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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/11/2022 Item 4a, Brooks Wilbanks, Megan From:Lea Brooks < To:Advisory Bodies Subject:For Planning Commission's May 11 meeting, Item 4a Attachments:May 11, 2022, agenda, Item 4a.docx This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Please see attached. Thanks. Lea Brooks 1 To: Chair Bob Jorgensen and Commissioners Dandekar, Francis, Hopkins, Kahn, Munoz-Morris, Wulkan and Quincey From Lea Brooks, San Luis Obispo resident Re: May 11 agenda, Item 4.a.: 1701 Monterey Street Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this project. Although I am a member of the Active Transportation Committee (ATC), I am commenting as an individual who enthusiastically supports the City’s 20 percent of citywide trips by bicycle and 18 percent by walking, carpool and other sustainable transportation options . As far as I know, this project is not scheduled for consideration by the ATC. This project proposes a multi-vendor facility that includes a bar/tavern, restaurant, commercial recreation, indoor live entertainment and food trucks, and general retail, including bicycle sales and rentals. It requires the applicant to include 30 additional bicycle parking spaces. I have no issues with this project and recognize that it offers many recreational opportunities for individuals of all ages, including San Luis Obispo High School and Cal Poly students. My concern is safe and convenient access to the project site by people who want to bicycle or walk. Monterey Street is an unpleasant place to ride a bicycle because it’s narrow, carries a lot of Cal Poly and tourism-related traffic and has no bike lanes. As long as vehicle parking is a priority for the City on this stretch of Monterey, people on bikes must share the travel lane with motorists. My personal observation as a bicyclist is that this stretch has an inordinate number of distracted drivers, including tourists looking for their motels and other destinations. Please consider the following for your consideration. I am fully aware that as the Planning Commission, you must determine there is nexus to the project in order to apply a mitigation requirement. My hope is that the applicant is eager to provide safe and convenient access to the project site to encourage customers to bicycle and walk. -In contrast to Monterey Street, the San Luis Drive neighborhood is a pleasant place to bicycle and walk. It’s also an easy distance from San Luis Obispo High School for trips by bike and foot. On the north side of the project site is the Monday Club and Andrews Street pathway and bridge over San Luis Obispo Creek that connects Monterey Street and San Luis Drive. The asphalt surface of this neighborhood pathway between the Monday Club and bridge is deteriorating. Pavement maintenance of this steep pathway is on the ATC’s Minor Active Transportation Project Wish List for bicycle improvements. (The City budgets $100,000 annually each for minor projects for bicycle and pedestrian improvements. To date, pavement maintenance of this pathway has been a low er priority than other needs.) Rather than regular maintenance, perhaps the applicant could contribute to a resurfacing of the pathway and add a bicycle/pedestrian access gate to the site on Andrews Street. San Luis Drive would also be a nice option to Monterey Street and Grand Avenue for test riding bicycles. An improved pathway surface would be most welcome. -The signalized intersection of Monterey and Andrews streets/Grand Avenue has loop detection, which usually detects bicycles built primarily with metal containing sufficient ferric for detection), but not those with high-tech materials and not enough metal. This means many bicyclists must wait for a motorist or bicyclist with a metal bike to trigger the loop detectors, push pedestrian buttons that are inconvenient or become scofflaws and run red lights. Perhaps the City can place a higher priority on upgrading the intersection with camera detectors that recognize all types of bicycles and the applicant can contribute to the cost. Because the staff report does not include any traffic analysis, it's not clear how this project will impact traffic.