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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990/09/26 - Minutes - Joint (Environmental Management Commission)September 26, 1990 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Joint Meeting of the City Council and the Environmental Management Commission A. C~T.T. TO ORDER A joint meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council and the Environmental Management Commission met on Wednesday, September 26, 1990, in the Haven Conference Room at the Civic Center, located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Mayor Dennis L. Stout. Present were Councilmembers: William J. Alexander, Deborah N. Brown, Charles J. Buquet II, Pamela J. Wright, and Mayor Dennis L. Stout. Present were Commissioners: Mohan Balagopalan, Stephen Barras (arrived 7:10 p.m.), James Campbell; John Dunlap (arrived 7:10 p.m.), Patricia Geye, Cathy Watters, Jack Williams, and Chair Tiina Ross. Also present were: Linda D. Daniels, Deputy City Manager; Jerry B. Fulwood, Deputy City Manager; Diane O'Neal, Management Analyst II; Larry Henderson, Principal Planner; Chief Dennis Michael, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District; and Jan Sutton, Deputy City Clerk. Absent were Commissioners: Grace Jones, George Leimann, and Ray McIlvain. , , , , , B. ITEMS OF DISCUSSION B1. DISCUSSION OF SCOPE, FOCUS AND GOALS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION (0701-01 COMMISSION) B2. DISCUSSION OF ITEMS OF MUTUAL CONCERN (0701-01 COMMISSION) Chair Ross stated the Commission was concerned about what their limits are as a Commission, since they have already been approached by groups asking for support on issues that do not directly affect the City, and they were not sure whether their body should be discussing these types of issues or concentrating more on the community. (i) (2) City Council/Environmental Management Commission Minutes September 26, 1990 Page 2 Mayor Stout stated the Council has not had a chance to discuss this, but he was concerned that since the Commission is new, they do not have a reputation at this time, and felt they needed to build that reputation of trust and respect in the community by handling small items in the beginning, and deal with them soundly, and then build from there. After that reputation is established, then they could move on to larger scope issues that might affect other communities. Commissioners Barras and Dunlap arrived at 7:10 p.m. He also felt that the enabling ordinance gave the Commission jurisdiction as its own body, but also set it up as an advisory group to the City Council, the Planning Commission, and the other Commissions in the City. He felt in the beginning they should be concerned with issues that directly affect the City and help set up programs, and then if they have a good reputation, then they can start offering their opinion to others on larger scope items. He also felt that everyone had their own individual opinions which could be expressed at any time. Councilmember Alexander agreed with the Mayor that items addressed at the present time should be items that affect the City. He did not want to limit the Commission though, and stated the items could even be broad in scope, but they would in some way significantly affect the City. Councilmember Wright felt the Commission should not be given strict guidelines, and that they should deal with bigger issues. She envisioned them as a group of people selected to fill a role, and felt that anything viewed as an environmental issue should be dealt with by the Commission. She felt they should have full authority to take action, instead of the Council giving them a little authority at a time, and the Council should let the Commission decide what they can handle, since if they were to deal with everything that had to do with the environment it would be overwhelming. She did not want them to be limited to just AB939 and a strict work program, that they should be able to deal with anything environmental in the City, and that staff could advise them when they were crossing over into the Planning Commission's scope. She felt they should deal with things that affect the City, and also be able to deal with anything brought to them by other Commissions in the City. Councilmember Brown felt that AB939 will be a very complex issue, and that once the consultant identifies the components and goals, the Commission will be heavily involved in how to accomplish those goals for the City, but the consultant will not be done until the middle of next year. She agreed that the Commission needed to establish a reputation, but did not want to preclude them from dealing with any issues that might go outside of the City boundaries. She felt there would be times when an issue would overlap Commissions, and felt they should all be able to work together. She felt a work program was good, but did not want them to be confined by the structure of one. City Council/Environmental Management Commission Minutes September 26, 1990 Page 3 Chair Ross stated she did not feel the Commission was looking for an assigned work program, but was looking for input on how the Council wanted the Commission to operate. They did not want to tackle an issue and invest a lot of time on it, and then find out that was not an issue the Council wanted them to handle. She felt the Commission understood that if an issue came before them that affected the City and its environs, they would investigate it and make a decision. The area that they were not sure about was if they were approached about a federal level issue that dealt with the environment, but did not directly impact the City, should they be spending their time on it, or Just utilize their time for issues that more directly affected Rancho Cucamonga. Councilmember Wright felt that if an issue like that came up, the Commission should decide whether or not they want to undertake that issue. Councilmember Buquet perceived that the Commission is trying to establish their identity, and felt there was a tremendous amount of work to be done in town. He felt the Commission was capable of making decisions, and did not want them to become a "rubber stamp" for special interest groups. He thought they needed to have a plan of action and set their priorities, and did not see anything wrong with being incremental in their approach. He felt AB939 will take a lot of their time. He stated he would like them to be proactive and look for things that need to be dealt with in the City, and not go off on large issues at this time, such as the rain forests, or preservation in Northern California, until they take care of things in their own backyard. Mayor Stout felt what he had said earlier had been misunderstood. He stated the point he had tried to make was not that someone should tell the Commission what the issues are. He stated the only power was the power given by the residents of the community, so when they approach a task they need to consider the people they are representing and whether a particular issue is important to them. He felt the Commission needs to be the best at what they do in a professional and effective way, as are all the Commissions in the City, and that they accomplish what they undertake, whatever that may be. He wanted them to exercise good judgment in their role as a Commissioner. Councilmember Brown felt the Commission needed to be able to look at their agendas objectively, and decide if the items brought by special interest groups should be reviewed, and how they would fit into the City's framework, and go from there. She also felt that certain items could be handled as recommendations of the Environmental Management Commission, and did not always have to come higher as recommendations to the City Council. Councilmember Alexander wondered if the rest of the community wanted the Commission to deal with issues that did not directly affect the City, because he personnally felt the Commission should be focusing on more direct matters. City Council/Environmental Management Commission Minutes September 26, 1990 Page 4 Commissioner Willjams wanted to see the Commission set guidelines for dealing with issues that directly affect the City, and other indirect issues such as air and water pollution, and stay away from items such as the Desert Protection Bill. He felt they should establish a work programand set goals, and try to accomplish those goals. Commissioner Geye agreed the Commission needed to focus their attention in order to be effective, and did not want to see them become a tool for special interest groups. She felt the Commission needed more control over their agendas. Mayor Stout felt it might be beneficial for the Commission to review pending environmental legislation, and provide recommendations to the Council on it. Councilmember Buquet stated he would like to rely on the Commission to provide education to the Council on environmental issues, and to have them look ahead and identify potential issues. Commissioner Barras felt the Commission was reaching a consensus to focus on more local issues, and when they do deal with wider reaching topics, the would have enough credibility that it would mean something when the City endorses or opposes an issue. Commissioner Watters stated the enabling ordinance was fairly structured, and had noticed that it did grant fact finding capabilities to the Commission. When she has asked residents what issues concern them, most of them were concerned about mandatory refuse collection. She also stated she has been approached by people wondering why the Commission was not involved in the revision to the Etiwanda Specific Plan that was currently being reviewed by the Planning Commission and the City Council. Councilmember Buquet stated the City has expressed concerns about that area for a long time, and with several different developers, but they are in a Catch-22 situation with the County, and they do not know if their input will always be considered. He felt it was more of a Planning issue because of having to do an Environmental Impact Report for any development in the area. Councilmember Wright stated that since a lot of these issues are old ones that are just coming around again in another configuration, they are continuing with the groups that have been involved since the beginning. She stated that if some of these items were coming up for the first time now, the Council might be involving the Environmental Management Con~nission also. Commissioner Balagopalan stated that when he first joined the Commission he thought they would be dealing mainly with recycling, but has been pleased about the variety of issues they have covered. He felt, however, that they should try to focus on issues that concern the community more directly, but to stay open to issues brought to them that might not have an immediate impact, but would somewhere down the line. City Council/Environmental Management Commission Minutes September 26, 1990 Page 5 Commissioner Dunlap felt the Commission should be involved in legislation as mentioned earlier, and also felt they might need additional staff resources. Mayor Stout stated the Commission did not always have to have staff present when ever they worked on a project or held a subcommittee meeting. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated that staff has tried to put out an extra effort to assist the Commission during the developmental stage, and they have been involved more with things like subcommittee meetings, etc. Commissioner Barras felt the Commission was moving towards doing more for themselves as a working Commission, and he often felt reluctant to ask staff for assistance because he knew the Commissioners were to do a lot of the research themselves. Mayor Stout also recommended that if the Commission felt there was pending legislation that would affect the City, they should not rely on the summary but review a copy of the entire bill. He also would like to see the City involved in developing environmental legislation that could be taken to Sacramento. Commissioner Dunlap also felt the City might want to look at adding an air quality element to the General Plan. Councilmember Buquet felt that is what the Council meant by being on the leading edge on issues, and would like to see the Commission be proactive and make recommendations to Council on upcoming issues. Commissioner Campbell felt the Commission could set their own guidelines for a work program and did not need the Council to create one for them, and agreed that he would also like to see the Commission address issues specific to the City first. Larry Henderson, Principal Planner, stated the Commission might want to develop a detailed Mission Statement. He stated the Council had all Commissions create Mission Statements about one to two years ago, which the Council reviewed and commented on, and then were formally adopted by the respective Commissions. He stated that when the Commissions set their annual work programs, they refer to their Mission Statements for guidance on setting priorities. Chair Ross stated that would be very appropriate for the Commission to do. Commission Balagopalan stated it would also help the public to know what the Commission is trying to accomplish. Councilmember Alexander felt the Commission was off to a good start, and asked if they thought they were comfortable enough now that they did not need a member of the Council Subcommittee present at each of their meetings. City Council/Environmental Management Commission Minutes September 26, 1990 Page 6 Chair Ross stated they did not need a Subcommittee member present at each meeting, and could advise when their was an issue pending that they would like a Subcommittee member present to review. C. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC No communications were made. D. ADJOURNMENT Chair Ross adjourned the Environmental Management Commission meeting. Mayor Stout adjourned the City Council meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deputy City Clerk Approved by Environmental Management Commission: October 25, 1990 Approved by City Council: November 7, 1990