1505 Tiburon Boulevard, Tiburon, California

Chair Stein called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

A.    ROLL CALL

Commissioners Present: Chair Stein, Vice-Chair Fredericks and Commissioners Snow and Smith

Commissioners Absent: Commissioner Berger

Staff Present: Planning Director Anderson and Meeting Recorder Flanagan

B.    PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS     There were none.

C    .COMMISSION AND STAFF BRIEFING

Planning Director Anderson noted that, of the future agenda items, only the Tiburon Court Precise Development Plan is tentative.

D.    CONSENT CALENDAR

1. MINUTES OF MAY 23, 2001

Changes include:

Page 3, third line down, change to "needs"

Pave 3, fourth paragraph from bottom, clarify "ion."

Page 3, after "needs," add, "improvements."

M/S, Smith/Snow (4-0) to approve the Minutes of May 23, 2001 as amended.

2. MINUTES OF JUNE 27, 2001

Changes include:

Page 14, second paragraph should be "Chair Stein."

Page 14, at the end of the page, delete one period.

Page 3, 8^th line down should be "however."

Page 9, last sentence, after Placek, add "said."

M/S, Snow/Fredericks (4-0) to approve the Minutes of June 27, 2001, as amended.

3. MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2001

Changes include:

Page 3, sixth paragraph, clarify language that Vice-Chair Fredericks stated that a wildlife corridor could be preserved if applicant pulled the fence in five feet and the other person also donated five or ten feet to allow a passageway for wildlife to access the open space.

E.    DISCUSSION ITEMS

4. ANNUAL GENERAL PLAN STATUS REPORT FOR FY 2000-2001

Planning Director Anderson noted advertising has commenced for a Senior Planner with experience in General Plan updates. He added that no amendments were made to the General Plan during the fiscal year.

Chair Stein noted, regarding Open Space and Conservation Element, the Town has had several issues involving the meaning of private, transitional open space. The future appears to hold more private open space opportunities; hence, the rights of a nominal owner should be defined. He feels the Open Space and Conservation Element does need work.

Planning Director Anderson responded that in recent subdivision approvals where private open space was involved, a standard form of open space easement was required by the Town that was explicit as to what can or cannot be done in open space. Private owners are severely limited as the uses of open space. The tools that now exist and are used by the Town have filled the gap, e.g., the situation that occurred with the Vista Tiburon project no longer occurs.

Chair Stein added that fencing of private open space can hinder views of the open space and reduce it value to the community. Many private owners feel that fencing is necessary to reduce liability because the public has de facto access, especially when the is a public access easement across the open space.

Vice-Chair Fredericks added, these two issues may not be adequately addressed in the current General Plan Open Space Element. If there is an easement over open space, people will ask for fences; hence, visual hindrances will occur.

Planning Director Anderson responded that he recalls no recent instances where this problem has occurred. . Typically, easements are not fenced, such as on open hillsides. He suggested the Planning Commission could amend the language in the annual report if it desired to reflect potential future changes in these areas.

Chair Stein asked staff to explore further whether a definition of transitional open space and/or visual open space is needed.

Commissioner Smith added that the lack of reference to prime or potential open space leads applicants to place houses inappropriately. He suggested that prime or potential open space be defined earlier in the application process.

Planning Director Anderson noted that open space has many definitions and a map defining them is impossible because the detailed technical studies necessary to determine the locations of open space do not usually occur until an EIR is completed. There was an attempt in the 1990s to draw such an open space map but, because of cost constrains and the level of information required, the map was found to be inadequate and is not used. The General Plan lists many types of potential open space areas to be avoided, which often results in no developable acreage; hence it is a balancing act for each property.

Chair Stein stated he would like the issues of transitional open space and prime open space to not be closed off from further study in the General Plan update.

Planning Director Anderson confirmed that language in the Open Space and Conservation Element section of the annual general plan status report referring to "pursued in the next round" means that items and issues will be revisited when the element is next updated.

Commissioner Smith clarified that Staff’s report is a general report for review by the State, and for this purpose, the broader interpretation of this language is appropriate.

M/S, Snow/Fredericks, passed 4-0-1, Berger absent, to direct Staff to forward the report as submitted to the Town Council for acceptance.

5. BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN MASER PLAN: PRESENTATION OF THE TOWN’S RECENTLY-ADOPTED BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN MASTER PLAN AND STATUS REPORT ON THE BICYCLE-PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Planning Director Anderson noted the plan had been devised quickly to meet a deadline for grant funding, and added that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved the plan today. In response to questions, he stated that there is total flexibility as to what the funding is used for. Applications for Proposition 12 monies are beginning to emerge. Because of the heavily-used nature of the multi-use path, the Town is sometimes able to receive grant funds for its maintenance and/or improvement.

Vice-Chair Fredericks noted that county residents are anxious to separate the bicycle and pedestrian paths wherever possible, and this could apply to the multi-use Path as well.

Commissioner Smith stated he has heard comments regarding the multi-use path that while there are public facilities at the Blackie’s Pasture end of the path, there does not appear to be appropriate public facilities at the Downtown end of the path. Drinking fountains and restrooms would make the full length of the path more amenable to public use.

Planning Director Anderson noted there is currently discussion of placing a public restroom near Shoreline Park.

6. TRAFFIC UPDATE: RECAP OF THREE RECENT TRAFFIC STUDIES PERFORMED ON THE TIBURON PENINSULA

Planning Director Anderson discussed the studies. He added, regarding signalizing Stewart Drive at Tiburon Boulevard, a warrant study was made and the results were the same as Caltrans’ results, that the intersection probably never will meet the warrants. A Council subcommittee is looking at alternatives to help the intersection. The Council created nonrestrictive, reserve funds of $3,000 for a traffic report. Council will discuss recommendations in the school study improvements report, for which the $3,000 can be implemented. With added recent funding and personnel, more improvements will occur.

Vice-Chair Fredericks stated that merely widening Trestle Glen Boulevard and installing a signal at Stewart Drive would cost more than $300,000. She asked how priorities will be set.

Planning Director Anderson responded that the Traffic Safety Committee is currently developing recommendations to the Town Council regarding all of the recommendations contained in the three traffic studies. The Town Council will then prioritize improvements and consider the costs.

Vice-Chair Fredericks asked how the benefits will be calculated, with the TETAP report’s estimate of benefit of coordinating timing based upon Mar West and Stewart Drive being signalized at ten percent improvement.

Planning Director Anderson responded that certain assumptions were for the report. The lack of signalization at those two intersections would probably slightly reduce the benefit of signal coordination. There could still be a benefit from signal coordination to the Stewart Drive intersections from the "platooning" effect that signal coordination provides.

Commissioner Snow noted that the TETAP report was on a conceptual level only.

Planning Director Anderson noted that major Tiburon Boulevard projects will probably be 100 percent Town-funded; Caltrans will not invest money for improvements but will agree to assume maintenance responsibility once they are constructed. The Town must obtain encroachment permits for any changes to this State highway, including approval of design work.

Chair Stein noted that many drivers avoid Stewart Drive and use alternate routes. He asked why this was not studied.

Commissioner Snow stated that he has communicated with Caltrans and their position is that a sufficient number of fatalities must occur before a signal light would meet Caltrans warrants at Stewart Drive based on safety issues alone.

Planning Director Anderson responded that the report does state that drivers avoid Stewart Drive and use alternate routes. However, even if this were not the case, Stewart Drive would not generate sufficient cross-traffic to warrant a signal per Caltrans standards. The warrant system is applied to all State highways.

Chair Stein said that common sense indicates there should be a signal light at Stewart Drive. He hopes the Council will not assume that the final chapter is written on this matter as a result of the warrants analysis study.

Commissioner Smith added a great concern is crosswalks, at which no one stops and which are difficult to see, particularly at the Hilarita (Ned’s Way) and in front of the library (Mar West Street). Smith said that zebra striping offers a false sense of security. The effort to get children walking and riding bicycles to school is defeated by people not stopping at crosswalks. Perhaps a combination of signage, police presence and zebra striping is the solution. This is not a high priority, and he feels it should be. Traffic problems would be alleviated if the schools were grades K-5 and 6-8, a return to the way the schools were originally designed. This latter issue is not addressed, but it would have a greater positive impact than any of the other proposed expenditures.

Planning Director Anderson noted this was an initial item of discussion but the school district felt it could not change the schools back to their original age-group format. He discussed crosswalks as being devices to "channel" pedestrians into properly located crossings, and not as safety devices. Some crosswalks can be hazards if they create a false sense of security for pedestrians. He stated that the TETAP report recommended against a crosswalk at Gilmartin Drive for this very reason.

Chair Stein and Commissioner Smith stated that greater police enforcement should be initiated to encourage drivers to stop at crosswalks, especially in light of the fact that there are more and more people and traffic.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50.

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STEVE STEIN, CHAIRMAN

Tiburon Planning Commission

ATTEST:

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SCOTT ANDERSON, SECRETARY 101001.pcmin.doc