HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-25-2020 MOU with Cal Poly_Mitigation Measures Identified in Cal Poly Master Plan EIRDRAFT 4.0
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
BETWEEN
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY
AND
THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
This Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) is by and between California Polytechnic State
University (“Cal Poly”) and the City of San Luis Obispo (“City”).
I. Background
Cal Poly and the City of San Luis Obispo have a long and successful history of working together to
achieve shared objectives and solve problems. Evidence of this can be found in various agreements
including those addressing transit bus service, fire protection, water and wastewater, as well as
cooperative policing. Numerous other points of collaboration large and small are indicative of a strong
and growing “town-gown” relationship. In 2016, the City and Cal Poly received a prestigious award for
the shared effort of creating the San Luis Obispo Neighborhood Wellness/Community Civility Effort
(Civility Report). The Civility Report remains an important guiding document that supports resident
quality of life and student success.
The City and Cal Poly have been similarly engaged in a process to understand the impacts of the
Cal Poly 2035 Master Plan as identified in its Draft Environmental Impact Report, and the
infrastructure and service needs, including water, wastewater and transportation, for both Cal Poly
and the City. The parties understand that maintaining a high level of partnership will contribute to
more effective outcomes as Cal Poly and the City continue to grow. Recognizing the importance of
this overarching objective, the purpose of this MOU is limited to documenting certain key objectives
identified by the parties as critical to accommodating further development on campus.
II. Goals and Principles
a. The parties enter this MOU to promote cooperation, and further develop their growing
relationship.
b. The parties will endeavor to improve communication by sharing information consistently and
meeting regularly.
c. This MOU is a statement of broad policy objectives and interests of the parties that will inform
future discussions and negotiations between Cal Poly and the City and is not intended to create
any contractual commitments.
d. In the event the parties identify projects or services requiring legal and/or financial commitments
between each other, the parties will negotiate in good faith toward written agreements.
III. Water and Wastewater
The parties have enjoyed a longstanding partnership around water as reflected in various
agreements including those addressing water and wastewater treatment as well as shared supply
(e.g., Whale Rock Commission). Over the past year, staff from both entities have collaborated closely
to develop strategies to ensure the availability and reliability of Cal Poly’s water supply and
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wastewater capacity in support of development planned in the 2035 Master Plan. The following
objectives will be addressed via amendment of existing agreements or establishment of new
agreements:
a. Develop mechanisms to confirm operational resiliency of Cal Poly’s water supply
b. Secure additional, temporary non-potable water supply and wastewater capacity for Cal Poly if
needed to support the development of on-campus housing
c. Reach agreement on Cal Poly fair-share financial contribution to support required upgrades of
City’s water treatment plant and distribution system
d. Reach agreement on Cal Poly fair-share financial contribution towards required upgrades of City’s
water resource recovery facility and wastewater collection system
e. Cal Poly to regularly inform City of progress towards reducing municipal sewer inflow and
infiltration
f. Establish protocol and objectives for annual partnership meeting to address items such as
anticipated facility upgrades and related fair share contributions, inflow and infiltration reduction
projects, smart meters installation to track water supply use/flow rates, adaptive management of
water supply storage and other related water and wastewater matters.
IV. Transportation
The City and Cal Poly recognize the opportunity to increase their level of partnership around
transportation planning and programs. Coordination of effort is essential to adapting and building
systems that are responsive to growing populations and evolving transportation trends.
The value of collaboration in this area has long been realized with respect to the City’s transit system,
which provides excellent service to both the City and Cal Poly populations. Continued efforts to evaluate
and, where appropriate, expand transit service and Transportation Demand Management (TDM) policies
at the Cal Poly campus will play an essential role in supporting Cal Poly’s robust TDM program and in the
City’s overarching climate action and sustainability goals to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and
greenhouse gas emissions. Cal Poly and City agree that continued cooperation is essential to achieve these
goals and are deeply engaged in discussions around an expanded form of partnership with the shared
objective of building a more dynamic, sustainable, and mutually beneficial transportation program.
In addition to transit service, which is critical to the parties’ transportation plans and objectives, other
specific areas that would benefit from intentional partnership include traffic safety (on and off campus),
regional transit, and increased support for active transportation projects and programs. For example, City
and Cal Poly recently initiated a collaborative effort to assess and procure a bike share program to serve
the entire community.
The parties have identified the following interests and actions for near-term implementation:
a. Ensure the City is informed and consulted as Cal Poly develops and implements its TDM Program
b. Scale and optimize transit services available to the Cal Poly community in accordance with
changing population and utilization, with the objective of reducing VMT
c. Consolidate and/or coordinate active transportation projects to optimize results and avoid
conflicts between vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians
d. Collaborate on initiatives to improve mobility and safety off campus
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e. Identify potential mechanisms for Cal Poly to participate financially towards implementation of
transportation safety and mobility improvements that directly benefit university students, staff
and visitors.
f. Collaborate on strategies to address concerns related to campus spillover parking within adjacent
residential neighborhoods
g. Establish protocols and objectives to address transportation planning, TDM program evaluation
issues, and potential transportation enhancement projects, including trip monitoring, ongoing
evaluation of VMT reduction, transit service enhancements, and programs/projects to enhance
active transportation and mobility safety.
V. Housing
Since 2000, Cal Poly has tripled its student occupancy on campus, investing more than half a billion
dollars into student housing facilities without the use of any state funds. During that same period, Cal
Poly enrollment has grown by just over 4,300 students while the university has added more than 5,100
beds to its housing inventory. Cal Poly has provided additional housing capacity for all student enrollment
growth since 2000. Despite Cal Poly’s enrollment increases, there were approximately 658 fewer students
living off campus in the fall of 2019, as compared to the fall of 2000, because Cal Poly increased the
percentage of students living on campus from 17% to 37%.
The Cal Poly 2035 Master Plan sets an even more ambitious goal of housing on-campus more than
60% of anticipated enrollment. As part of the Master Plan, Cal Poly is preparing to provide for California’s
critical higher education needs by increasing headcount enrollment by 4,056 students. As it has done over
the last two decades, Cal Poly plans to house all of its enrollment growth, as well as significantly reduce
the number of students living off campus. With Cal Poly’s planned increase of 7,200 on -campus beds
articulated in the 2035 Master Plan, the university is working to reduce the number of students living off
campus by more than 3,100 students.
Cal Poly has elasticity in its current on-campus bed capacity within residence halls. When necessary
and feasible, Cal Poly will evaluate whether increased bed density should be implemented to
accommodate enrollment growth.
The parties have identified the following interests and actions for near-term implementation:
1. The parties understand the importance of the university’s next student housing project and
the related enabling projects (i.e. on-campus WRF to support water/wastewater capacity).
The University is actively working on the university’s next student housing project to build
1600-2000 new student beds.
2. Cal Poly to regularly inform the City of progress towards constructing additional housing on
campus and share its five-year capital plan, housing occupancy rates, and enrollment targets.
3. Establish protocol and objectives for annual partnership meeting to address issues related to
university and city growth and best accomplish transportation, public service and other
resource planning.
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City and Cal Poly leadership hereby commit to act in good faith in pursuit of these shared objectives.
CITY CAL POLY
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