1/11/1988 . 1:
52
MINUTES OF A �
REGULP.R MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
� CITY OF ROLLING HILLS `
�
January 11, 1988 p
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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The Annual Audit Report was withdrawn from the Consent Calendar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
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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 .
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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
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January 11, 1988 - -
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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.
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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
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