Another diverse night. We’ll be holding this meeting in memory of Sunnyvale resident Michelle Philips, who passed away last month.
We start the evening with another closed session regarding ongoing labor negotiations. This is followed by a study session on transportation policy and process. This is obviously a pretty broad topic, but the discussion should be more focused than it sounds.
The general meeting starts with special recognition of the Serra Little League program. The Serra All-stars won the District 44 and Section 5 championships last year, and we’re recognizing that. The consent calendar is pretty typical. We’ve got a couple of public works-related contracts, including the replacement of the roofs at four of our six fire stations.
Item 2 has us looking at design guidelines for mixed-use projects. While we’ve approved mixed-use projects, we don’t have well-defined guidelines and policies for approving them. That makes it very difficult for applicants to know what to expect when proposing a project.
Item 3 has us approving a proposal for the public art that will accommodate the Murphy Park renovation. There are three proposals, all of which are different murals on the side of the park building.
Item 4 has us considering the preparation of a report to analyze the impact of a proposed voter initiative to require the city to obtain voter approval before selling, leasing (to or from), swapping land, or transferring land. When any such initiative is placed on the ballot, the city may opt to include an impact report as part of the ballot statement. This is being brought forward now because there are timing aspects that may be constraining. Specifically, the election code requires such a report to be completed within 30 days of an initiative being qualified, but staff estimates a report to take longer than that to produce a likely report (requiring us to approve such a report in advance of ballot qualification). So if Council wants such a report, it will have to approve the report before the deadline for qualifying the initiative. This agenda item won’t include specific discussion of the merits of the initiative. It is strictly focused on the decision and timing of a potential impact report.
Item 5 has us considering some modifications to Council policy regarding boards and commissions. These are specific recommendations that came from the Council subcommittee on boards and commissions policies.
Item 6 was my doing – consideration of a legislative advocacy position regarding legislation such as the DISCLOSE Act. A couple of years ago, we took a position supporting a version of the DISCLOSE Act, which requires greater disclosure for certain political advertisements. A new version (AB 700) is making its way through the legislature. Unfortunately, our previous action was specific to a particular bill, so that previous action doesn’t establish a position on this particular bill. This action would have us consider taking a broader, more generic position that would cover not only AB 700 but other, similar legislation.
And item 7 has us potentially ratifying a new IGR for Councilmember Davis.
Follow