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1/11/1988 . 1: 52 MINUTES OF A � REGULP.R MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL � CITY OF ROLLING HILLS ` � January 11, 1988 p S{' P A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Rolling Hills was called to order at the Administration Building/City Hall, Portuguese Bend Road, Rolling Hills, California, by Mayor Swanson a � 7: 30 p.m. , Monday, January 11, 1988. ROLL CALL � I PRESENT: Councilmembers Heinsheimer, Leeuwenburgh, Murdock, Pernell, Mayor Swanson ABSENT: None ALSO PRESENT: Terrence L. Belanger City Manager Betty Volkert Deputy City Clerk Anna Pulido Administrative Intern Michael Smith Southern Calif. Edison Bill Cross Resident CONSENT CALENDAR � The City Manager suggested that the Annual Audit Report be removed from the Consent Calendar and held on the agenda to the January 25th meeting, due to some questions in paragraph 2 of the letter from the CPA regarding the General Fixed . Asset ledger. There being no objections, the Mayor so ordered. Councilman Pernell moved approval of the remaining items on the Consent Calendar. The motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of a regular meeting of the City Council, held on December 14, 1987 , and of adjourned meetings of the City Council, held on December 21, 1987, and December 28, 1987 , were approved and accepted as written. PAYMENT OF BILLS Demands Nos. 2551 through 2572, and 2574 through 2598, in the amount of $41, 481. 63 , were approved for payment from the General Fund. Demand No. 2573 was voided. FINANCIAL STATEMENT • The Financial Statement for the month of November, 1987, was approved and accepted as presented. ANNUAL AUDIT REPORT The Annual Audit Report was withdrawn from the Consent Calendar and held on the agenda to the Council meeting of January 25, 1988. OLD BUSINESS - STATUS OF FLYING TRIANGLE The City Manager informed the Council that since their last meeting, federal legislation granting appropriations to the Army Corps of Engineers to undertake a reconnaissance study of the South Peninsula landslide area, was approved by the Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States. This means that within the next eighteen (18) months a study will be undertaken by the Corps of Engineers to determine the feasibility of proceeding with future studies. The primary purpose of the studies will be to determine the feasibility of building a sea wall system to protect the coastline. January 11, 1988 � �5�3 Regarding the Flying Triangle lawsuit, the City Manager reported that a verdict was rendered last week. Although the City was not involved in that litigation, the verdict was generally unfavorable to the governmental entities. The damage phase of the trial is scheduled to begin later this month. Another item of interest reported by City Manager Belanger was that the residence located at 63 Portuguese Bend Road South, formerly known as the Borden residence, was raised and placed on steel beams during this past weekend. This is currently the Cross residence. With regards t•o the reconnaissance study, Mayor Swanson commented that there will be a meeting held between the City Manager and Bob Joe, from the Corps of Engineers, to discuss the scope of the study and that Members of the City Council o will be kept informed. Councilman Pernell asked if the Corps of Engineers will � be the one � to determine the scope of the project and how much input will the City have as to what is included in the study. T"0 City Manager Belanger explained that the City does have some � say as to what it feels is important in the way of evaluation. � PRESENTATION BY A REPRESENTATIVE FROM LACTC - m CALL BOX SYSTEM UPGRADE - SAFE a The representative from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission was not present, therefore, this item was held over to the January 25, 1988, City Council meeting. NEW BUSINESS PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION - DECEMBER 15, 1987 Zoning Case No. 348, James Murray, 8 Possum Ridge Road Zoning Case No. 348 is a request by James Murray, 8 Possum Ridge Road, for a Variance and Conditional Use Permit for a garage/recreation room to encroach into the established front yard. The City Manager reported that the encroachment would be approximately twenty-six ( 26) feet, resulting in a minimum front yard of seventy-two ( 72) feet. The Planning Commission approved the Variance and Conditional Use Permit at their regular meeting on December 15, 1987, and made the finding that there is no environmental impact. The information was received and filed by the Council . Zoning Case No. 349, Peyton Cramer, 11 Georgeff Road The City Manager explained that Zoning Case No. 349 is a request by Peyton Cramer for a Conditional Use Permit for a guest house on Lot 31 -GF, 11 Georgeff Road. The proposed guest house complies with the requirements for a guest house, and the Planning Commission approved this request at their .regular meeting on December 15, 1987, subject to. the standard conditions of� approval for guest houses. The City Council received and filed the report. . _ Zoning Case No. 350, Robert Modzeleski , 20 Buggy Whip Drive The City Manager advised the Council that at a regular meeting of the Planning Commission on December 15, 1987, a request by Robert Modzeleski for a Variance to encroach four ( 4) feet into the existing non-conforming front yard setback of thirty-five ( 35) feet, for the purpose of constructing an addition to the existing residence, was approved by the Planning Commission. The information was received and filed by the City Council . - 2 _ January 11, 1988 54 MATTERS FROM MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL . Air Quality Board Election Councilman Heinsheimer reported that the vote of the City of Rolling Hills was not successful in carrying two-thirds of the population and two-thirds of the cities; however, the City did lead considerably in the number of cities collected in the Air Quality election. The result was that the League decided to go to Sacramento to seek some kind of legislative relief. The difficulty is that the deadline for getting new bills to legislative council is next Monday (January 18) . Councilman Heinsheimer suggested authorizing staff to work with the staff of the League to encourage their efforts . A possible structure might be to request the Legislature to create a second seat; in other words, give the City of Los Angeles back their seat. The problem with this is that a seat cannot be created and filled in the same year. It may be possible to change the formula for filling the seat and fill it in the same year. The League � may decide to present a proposal to the legislative analyst 's office, to attempt to create a seat for the City of Los Angeles, and then change the voting structure to fifty percent ( 50$) of the cities and fifty percent ( 50$ ) of the population, with both of these to take effect as soon as is legally possible but not necessarily both at the same time. Councilman Pernell moved that the Council request staff to work with the staff of the League in order to seek the appropriate legislative relief according the the formula previously suggested or another formula that would be equitable for the cities of Los Angeles County. Councilman Heinsheimer seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Personnel Session Councilwoman Leeuwenburgh requested a personnel session at the conclusion of the meeting. Access to Trails Councilman Pernell asked about the significance of the recent decision that blocked certain access to trails in another city on the Peninsula, Isom trail, which backs up behind Bennett 's . It was verified that the argument of Prescriptive Right, the right of access to almost any trail as long as it had been used for some time, was denied, thus, affirming the security of the trails in Rolling Hills. City' s Third Annual Open House The open house, which honored the retirement of June Cunningham after 21 years of service, was very well attended. The estimated attendance was over three hundred ( 300) . It was a huge success and an appropriate tribute to June 's retirement and many years of service. Youth on Parade "Youth on Parade" was Saturday, January 9. Caballeros was asked to spearhead this event and it turned out very well after some very complex arrangements. The City had a "float" (truck) in the parade with youth, dogs, goats, and Councilman Pernell and City Manager Belanger on-board. Mayor Swanson apologized to the Members of the Council that were not notified in the hustle and bustle of all the arrangements. Sanitation District Meeting Mayor Swanson reported that at the last two Sanitation District meetings, there has been interest in determining if - 3 - January 11, 1988 - - ��� there are enough cities that would like to have recycling in their communities. To date, all: the discussions have been on a preliminary level; the intere's't is lukewarm. There was some interest expressed by cities on the Peninsula in perhaps having a Peninsula recycling center. OPEN AGENDA Mayor Swanson opened the meeting to comment from any person in the audience who wished to address the Council on any items not on the agenda. She explained that presentations are limited to five minutes, and that no action would be taken at the meeting on the matter presented to the Council. Mr. Michael Smith, representing the Southern California Edison Company, reported on the performance of the Edison Company during the months of November and December, and on the status of the tree clearing from power lines. In the month of December, there was only one occasion of an outage due to Edison equipment failure; all other outages during the month of December were � as a result of a private contractor dropping some tree limbs � into the lines and tree limbs being blown into the lines . � Mayor Swanson asked if there were any suggestions from � the Edison Company regarding height of trees relative to power m lines, in formulating the View Protection Ordinance currently Q under consideration. Mr. Smith informed the Council that the Edison Company is governed by State law with respect to the trimming of trees adjacent to their facilities. For example, if trees are adjacent to the lines, SCE must trim back six ( 6) feet horizontally from the line sections themselves. If trees are directly under the lines, the Edison Company must trim down six ( 6) to eight ( 8) feet by State law. Prohibiting the location of trees near the lines probably wouldn 't be of much benefit. During storm conditions limbs can still break off and get into the lines no matter how far away the tree might be. Councilman Pernell asked if the Edison Company would be amenable to more extensive trimming at the request of the City. Mr. Smith explained that the Edison Company tries to trim only that which is necessary to maintain legal clearance and service reliability; however, if the City desired more extensive trimming it would be possible and °would not significantly impact the Edison Company 's costs. Their costs are based on a per tree basis, and one reason that the Edison Company does not trim as extensively as they could is because of aesthetic considerations. Southern California Edison could enhance their tree trimming activities to enhance service reliability. There � is a problem if trimming on private property is not directly related to line clearing activities. The Mayor expressed her appreciation for the way that the Edison Company 's personnel handled the outage on December 24 . MATTERS FROM STAFF Newsletter Article - Nomination Pa ers � � It was inaccurately reported that an individual may only sign one nomination paper. An individual may sign as many ` nomination papers as there are offices up for election, in this case two ( 2) . Councilman Heinsheimer suggested that anyone who picks up nomination papers be informed of this correction. MEETING RECESSED TO CLOSED SESSION The meeting was recessed to a closed session at 8: 10 p.m. for the purpose of discussing personnel matters. - 4 - 5 6 January 11 , 1988 MEETING RECONVENED Mayor Swanson reconvened the meeting at 8: 35 p.m. and announced that no action was taken during the recess to closed session. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8: 36 p.m. to Monday, January 25, 1988, at 7: 30 p.m. City Clerk APPROVED: Mayor - 5 -