CC Min 2012-05-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Council Member Ira expressed his thanks for this appointment and he said that the finro of them worked well together and the goal was to find out what was best for Redwood City. He noted that people thought it was only about the advisory vote and how the finro wanted to put an end to the divisiveness and distraction being created around this project. He said that the first criteria was to recognize that there are a lot of exciting things going on in the City like Depot Circle and how this committee wanted to do the right thing by Redwood City and have people engaged in those opportunities. He stated that as a City, the Council wished to take control of the issue and they came to the conclusion that due to the ambiguity, the sub-committee thought that denying the application was the best option. In regards to a future project application he said the two Council Members could not make a recommendation because they did not know what the developer would propose in the future. He strongly believes this is in the best interest of the Redwood City. He noted that since the application has been withdrawn then they can't do that. Mayor Aguirre thanked the Ad Hoc Committee. Public Comment Mayor Aguirre offered Shauun an opportunity to speak again on this topic since this is the item that is on the agenda. Shaunn Cartwright thanked Council for doing the right thing and letting her speak again. She has recently gone to the Bay Area of Governments to protest green washing, to demand more transparency, questioned the Redwood City housing target and opined that inflated numbers were used by developers that were not based on actual growth. She also spoke against lowering CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) standards through the bill co-authored by Richard Gordon (AB 900) and expressed being ashamed of Council for "shutting down her free speech rights". John Bruno, with DMB Pacific Ventures, commended the City for its open, transparent, fact-based proposal review. He said they have listened to claims made by advocacy groups and had worked on significantly revising the proposal to make it responsive, has a smaller project foot print, more environmental protection and restoration, and there will not be a submittal of the revision until after this process so they can take it all into account. They said their revised program will be significantly different from the prior one. He thanked the Council and staff for its professionalism. Joel Jensen spoke in favor of balance in terms of increasing the quality of life and consideration of the pros and cons of the future proposal. He spoke about smart growth considerations along EI Camino, possibly more traffic, possible decline for downtown businesses, increased water demands, cost to maintain dikes and opined that smart growth along EI Camino would be better due to increased business, foot traffic, short- term increase in construction, and an improvement in the quality of life. Gail Raabe, speaking for Redwood City Neighbors United, spoke in favor of identifying future applications and opined that City Council should have the option to deny applications that are inconsistent with Land Use and the tidal plain. She spoke about JOINT CITY COUNCIL/SUCCESSOR AGENCY May 7, 2012 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 9 MINUTE BOOK NO. 64 Page No. 111