City Manager Weekly Update - May 20, 2016

Inspections Stay on Track
A building inspector’s daily schedule is filled with activities such as arranging site inspections, assisting citizens at the counter and on the phone, plus reviewing plans for code compliance and verification that what has been approved is being built. When an inspector position is vacant – like now – the full time inspectors share the workload and make sure that customer service levels fulfill community expectations. There has been some assistance however, Lowell Brown, with TRB & Associates, has been coming in several days during the week to help the City while it is recruiting for a full time building inspector. His assistance and the dedication of the City’s full time Building Inspectors has helped maintain a high level of service to the community and has allowed the numerous construction projects taking place around the City stay on schedule.

Parking Review
The work of the City Wide Parking Committee is in the process of being collected and reviewed in preparation for soliciting the assistance of parking consultants to evaluate their recommendations. Staff will be seeking proposals from parking consultants that have not done previous parking studies for Downtown Los Altos. This is an effort to provide decision makers with advice on how best to proceed with enhancing parking in the Downtown. A timeframe for the completion of the review will be somewhat dependent of the availability and schedule of the selected consultant, but staff is optimistic that this review can get underway shortly.

Code Amendments
The Planning Commission is currently considering a series of code amendments and will develop a recommendation to the City Council. One of the amendments provides for the expiration of a permit application. At present, an application for a permit does not expire and can remain an active application indefinitely. These types of applications are typically those that are deemed incomplete and for which additional information is requested of an applicant so the project can be properly evaluated, both by staff and decision makers. Applications that linger too long can, if activated by submittal of requested information, be at odds with prevailing policies, laws, and community opinions of appropriate development. These situations can hamper good planning efforts and result in extended reviews. The Planning Commission recommendations will seek to prevent these situations by requiring applications to remain current and in-line with the policies and laws in place at the time the project is considered.

Loyola Corners Community Meeting
At the April 26, 2016 joint study session of the City Council/Planning and Transportation Commission, several speakers suggested holding a community meeting to enable residents and commercial property owners to share their perspectives on new development in Loyola Corners.  Staff believes additional communication may be helpful and has schedule a community meeting for Thursday May 26, 2016 to be held at Tom’s Depot Restaurant in Loyola Corners. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is anticipated to end at 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. The meeting is intended to be a conversation among property owners and residents about the policies to best guide new development including appropriate building heights, allowed uses, street improvements, and incentives to encourage local serving retail uses in the area. The “conversation” will be facilitated by Shawn Spano of Public Dialogue Consortium.

Police

Los Altos Police Launch YES! Campaign
The Los Altos Police Department is pleased to introduce the Youth Exhibiting Safety (YES!) Campaign. Between June 9 and August 16, 2016, Police Officers will be hand delivering YES! Tickets to youth exhibiting safe behaviors, such as riding responsibly on bicycles, wearing helmets and using crosswalks. YES! Tickets will be redeemable for a prize at one of several local Los Altos businesses. Officers have received a positive response from the business community, already collecting more than 600 awards from 25 local businesses. The LAPD is still reaching out to businesses who are interested in donating prizes. For more information, contact Sergeant Krauss at (650) 947-2672 or kkrauss@losaltosca.gov. Congratulations to Sgt. Krauss and her team for this innovative safety-focused program.

Artistic Bike Racks Installation
Public Works crew installed four artistic bike racks in Downtown Los Altos. Three are located on State Street in front of Linden Tree Books, Peet's Coffee and Tin Pot Creamery. The fourth was installed on Main Street near Adventure Toys. The crew had a lot fun completing the task and the final installations look great.

First Street Utility Undergrounding Project
PG&E and its subcontractor, Accubore, will begin potholing work on First Street between Plaza South and Lyell Street to identify and locate existing underground utilities next week. While some parking will be temporarily unavailable, traffic control will be in place to allow two-way traffic on First Street. This work is done in advance of the anticipated trenching project currently scheduled to begin the first week of June.

467 First Street Encroachment Permits
Public Works staff has issued encroachment permits for utility trench restoration efforts to the contractor at 467 First Street. The restoration work is scheduled to occur May 23rd through May 25th on San Antonio Road and May 26th through June 3rd on First Street. Traffic control will be in place for both lane closures.

Miramonte Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements
Staff and the consultant completed a walk through and conceptual design review for the Miramonte Avenue bicycle and pedestrian improvements this week. The conceptual improvements will provide residents three different design concepts for consideration, including Class I Pathway, Class II bike lanes with a walkway, and Class III Bike route with a walkway. Due to spacing limitations, some locations may be a combination of improvements depending on feasibility.

Fremont Avenue Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Study
Engineering staff received and are currently reviewing proposals to conduct a feasibility study for the Fremont Avenue Pedestrian Bridge. The feasibility study will review various alternatives for repairing or replacing the aging wood structure next to the newly completely Fremont Avenue Bridge.