HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/14/2022 Item 4b, Rodgers
September 13, 2020
SLO City Planning Commission
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA
Re: Item 4b. Recommendation to extend Safe Parking Conditional Use Permit at SLO Railroad
Station Area for 2-years
Dear Chair Quincey and Commissioners:
Thank you for the opportunity to share our comments on the Safe Parking area at the train station.
After much consideration, we believe an extension of the temporary permit is a better approach rather
The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments has enjoyed a long partnership with City over the last 30
years+ to purchase, improve, and manage the railroad area parking area. As you may know, the
property was purchased for long-term Amtrak passenger rail parking and motor coach staging for inter-
regional trips. We also helped fund the pilot Safe Parking program in the area. We are now helping
facilitate a $600K upgrade of the train station.
We support the Safe Parking program; however, with respect to the location by the Railroad Museum,
and the future need for additional long-term Amtrak parking, we have significant concerns. We believe
there is a lack of enforcement in the non-Safe Parking hours that has caused many problems that are
detrimental to the Railroad Museum and perhaps the Railroad District generally.
While we understand that there are specific hours for the program and that participants largely abide by
them, unsheltered persons that are not part of the program now linger in the area during daytime
hours, leaving behind trash, needles, and other debris.
There are peak times of the year when rail passengers need and use the space for long-term parking,
which is why the land was purchased from Union Pacific Railroad in the first place. Once the Central
Coast Maintenance Facility comes to fruition to the south, and more passenger trains use our station,
the area will be needed for its intended purpose.
For these reasons we support a two-year extension of the Conditional Use Permit to allow time to either
fix these issues or find another space. The Railroad District is important to tourism for both the City and
the region and we want to ensure that people keep coming back to see the beauty that our region has
to offer. Boosting train ridership is an important goal for SLOCOG and we want to see it continue to
grow.
Thank you for considering our concerns.
Sincerely,
Peter Rodgers
Executive Director