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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/13/1977MINUTES ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1977 - 7:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL Roll Call PRESENT: Councilmen Dunin, Gurnee, Jorgensen, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None City Staff PRESENT: J.H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; R.D. Miller, Administrative Officer; D.F. Romero, Director of Public Services; Wayne Peterson, City Engineer 1. Discussion.of the.no parking restrictions on the east side of Broad Street, High Street to Orcutt Road and discussion of the possible re- paving and /or restriping of the present pavement. Champ Massey spoke in opposition to the present no_paiking restrictions on the east side of Broad Street. He stated the question is not one of vehicles parking vs. bicycles, but of survival of the small businesses in the area. He also felt that present traffic scheme was unsafe for bike riders. He also stated that there had already been a great number of accidents and stated that a minimum loss to business in the area averages about $100 per day for each of the 25 separate business enterprises in this stretch of Broad Street. He hoped the City Council would consider the appeal of the people who faced the Council this evening in a desperate attempt to save their livelihood. He asked the City Council that night to decide to restripe the street regardless of the cost to the tax payers, as he felt that the people must be served even if it cost $40,000. Russell Johnson, property owner, disagreed with Mayor Schwartz's statement that when the State of Claifornia purchased the property on the east side of Broad Street for the widening that they were compensated for future loss of parking at the curb. He said as an affected property owner this was never mentioned by the highway representatives. Walter Ross, 595 Patricia Street, stated that as a former Cal Trans employee who was the first appraiser and a right -of -way agent on the site, purchasing land on Broad Street for the State at no time was compensation given or considered for future loss of.parking which in his opinion was a non - compensable item in land acquisition. Russell-Johnson spoke again stating that when he purchased the property located at Broad Street and was not informed that he would be losing any curb parking at his business. Richard Ballesteros, 2145 South Broad Street, stated that at no time when negotiations were held with Cal Trans was he given any compensation or consideration for loss of curb side.parking. He stated that this project had practically put him out of business. lie stated he was opposed to the proposed landscaped median to be put in at tax payers expense and felt this money would be better spent in repaving and restriping the street to save the small business people. Mike Morgan, 2603 Broad Street, objected to the loss of parking at the curb in front of his place of business which forced customers - to go elsewhere for their goods. There were two spaces available to the rear of the store to service customers and no parking for employees who must now park in front of the adjacent residential areas. City Council Minutes April 13, 1977 Page 2 Mrs. Hilda Rosa, 2007 S. Broad Street, objected to the parking restrictions in front of her property. She stated she had spent 10 days in court over the State acquisition of her property and at no time was she informed by the court-or any of the people involved that she would lose the parking in front of her property. Greg Coelho, employee of business on Broad Street, was opposed to the parking restrictions as he felt in order for him to survive, his employer must have customers visiting the store so that he could work in order to live. Bob Lawson, Broad Street, felt the City made a mistake in 1974 and should now correct_this mistake to accept conditions as they now exist. He felt the loss of business was a terrible blow not only to the individuals in- volved but also to the City who depended on property taxes and sales taxes. He was also opposed to further waste.of money on this catastrophy by land- scaping a median strip that nobody wanted. Dr. Charles Otto, Broad Street, stated that while he had off - street parking at his. offices, his neighbors were parking in his lot, so now he was hurting as were his patients. Beth Hines, 2790 Broad Street, spoke in support of removing the parking restrictions. on Broad Street. She felt that the turning lane striping was wrong and in fact was practically ridiculous Ira Belargo, 2161 Broad Street, opposed to the parking restrictions on Broad Street as his business was getting worse each day as no customers would now park and come to his place of business. R. Maddalena, 2251 Broad Street, west side of Broad Street, objected to the loss of parking.in front of his property. He said his property was zoned residential and not commercial and he felt that he granted the property to , City for widening 10 years ago at no cost to the City and in addition to that he had-now-lost his curb parking without any compensation by the City, State or anyone. Skip Hodges, 2161 Broad Street, requested that curb side parking be restored in order to save his livelihood and his business. His business relied on drop -in customers and they.needed somewhere for customer parking. He felt that in addition, with the.loss.of land for widening, they now had also lost customers due to the lack of curb parking. Scott Ingalls, autho salesman, Fiat dealership, asked the Council to recon- sider their action in removing curb side parking from the front of their business because he said it had really hurt his sales which-in turn affected his commissions. Mike Chem Clean, 2800 Broad Street felt that since the imposition of no parking restriction on Broad Street, he had personally noticed a loss of business at his establishment. Although he did have some off - street parking, it still affected him because of the parking. Pete Zuiderweg was opposed to the loss of street parking in front.of his property. He felt .that this had hurt his tenants' income and he soon might lose some of his tenants and if this happened, who paid the City taxes on this property. He also felt the striping in the median was very confusing. He asked that the matter be corrected and return parking to the curb side and that the Mayor forget his landscape median strips, because the livelihood and life of the people living in the City were more important than the flowers. Dennis Wheeler, 2410 Broad Street, was opposed to the Council action in 1974 and hoped the Council would rescind this action.and restore street parking on the east side of Broad Street. He felt this action had-hurt many of the small businesses and they.were really hurting. He asked the City Council to change their action, restripe the street properly, and correct this stupid mistake. 7. City Council Minutes April.13, 1977 Page 3 Walt Ross, former Cal Trans employee again stated that he felt that the situation since 1974 had changed on Broad = Street -and that the.new tenants and owners are hurting, and that as a professional appraiser, he stated that any property without curb parking would be almost without value. John Wallu, 1645 Crestview Circle, bike rider, stated that he was in support of installation of bike lanes.on Broad Street in order to balance the transportation opportunities for the citizens of the City. He did not feel the City had the authority or needed to provide parking for on- street customers. He felt that each-property owner or business should be assessed if the City voted to spend these exorbitant funds to repave and restripe the street. Fred Steinburger was opposed to the lack of parking on Broad Street, felt the City was anti- business and-made no attempt to help business or the property owners, and he felt they should explore some sort of a compromise to get out of this problem. He.then presented some of the problems he had had with the City Planning and Building Departments in the last several years. At 8:50 p.m., the Mayor called for a recess. At 9:05 p.m., the meeting reconvened with all Councilmen present. Councilman Gurnee asked if the staff felt the need for a 14' median or turning lane. Dick Elliott, representing Cal Trans, stated that the State always felt that a left turn median was highly desirable on Broad Street. He continued that 14' was the desired.width with a 12' minimum acceptable. Councilman Gurnee asked if the City decided to restripe, could the City get a cheaper option for removing the stripes such as sandblasting, etc. Dick Elliott stated there was no way acceptable to the State-without repav- ing so that the old striping could not bleed through which would add to more confusion and possible accidents. Councilman Gurnee asked what was the accepted median speed on Broad Street. Dick Elliott stated he did.not know at this time, but that the State was starting to make speed studies.now that the street had been realigned and paved. Mayor Schwartz questioned the median strip striping and asked if it were legal -.as it existed or not. Dick Elliott, Cal Trans, stated that the yellow striping on Broad Street was done.to Federal standards which were recently adopted by the State of California for all highways. Councilman Jorgensen asked if curb parking were restored on the east side of Broad Street how many spaces would be provided. Wayne Peterson, City Engineer, amswered that there would be 24 additional curb side spaces between Humbert and Alphonso. This was based on information received from Cal Trans. Councilman Jorgensen asked if the parking was restored on Broad Street was there an alternative bike path location adjacent to the area. Councilman Jorgensen asked what would be the possibility of getting additional off - street parking for this area to serve these businesses. Rob Strong, Community Development Director, stated that there was a good possibility as the area was about only 50% developed and that the property owners and businessmen could procure property and put in off - street parking. Councilman Jorgensen asked if the parking was restored on Broad Street was there an alternative bike path location adjacent to the area. City Council Minutes April 13, 1977 Page 4 Rob Strong, Community Development Director, stated he felt there was no other route available that would serve this traffic. He asked Cal Trans to ex- plain why Broad Street must be repaved prior to restriping when the State had only chip sealed two other segments of highway to install bike lanes recently. Dick Elliott, Cal Trans, stated that bike paths on Santa Rosa Street and Higuera Street were put in at a lower standard due to the lack of a standard roadway width on these two streets. Councilman Petterson asked how could the City get a quick change to striping now existing on Broad Street and who could the City talk to at the State to change their position. Dick Elliott, Cal Trans, stated that the State took the City's request to Cal Trans in Sacramento and that the local decision was upheld. Councilman Dunin stated he felt that the State was trying to teach the City a lesson on -this matter and he felt only the tax payers were losing. Councilman Jorgensen asked what was the reason for the last rejection by the State of repaving only one -half of the street. Dick Elliott, Cal Trans, stated that the proposal reduced the various lanes below standards and would also reduce each lane in width. Councilman Dunin asked if .the City repaved only one -half of the street, could an 8' parking, a 12' travel and a 12' travel level median strip be allowed. Dick Elliott, Cal Trans, stated it was possible, but would require Federal approval as this project was funded partially with Federal funds. Mayor Schwartz-stated that he and the Council recognized the desires of the people in the chamber to reinstate street parking on Broad Street. He continued that after studying all the arguments presented, he regretfully concluded that he would stay with the original decision of the Council. He felt that the matter of bike paths was completely discussed in public session and he could see no reason to change at this time. He then re- viewed City studies made at the time.Cal Trans discussed the restricitons, reconstruction of Route 227 including the future construction of landscape median islands on Broad Street, but due to the time constraints, the City and State decided only to leave.a wide turning lane for future development into a landscape median and only install landscaping islands on Broad Street from Orcutt Road to Capitolio Way. The Mayor continued that it was his feeling that major streets such as Broad Street were developed as major traffic carriers to move large numbers of vehicles to collect the streets downtown business, etc. He then reviewed parcel by parcel existing uses on the east.side of Broad Street from Orcutt to High Street. He gave several examples where the Council had taken a similar difficult action in prohib- iting street parking on Higuera Street from Marsh to South and on Los Osos Valley Road. Councilman Petterson stated.he felt the decision to eliminate parking on Broad Street and allow a bike path was wrong. He felt that his only hangup was in spending an additional $40,000+ of City tax money to repave a brand new street. Councilman Jorgensen stated that he too felt this was a difficult decision as he would have opposed the original approval of widening Broad Street completely. He felt this was the wrong concept for the City and added nothing to the community by having an 80'.freeway right through town, but now that it was done, he did not wish to make it any worse, but would support a landscape median for the safety of pedestrians and while he was not totally committed to the bike path over business parking, he felt that the west side bike path was:dangerous and he would take it out and would not support a bike path next to parking lane on the east side for curb parking. 1 G 1 City Council Minutes April 13,"1977 Page 5 While he recognized that loss of street parking was and would further hurt some business on the street, he felt-that a further reason he-would have opposed the street parking was the resulting high speed traffic on the street. He would support formation of a parking district to put in off - street parking lot to serve the businesses on the east side of Broad Street. Councilman Gurnee agreed with Councilman Jorgensen's statements that the Council had made a.mistake in going ahead with this reconstruction and ' widening of Broad Street and he felt that nothing could really be done to correct the poor design of the development. He felt that a bike path was needed on this street in order for the cyclists to move in and out of the City along Route 227. He concluded that while the original reconstruction was wrong, he would have to support a plan to keep the bike paths on both sides of Broad Street. Councilman Dunin felt the Council had already made a decision-on restriping when they offered to repave one -half of•the street for $16,000 but not spend $40,000 to repave and restripe. He would support the appeal of the business people and return their life savings curb side parking for their use. On motion of Councilman Dunin, seconded by Councilman Petterson, that the City Council get together with Cal Trans representatives to restripe Broad Street in the best and cheapest way and in the best configuration. Motion lost on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson NOES: Councilmen Gurnee, Jorgensen and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None On motion of Councilman Jorgensen, seconded by Councilman Dunin, that the City repave and restripe all of Broad Street, take out the bike path, widen and raise a landscape median, widen the-travel lanes and put in parking on both sides with City to consider the development and installation of a separate bike path somewhere else, for example, along the Southern Pacific Railroad right -of -way. Motion lost on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilman Jorgensen NOES: Councilmen Dunin, Gurnee, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None Councilman Petterson questioned the need for a separate bike path when the bike master plan stated that people would not use separate bike paths but actually use the street like any other vehicle. Councilman Dunin stated that he was opposed to any conditions for the City to provide additional bike paths somewhere else. He felt that the matter should be confined to the existing conditions and proposed conditions on Broad Street only. On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Dunin, that the Council request .Cal Trans to repave and restripe Broad Street with a bike path on both sides, narrow the travel lane and median with parking on both sides. After discussion Councilman Dunin withdrew his second. On motion of Councilman Petterson, seconded by Councilman Dunin, that the City Council repave and restripe Broad Street with parking on both sides, no City Council Minutes April 13, 1977 Page 6 median.construction, with Cal Trans to authorize the cheapest construction costs possible. Motion lost on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Petterson and Dunin NOES: Councilmen Gurnee, Jorgensen and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None Councilman Gurnee moved that this Council stick with the existing configura- tion on Broad Street with the staff to study an alternate safe bike path location then come back to Broad Street and put in the parking on the east side at the curb. Motion died for lack of a second. On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Jorgensen, that the City Council make no change in the existing configuration of Broad Street and leave as it presently exists at this time. Motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Gurnee, Jorgensen and Mayor Schwartz NOES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson ABSENT: None On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Petterson, the meeting adjourned to 12:10 p.m., Monday, April 18, 1977. Motion carried, all ayes. APPROVED: June 7, 1977���f� Fitzpatrick, City Clerk