HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/16/2021 Item 12, Arrighi (2)
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Dean Arrighi <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:SLO Open Space Winter Evening Hours of Use Pilot Program
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Tonight I watched on TV the City Council meeting regarding the subject pilot program. I learned
more about this program than I previously knew when I submitted email comments to you
yesterday. Based on what I now know, I think this pilot project should not have been continued at
Cerro San Luis. I would like to offer the following specific comments for constructive purposes:
(1) Staff Presentation - I am disappointed to learn that the pilot project did not prepare a baseline
wildlife survey before allowing the night activities. Potential adverse wildlife impacts was a major
concern for this program from the very beginning. Without this information, there is no way to
objectively know if the pilot program caused any adverse impacts on the local animal population.
I’m also disappointed that the user permits did not collect user residence location information. I
never heard of any permit program that did not collect this type of info. The permit database
could have given you an opportunity to conduct several user analyses, such as how many separate
individuals used the program, how much did City residents participated vs. out-of-towners, etc.
Unfortunately this is a lost opportunity for the past 3 project years. However, I think staff can
review the individual names in the existing permit database to figure out how many separate
individuals participated in the pilot project per year, and perhaps perform other useful data
breakdowns. I suggest that before you move forward, you figure out what kind of user analyses
you want to conduct from the permit database and revise the permit application to collect the
necessary information. Today’s staff presentation did not include any usable wildlife data. I
believe plenty of wildlife data was captured in the wildlife camera trap video. Someone should
review all the wildlife video and prepare a report showing animal types, counts, number of repeat
visits, behaviors, etc. You already have this data. It would have been nice if your staff had been
able to show a chart tonight with this data so that you, and those who watched tonight, have
some idea of what kind of animal night activity exists on Cerro San Luis.
(2) Good Governance - I think Ms. Marx made an important point. This project started on the
wrong foot by not practicing due diligence to conduct a professional wildlife survey to be used as
a baseline for comparison to new future activity from the pilot project. A basic no frills baseline
survey would have been better than nothing. Maybe you could have tapped into Cal Poly to have
students conduct the baseline survey at no or little cost to the City. Because you don’t have
baseline wildlife data, I think the City Council was driving blind tonight. You can’t have it both
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ways by declaring your support for strong open space protections while conveniently ignoring that
ethos when it suits your political agenda. Also, Ms. Marx is correct in that tonight the City Council
set a very bad precedent by weakening decades of hard fought open space protections without
the proper governmental due diligence. Will people lobby the City Council sometime in the future
to open up other City natural open spaces for night recreation? In addition, you don’t have real
user data to show how beneficial this pilot project was for City residents & employees. What
percentage of the City resident & employee population participated this program? Were there
enough people to justify continued funding from the City budget? So I think tonight’s vote to
commit more funds to make this pilot program permanent is bad governance. And on top of all
this, tonight you voted to shrink the permit requirement down to just one month. So now, except
for December, you really will have no way to effectively analyze the use of this open space, and
it’s benefit to our City. I think you can do better.
I understand people wanting to exercise outdoors after work hours at night. People need a
healthy way to relieve stress, and outdoor exercise offers an easy, inexpensive opportunity. This is
a legitimate concern. Has the City ever considered allowing the use of the Railroad Trail at night
during the same time period as this pilot program? It’s outdoors with plenty of room to walk, jog,
and bike, has a safe flat surface, has some lighting, and is very accessible. And this trail is next to
the railroad tracks, so there should be little to no issues regarding wildlife impacts. Also, there
may be no need for any permitting to use this trail at night.
Good luck moving forward,
Dean Arrighi
San Luis Obispo
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