County of Santa Clara

Adding $500,000 to new OLSE budget for community-based outreach & giving direction on workplan

On December 4, 2018 (Item No. 22 and Item No. 31), the Board approved the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) wor kplan with an allocation of $500,000 for the Labor Standards Outreach and Education Initiative. The Board directed Administration to report back with information relating to Retaliation, Sexual Harassment and Assault judgments, and a recommendation for an additional $500,000 for the Labor Standards Outreach and Education Initiative. Below are highlights of the requested information.

Request 1: Provide a recommendation on allocating an additional $500,000 to fund the Labor Standards Community Outreach and Education Initiative: Staff recommends approving the additional $500,000 (for a total of $1,000,000) to expand outreach and education activities throughout the entire County related to the services offered by OLSE.

Request 2: Provide recommendations and/or plans for implementation in response to the programmatic and policy feedback provided by stakeholders and community partners at the December 4, 2018 Board meeting: OLSE’s workplan incorporates several ideas that community stakeholders presented at the December 4, 2018 (Item No. 31) Board meeting, including a referral process to the District Attorney’s Office with recommendations for criminal proceedings for serious violations and developing recommendations relating to wage theft and human trafficking in the construction of housing. Attachment C in the published agenda responds to each proposed action with a current status and recommendation for further study or method for inclusion within OLSE’s long term work plan.

Request 3: Report back with recommendations relating to the inclusion of judgments relating to retaliation, sexual harassment, and sexual assault violations in the workplace: The California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), the California Department of Labor (DOL),and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each issue judgments and final administrative decisions relating to retaliation. The EEOC and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) both issue judgments and final administrative decisions relating to sexual harassment and assault, human trafficking and labor trafficking violations. Each agency can provide OLSE with data on these decisions and judgments. Since OLSE can access this data, OLSE recommends the inclusion of final administrative decisions or judgments of retaliation, sexual harassment and assault, and human and labor trafficking in its scope of enforcement in the following ways:

• Inclusion in the Food Permit Enforcement Pilot for immediate implementation;
• Inclusion in potential amendments to Board Policy Manual Chapter 5.5.5.4 for the purposes of County contract management; and,
• Inclusion in the ongoing development of the business license program. 

Where: Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

When: DEFFERED TO FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Link to item: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=SplitView&MeetingID=11012&MediaPosition=&ID=94825&CssClass=

Link to agenda: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=11012  

Approving $45K contract with 4Cs and $307K SSA budget increase for Bridge Program

Staff recommend that the Board approve a sole source procurement and agreement with Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County for Emergency Child Care Bridge Program services in an amount not to exceed $45,929 for the period February 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019. The Board would also approve an appropriation of $307,029 in the Social Services Agency budget relating to the Emergency Child Care Bridge program.

On October 1, 2018, the Agency received notification from the state of funding allocation in the amount of $642,033 for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for foster children. SSA is requesting approval for an on-going increase in revenue and expenditure appropriation in the amount of $307,029 for the ECCB program. 

The goals of the Bridge Program are to increase the number of foster children successfully placed in home-based family care settings, increase placement stability, increase the capacity of child care programs to meet the needs of foster children, and maximize funding to support children care needs of eligible families. The Bridge Program consists of three components: 1) Emergency Children Care Voucher Payment; 2) Child Care Navigator; and 3) Trauma-Informed Care Training and Coaching. This contract would provide for only the Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed Care Training and Coaching components.

One of the primary barriers for potential families seeking to take in a foster child is the lack of access to child care immediately following the removal of the child. With the passage of Senate Bill 89, qualifying foster families are eligible to receive a time-limited monthly payment or voucher for child care and a child care navigator. The child care programs and providers serving children in the Bridge Program are to be provided with trauma informed care training and coaching.

Where: Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

When: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 9:30am

Link to item: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=11012&MediaPosition=&ID=94041&CssClass=

Link to agenda: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=11012

City of San Jose

Councilmembers Carrasco, Peralez, Jimenez, and Jones memo proposing to add construction contractors to Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance

This recommended update to the San Jose Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance, proposed by Councilmembers Peralez, Jones, Carrasco, and Jimenez, aim to specifically address wage theft in the construction industry.

This is proposed in two major ways: firstly, amending the ordinance to require developers to disclose whether their prime contractors or subcontractors have committed any violations of labor law in the past five years, and if so, disqualifying the contractor from the project until any final judgments, citations, or administrative decisions against them, include back wages owed, have been settled.

Secondly, adding public works contracts to the existing wage theft policy covering other types of City contracts, which requires disclosure and allows the City to disqualify bidder with unpaid wage theft judgements or other severe violations..

Additionally, the following updates to the policy are proposed:

• Amending the existing ordinance to penalize any projects receiving taxpayer subsidies that are found culpable of any illegal abuses of workers. If the recommendation is followed, the specifics of these penalties would be up for discussion and research by City staff, but clawback mechanisms are a possibility
• Clarifying that final judgments, citations, or administrative decisions should include repeat, willful OSHA violations as well as any issued by the California DLSE, i.e. judgments resulting from a Civil Wage and Penalty Assessment or a Bureau of Field Enforcement citation

Where:    San Jose Rules Committee

When:  January 30, 2019, 2pm

Link to item:   https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3845567&GUID=E563991B-1327-4830-924F-1C4304916B6F

Link to agenda: https://sanjose.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=36262&GUID=C61F4090-B945-4162-94EC-A504FDB7035D&R=f39f46a4-9b22-4281-9163-6bf4c00c1bef

Update on design concepts for Diridon Station redevelopment

In anticipation of the arrival of BART and High-Speed Rail to Diridon, the station must be reconfigured to function as an integrated whole. The Diridon Integrated Station Concept Plan is the effort of four public agencies – VTA, the City of San Jose, Caltrain, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority – to redesign and expand the station.

City Council will receive a progress update on the DISC Plan, specifically a brief on the initial design concepts that the Diridon Partner Agencies have developed in collaboration with their consultant team, Arcadis and Benthem Crouwel Architects.

No additional information on the specific progress of the DISC is included.

Where:   San Jose City Council

When: February 5, 2019, 1:30PM

Link to item: https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3842718&GUID=21533831-EF94-448F-A11A-9A7E9BA4E8CD

Link to agenda:   https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=661112&GUID=CDA55A6B-4E5B-4CA6-AC35-BF693AB85164

Report on implementation of Rent Stabilization program

This item provides an annual update on the implementation of the Rent Stabilization Program for the year 2017-2018.

The City’s Rent Stabilization Program oversees the implementation of 4 rental housing -related ordinances. An overview of the most important elements of each ordinance is given below:

• The Apartment Rental Ordinance, or ARO, which restricts rent increases to 5% every 12 months while permitting landlords to make a profit.
• The Mobilehome Park Rent Ordinance, which regulates the maximum annual percentage increase in mobilehome park rents.
• The Tenant Protection Ordinance or TPO, which protects tenants living in buildings with 3 or more unites from termination of their tenancy except for 13 just cause evictions
• The Ellis Act Ordinance, which stipulates the conditions under which property owners can end rental operations of their property, specifically around protection of existing tenants through the mandate of relocation stipends and services.

The report provides updates on interesting developments in all areas.

• The ARO launched a rent registry, which collect information on rents and helps to monitor rental activity. In 2017-18, 79 out of 111 petitions were resolved by voluntary agreements, while 25% were resolved by an officer’s hearing and 4% by administrative decision. Four new types of petitions were introduced, including Ratio Utility Billing Petitions (RUBS) and Capital Improvement Petitions
• Under the TPO, 9,304 notices for just cause terminations were received. Over 8,900 were for nonpayment of rent, while 274 were for “material or habitual violation of tenancy.” The Center for Social Research at Calvin College developed a Notice of Termination digital dashboard for the public to view.
• Two properties have issued an Ellis Act withdrawal notice to withdraw nine apartments from the rental market.
• Under the Mobilehome Park Rent Ordinance, there was a policy review of the opt-in concept (where owners are given economic incentives to stay operational), investigation of evictions, and a review of utility charges.

Where:   San Jose City Council

When: February 5, 2019, 1:30PM

Link to item:  https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3842703&GUID=14FF59D9-5B77-403F-AC8B-90C27BA8EAA6

Link to agenda:   https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=661112&GUID=CDA55A6B-4E5B-4CA6-AC35-BF693AB85164

 

City of Palo Alto

Recommendations for Santa Clara County BOS on issues to be negotiated with Stanford’s GUP

Staff is providing recommendations for key issues to be included in the Development Agreement between the County and Stanford University in its General Use Permit negotiations. In addition to discussing these recommendations, staff request direction to prepare a letter from the City to the County Board of Supervisors that reflects Council’s direction on the key issues that should be communicated to the Supervisors for consideration in their negotiation with the University.

Staff has heard a number of concerns from Palo Alto residents and the school district with respect to the proposed expansion. Some City departments are also concerned about how the project may impact certain services. The key issues raised in staff’s report are below:

1. Funding for Design Concepts Related to University Avenue CalTrain Station Improvements, the Transit Center, Grade Separation at Palo Alto Avenue and a Downtown Coordinated Area Plan. This recommendation includes a request for $1M to cost share the preparation of a Downtown Coordinated Area Plan (Downtown CAP) that would look at grade separation alternatives at Palo Alto Avenue, changes to the Caltrain station to accommodate electrification, including a raised platform, and alternatives to improve the multi-modal functionality of the Transit Center.
2. Fair-share funding for infrastructure and design enhancements that are approved and implemented from the adoption of the Downtown CAP.
3. Fair-share Funding for Grade Separation at Charleston. Stanford’s proposed expansion will result in a significant and unavoidable traffic impact at the Charleston/Alma intersection due to the proposed expansion’s reverse peak hour traffic. Mitigation is proposed that would add a northbound turning lane on Charleston Road, but this solution conflicts with the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. Grade separating CalTrain tracks at this location would improve the operation of this intersection and address the project-related traffic.
4. Contribution to the City’s Affordable Housing Fund. The City of Palo Alto is the jurisdiction most impacted by existing campus operations and the proposed expansion. According to County staff, based on self-reported data from the University, nineteen percent (19%) of Stanford Affiliates reside in Palo Alto. This demand for housing will increase with the proposed expansion. Staff recommends the City Council request the Supervisors require the University to pay the City an affordable housing impact fee for any development within the City’s Sphere of Influence, which generally extends from El Camino Real to Junipero Serra Boulevard. The City could request this fee be tied to the City of Palo Alto’s housing impact fee with payment due prior to issuance of any County building permit. Based on the proposed expansion and the City’s current fee schedule, this would represent approximately $82,400,000 over the course of 17 years.
5. Long Term Preservation of the Foothills from Development. The 2000 GUP included a provision that required a supermajority 4/5ths vote by the Supervisors to allow development in the foothills allowing only minor academic and research support uses and activities (such as barns and farming-related uses). Staff recommends the council seek to continue and strengthen this requirement.
6. Upstream Flood Water Detention. Staff recommends the University join the City of Palo Alto, the SFCJPA and other partners to provide the land and fair share funding necessary to install upstream storm water detention facilities adequate to control downstream flows that reduces the risk of flooding.

Additional possible items for inclusion in the DA negotiations are listed further in the staff report. Following Council deliberation, staff will work with the Mayor or the Vice Mayor to draft a letter to be sent to the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors Ad Hoc Committee working on the 2018 GUP Development Agreement, Members of the Board of Supervisors, the County Planning Director, and appropriate agencies. The Ad Hoc Committee is currently meeting with Stanford University on the DA.

Where: Palo Alto City Council

When: Monday, February 4, 2019, 5pm

Link to item: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/68668

Link to agenda: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=50313.52&BlobID=68677

City of Santa Clara

Update on settlement agreements with San Jose for Santana West and City Place projects

Council will receive an update on settlement agreements with the City of San Jose regarding development projects. The settlement agreements are: 2006 North San Jose Settlement Agreement; 2018 City Place Settlement Agreement; and 2018 Santana West Settlement Agreement. Santa Clara and San Jose reached a settlement over disputes related to the City Place and Santana West developments a year ago.

2006 North San Jose Settlement Agreement:

In 2005, San Jose approved the North San Jose project, EIR, and Development Policy (collectively referred to as North San Jose), which includes 32,000 residential units, 26.7 million square feet of new industrial uses, and 1.7 million square feet of retail/commercial uses within northern San Jose. In November 2006, Santa Clara entered into a settlement agreement with San Jose regarding litigation related to the North San Jose project.

Status Update on Key Settlement Terms:

The schools related items have been satisfied. Regarding traffic, while Montague Expressway has been widened from First Street to Trade Zone Boulevard, the section between Lick Mill Boulevard to Trade Zone Boulevard has not been fully widened. In addition, for the Montague/Mission/101 Interchange project, early preliminary design work has been completed; however, final design and funding from San Jose has not been completed.

2018 North San Jose Proposed Changes:

In the fall of 2018, San Jose informed Santa Clara about upcoming proposed changes to North San Jose that their City Council is scheduled to hear in the spring of 2019. The primary driver behind the changes involves advancing additional residential units from Phase 2 to Phase 1.

2018 City Place and Santana West Settlement Agreements:

On January 12, 2018, Santa Clara and San Jose reached a settlement over legal disputes regarding the City Place development in Santa Clara and the Santana West development in San Jose. Two separate settlement agreements were executed for both projects, signed by both cities, and also included the respective private developers associated with both development projects.

Currently, staff is working with Related California on the City Place project to advance the project into early construction activities. It is anticipated that in early/mid 2019,  construction will begin at the project site.

2018 Santana West Settlement Agreement:

This settlement agreement pertains to the Santana West development (Santana West), located in San Jose at the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Olsen Drive, within the Valley Fair/Santana Row Urban Village. Santana West includes 970,000 square feet of office space and 29,000 square feet of retail space on a 13 acre site. Santa Clara, San Jose, and Federal Realty Investment Trust (developer for Santana West) are parties to this settlement agreement.

As the key terms with this settlement agreement pertain to proposed permitted construction activity within the Santana West development, staff is actively monitoring the construction permitting progress of the Santana West project. Currently, no grading or building permit has been issued for this project. Staff will continue to monitor the permitting timelines and activities for this project to ensure that the project is consistent with the terms of the 2018 Santana West Settlement Agreement.

Where: Santa Clara City Council

When: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 4pm

Link to item: https://santaclara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3846804&GUID=4F87483D-4F0E-4886-A0F4-AE53A8FE9780&Options=&Search=

Link to agenda: https://santaclara.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=640617&GUID=1E9FB948-C4C4-447F-9BEB-EAB6EFB6C2FA&Options=&Search=

Accept draft land use plan for El Camino Real Specific Plan

Staff recommend that council accept the draft land use plan and preferred right-of-way alternatives that were developed through a community engagement process and reviewed by the Community Advisory Committee as the basis for CEQA Review. In addition, staff request direction to explore formal community benefits criteria to be incorporated into the Specific Plan.

Redevelopment of El Camino Real’s existing low-intensity, auto-oriented commercial uses along the corridor into higher density, residential/commercial mixed use is identified as a key land use strategy in the City’s 2010 General Plan. Council initiated preparation of a Specific Plan for the El Camino Real Focus Area in 2017 to provide a more detailed level of policy and design guidance to support the successful transformation of the corridor.

The draft Land Use Plan concentrates density in the “activity centers” or nodes along the corridor to allow lower density development at the in-between areas. At the CAC’s last meeting, the CAC had reached consensus to support the draft with the exception of the Mariani’s Inn development site (2500 El Camino Real). As the draft land use plan will potentially allow an increase in residential density in some locations along the corridor or allow lower density residential development without a commercial requirement at other locations, as a next step the Specific Plan process could include an exploration of a structured community benefits requirement for new development projects that benefit from these changes to allowed land uses.

Initially, five right-of-way alternatives for the El Camino Real were presented through the outreach process for community and CAC input. At each outreach event, most favored the addition of bike lanes on El Camino Real, but there was no clear consensus as to how the bike lanes would be achieved and no one alternative was clearly favored. In general by consensus the CAC supported right-of-way alternative 2A (removal of on-street parking to accommodate a buffered bike lane with a bus boarding island).

Where: Santa Clara City Council

When: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 4pm

Link to item: https://santaclara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3846794&GUID=D1122B22-5E77-442C-BDC6-5285B800893C&Options=&Search=

Link to agenda: https://santaclara.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=640617&GUID=1E9FB948-C4C4-447F-9BEB-EAB6EFB6C2FA&Options=&Search=

Confirming change to the Downtown Precise Plan area boundary

Staff recommend that council take action to confirm a change to the Downtown Precise Plan planning area boundary—adding 4.1 acres adjacent to the current Precise Plan area due to development interest in properties located on the west side of Monroe Street between Homestead Road and Franklin Street.

As a next step staff will be conducting a Request for Proposals process to engage a consultant team to support the preparation of the Precise Plan. The City is scheduled to issue the RFP in early February to advance the Downtown planning process.

Where: Santa Clara City Council

When: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 4pm

Link to item: https://santaclara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3846816&GUID=FA7BDEDA-F539-409F-8AE6-DA85ABF7E2DD&Options=&Search=

Link to agenda: https://santaclara.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=640617&GUID=1E9FB948-C4C4-447F-9BEB-EAB6EFB6C2FA&Options=&Search=

Extending contract for recycling with Recology to 2021 & increasing rate by 4%

Staff recommend that council approve extending the term of agreement with Recology for residential curbside recycling services until December 31, 2021 and adjust the monthly tariff to $4.34 per unit, effective February 1, 2019. Council would also approve the use of $251,000 from the Solid Waste Fund.

The current agreement with Recology Santa Clara (Recology) to provide residential curbside recycling services will expire on January 10, 2020. The City also has an exclusive franchise agreement with Mission Trail Waste Systems (MTWS) to provide residential garbage and organics services, as well as commercial garbage and recycling services at properties not zoned for “Industrial” use that will expire on December 31, 2021.

At the November 13, 2018 Council meeting, Council directed staff to enter into negotiations with Recology for an amendment to the current agreement to provide residential recycling services through December 31, 2021 to align the residential recycling contract term with the residential garbage and organics services contract term.

Under the terms of the amendment, the expiration date of the agreement will be extended to December 31, 2021 and a monthly tariff paid to Recology will increase by $1.36 from $2.98 to $4.34 per unit served, effective February 1, 2018. All other terms of the current agreement will remain unchanged.

This change to the tariff represents a 46% increase, which staff point out is still less than what the City would be paying to the second lowest bidder in 2008. Recology’s 2008 bid was 75% less than the next lowest bid and 138% less than the highest bid.

The increase to the monthly tariff was based solely on the loss of anticipated recyclables commodity revenues due to the volatile overseas market.

Where: Santa Clara City Council

When: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 4pm

Link to item: https://santaclara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3846807&GUID=6FF1F26E-63CB-4EF5-8638-9A350E074138&Options=&Search=

Link to agenda: https://santaclara.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=640617&GUID=1E9FB948-C4C4-447F-9BEB-EAB6EFB6C2FA&Options=&Search=

Cupertino Union School District

Interview, discuss, and appoint provisional Board Member to fill Board of Education vacancy

The purpose of this special meeting is for the Board to appoint a Provisional Board Member to fill the vacancy on the Board of Education, and for the public to make comment about the finalists for this appointment.

The agenda for this special meeting is as follows:

• 9:00 am – Interviews of Finalists
• 1:00 pm – Public Comment
• Immediately following Public Comment – Board discusses Finalists
• Immediately following discussion – Approve resolution to appoint one finalist as a provisional Board Member

The following is the list of finalists in the order they will be interviewed (link to finalists’ applications below):

1. Gopal Kumarappan
2. Sylvia Leong
3. Stuart Rosenberg
4. David Fung
5. Meena (Juttukonda) Gajula
6. Liyan Zhao

This special meeting is open to the public, who may make public comment directly to the Board regarding the Board Member appointment. Public Comment is limited to 3 minutes per person, unless total public comment period would last more than 1 hour, in which case comments may be limited to less than 3 minutes.

The Board will deliberate until at least 3 of the 4 members support one particular candidate to appoint, at which point they will approve a resolution to appoint the candidate effective immediately.

Where: Cupertino Union School District

When:  Thursday 9am, January 31, 2019; Board Room, 1309 S. Mary Avenue, Suite 150, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

Link to item:   http://www.boarddocs.com/ca/cusdk8/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=B7NULC7C8F69 ; http://www.boarddocs.com/ca/cusdk8/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=B7B6L415656D (link to finalists’ applications)

Link to agenda:   https://www.boarddocs.com/ca/cusdk8/Board.nsf/vpublic?open

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