HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/14/2020 Item 10, Bishop
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Ursula Bishop <ub_slo@yahoo.com>
Sent:Tuesday, January
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Letter for City Council Meeting 1/14/2020 Regarding Item 10
Attachments:letter to City Council (1).pdf
Mayor Harmon and City Council Members:
Attached is a copy of a letter that Mary White, for the Dana Street Neighborhood, sent
to Council Members and then read into the record during Public Comment at the SLO
City Council Meeting Tuesday, July 7, 2018.
The letters addresses several of the reasons our neighborhood is requesting we be
approved for a Residential Parking District.
During Public Comment, Mayor Harmon called up the Director of Public Works and
there was a discussion about our request and the fact that increasing numbers of
neighborhoods in the city wanted to do parking districts based on encroaching parking
from non neighborhood parkers/useage. Support was voiced from council that city staff
work with us on the process that finally brings us back to the council for approval of our
parking district on January 14, 2020.
Ursula Bishop
Dana Street
1
July 9, 2018
Re: Dana Street Parking & Other Traffic Concerns
Honorable Mayor Harmon and Council Members Christianson, Gomez, Pease, Rivoire:
My name is Mary White, a resident of Dana Street and one of the many Dana Street residents
who strongly believe our current parking issues, coupled with the development of the Downtown
Terrace (546 Higuera Street, formerly Mission Trailer Park) project, are significant and serious
enough to warrant an expedited process to finalize our permit-parking program. City staff agreed
our situation was a dire one, and we hope that the Council agrees too, and works with us to
expedite our request.
The Downtown Terrace project will be completed and available as early as July 2018. The
development includes thirty units (2 - 3 bedrooms plus den), with no designated parking spaces
(on site or off).
Dana Street residents are not opposed to additional housing in SLO, but we are extremely
concerned that this development, which could house 2-5 adults per unit, has zero parking spaces
and is not zoned for in-lieu parking options. The reality is that some, if not most, of the residents,
will have vehicles that need to be parked somewhere close to their homes. This is a potential 30-
150 additional resident vehicles in an already over parked downtown area.
Currently, Dana Street residents struggle to find parking on our own street. Dana Street is the
closest non-metered parking street to the new development and additional resident vehicles will
exacerbate an already difficult situation, with the added challenge of overnight and long-term
parking.
Parking issues are not new to Dana Street residents, and over the years, we have shared our
concerns with city staff and elected officials. There has been a steady increase in the demand for
parking on our street due to, but not limited to: new developments taking but not replacing
existing parking spaces, meters installed on Palm street, and other neighborhood parking districts.
Collectively, our neighborhood has identified traffic-related issues on our street, with parking at
the top of the list. Other safety concerns include parked cars blocking our driveways and speeding
down our street in search of parking.
We recently met with city staff in Parking Services to begin the process of developing a parking
district for Dana Street.
Our request to the City Council: We have been advised that the process to set up a Residential
Parking Permit District could take until September 2019 to be approved. We are asking City
Council to expedite the process, by advising city staff to work with us so that our district is
included in the September 15, 2018 start date for parking district approval. We believe our need is
critical and urgent, due to the reasons stated above. It is our impression that we have the full
support of Parking Services.
We will work with Parking Services staff more to finalize the proposal for our district, and
envision a residential parking district with a two-hour parking overlay. Interestingly, we
understand the city is moving towards an automatic license plate recognition program. We offer
to be the test case for the use of the system. Dana Street is small and it would be logical to use our
controlled environment as a test case for the city to explore this approach to parking enforcement
and the ultimate enhancement of parking in downtown San Luis Obispo for everyone.
Thank you!
Respectfully,
Mary White
Dana Street resident, at 543 Dana Street, Apt A