will be helpful in terms of response times because they'll be on prem. So, and that will help us cover kind of in that larger way. So we can bring some of those operational some of the project related uh investments and how what we're seeing you know for example AMI you know we get information on when we have outages it goes to our control operators so as we implement these new technologies we'll get some efficiencies and we'll get some kind of throughput and what that looks like so um we can bring some of those things back and have those discussions with um the UAC. So that's sounds like things that could enhance I mean specific things that could enhance reliability but if if I I I think what's sought here is goals for you know what what those what those reliability standards should be and um when we talk about the KPIs and whenever it is we do that in a month or so um are are those reliability goals kind of baked in or or not? Is that a separate conversation?

Yes. So the reliability goals we we call them the the Katie safety and Katie. So they they are basically how long do we have outages? How often do we have them? We can rank them against other agencies around us with similar type of of systems. You know frankly Palo Alto is about um in terms of its reliability metrics is about twice as good as as PG& in terms of our response time. So that doesn't mean it can't be better. that doesn't mean that there are other things that we are planning to do. So um you know we can put bring some of those those goals back and incorporate that and have a discussion with the UAC.

If I could uh add I think mayor what you were referring to is that the council will be receiving and discussing taking action on the reliability and resiliency spec strategic plan uh as a part of your climate action goals. So, one, so I I think the question here is um whether it would be best at this time to make this a referral to the UAC or perhaps when you're considering that strategic plan whether it might be more appropriate at that point to uh uh have this along with potentially other elements uh that you may want to refer to the UAC. So, I think uh with the director's uh response, we could certainly do it now, but you may have a better context for that referral uh at the time that you're considering uh the overall reliability and resiliency.

Yeah, thank you. Um that's certainly part of it. I guess what I was trying to figure out is so so the KPIs tell us what our reliability is, but not what our goals are necessarily. And so I I think again what saw is, you know, should we set specific goals so that we can achieve our electrification goals. And so it's sort of a means to an end. And what I was trying to figure out is is that something that whether or not that's something that is kind of in the works or whether it's something that would be uh framed up for us in this future conversation or whether it's something we should just do now. That's what I was trying to sort out. [sighs]

I think it'd be better informed as part of the resiliency and reliability strategic plan. Get that a little more information and you can probably provide a little more direction in that regard. Um there are some nuances just by the nature of the work. If we reinvest into our system and replace aging infrastructure that will increase reliability. If we uh make some changes to the system and have greener ties in our 12KB systems that reduces downtime. if we invest in uh you know smart systems and and repairable systems um that also does it as well. So there's there's a lot of kind of overlapping projects and we just need to fold that in. But you know maybe that larger discussion that will go to council in March and then we could you know work with ESCAP team. We work very closely with them um in that development as well. So that that might be the best way at this point. I really support what council member Bird is saying uh in terms of and his goal of making sure that we can enable the things we want to enable and that this certainly seems like one way, but I I I feel like you're going to bring to us this more of a landscape as to what whether it's reliability but also resiliency and capacity and all the various things and the various projects you have underway when we hear the RSP and the KPIs and all that. But I wanted if but if not, I want to do it now. I guess that's my question. Uh we we certainly certainly can do some of that now if that's the the council's prerogative. Um I I will mention we we do you know some of these capital projects, you know, will enhance reliability, resiliency and capacity, right? So the capacity and be able to serve on the electrification is also kind of that third leg of that story.

Yeah, I'm going to go to council member B, but to to clarify, but I I guess what I was trying to say is is it is it better as a one-off because it won't be coming or would it be better to have it as part of the others? But let me I think council member Robera has something more to say.

So this is not saying to immediately go set those goals. It's simply saying plan for it for this year's work plan. And yes, we are anticipating that we'll have a deeper discussion as council when we have the SAP and be able to go into that. But all we're doing is saying it just goes in as a work plan item so that everybody's anticipating it'll happen. We aren't saying what the goal should be or any such thing. um just that we should set goals. Um and one of the things I should have pointed out before is the director uh made the point we already are doing a whole series of major projects that will improve our reliability. uh the grid mod. Uh much of that is replacing uh not only equipment that's not sized right and creating or contributing to reliability issues, but outdated equipment with smarter new equipment, better technology. Um we have the AMI and then we have the uh new major power line eventually. So all those and other things, we're already on a path, but we just need to set numbers. Um, and that's why I said just just get in the work plan and then we'll have the deeper discussion at ESCAP.

That's fine. I just I'm aware of all those projects. Uh, I just that seems like pulling one thing out of a whole suite of things we're doing and I wasn't sure if perhaps we already had the goals. So, that's what I was trying to elicit is whether we needed to do this as a one-off thing, but I have no objection to it if the if the director doesn't. [snorts] we do have in our KPIs kind of being in the top cortile of the entities of similar size and um not only in California but in the nation. U but we can also bring that back as a work plan item if if you would like to.

Okay. And I think what he's trying to get at is to tie it to the electrification goal. So it's not just an excellence goal for the service which is good too uh and and necessary for our community but also to make sure it achieves the the electrification.

I note that the comparison to other utilities is true and accurate where we are on the uh percentile where we are in relation to PG& and we should be marketing that more to our customers and get them to appreciate it. None of them are fully electrified or anywhere near as far along as we are. The past is not prologue. Uh we are looking at an electrified uh system where we're uh eliminating gas or declining gas use. That's why we kn need new and stronger reliability than we or others have had historically. So looking backward is not the solution to this problem. Council member,

council member Lowing and uh liaison to the UIC. Yeah, I was just going to suggest that to [clears throat] incorporate the comments that I mentioned earlier on this packet page 98, the request from uh well, it's really the request from PTC and ARB that we should add PTC to the third bullet point here in in the motion um to coordinate streamline work which also includes exchange of information to get there. So I think in the last bullet point you should list HRB, architectural review board and PTC. That sounds good. Yes.

That's all. Any further discussion? Going once, going twice. We have an exhausted council. I think it's time to vote. Council member Lowing, yes. Council member Lou, yes. Council member Lithcot Haynes, yes. Council member Bert, yes. Council member Rectal, yes. Vice Mayor Stone, yes. Mayor Vinker, yes. Motion carries unanimously.

Okay. And um with that because we are uh not doing our last action item tonight um we are to uh our adjournment time and I would like to adjourn uh tonight in memory of Phil Boel who was with the city of PaloAlto for more than 30 years uh including as assistant director of public works and was a real champion of environmental leadership by the city um and uh spent years at uh EPA region 9 and I know the city will be looking for other ways to note uh his accomplishments and service to the city but as for tonight we adjourn in his memory. We are adjourned. Good night.