The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About4/18/2023 Item 6a, Quaglino RE Schwartz From:Schwartz, Luke Sent:Wednesday, March 29, 2023 7:49 PM To:Matt Quaglino Cc:Horn, Matt; CityClerk; Stanwyck, Shelly Subject:RE: Santa Barbara St bike lanes Attachments:ATP Excerpt.pdf Follow Up Flag:Follow up Flag Status:Flagged Bcc: City Council Hi Matt, Thank you for contacting us about the new bike lanes on Santa Barbara Avenue, proposed as part of the upcoming 2023 Arterials Paving project. I know that having enough parking is important for residents, customers, and business owners alike, and I understand your concern about removing on-street parking on Santa Barbara Avenue. This is good timing to share your thoughts, as the 2023 Arterials Paving project is going to the City Council for consideration on 4/18. I’ve cc’d the City Clerk to make sure your email below is added to the agenda correspondence. You are also more than welcome to attend or provide in-person public comment at the meeting or send additional email (or voicemail) comment ahead of the hearing if there are other points you wish to share. Nothing is formally approved yet and the Council has discretion to direct staff to continue as planned or revise project designs before proceeding with construction. A little background on the current plans – The City’s 2021 Active Transportation Plan (ATP) identifies future pedestrian and bicycle improvement projects, with the “Tier 1” projects representing a short list of the highest- priority projects with greatest potential to improve cross-town circulation and safety for people walking and bicycling. Santa Barbara Avenue between Upham and Broad Street is part of that “Tier 1” network connecting the Morro (Bill Roalman) Greenway with the south Broad Street corridor, with plans calling for addition of physically protected bike lanes on Santa Barbara. See attached excerpt from the ATP showing the Tier 1 project locations. The only potential parallel route that could accomplish this connection in lieu of Santa Barbara Ave would have been the planned shared-use path along the west side of the railroad tracks; however, Union Pacific Railroad has been firm in rejecting the City’s previous requests to pursue an easement along that right-of-way to accommodate this path. Thus, Santa Barbara is proposed to provide this link. The City looks for opportunities implement ATP projects during routine street maintenance projects to reduce overall construction costs. Because Santa Barbara Avenue was already planned to be resurfaced this summer, staff has proposed to install these ATP improvements as part of the paving project and has been working through planning, public outreach and design efforts since summer of 2022. This planning efforts included an analysis of parking supply and demand to determine how the potential on-street parking removal would impact parking conditions in the vicinity. In October 2022, City staff conducted a parking occupancy survey for the affected area. First, we counted off- street parking spaces at all commercial and mixed-use properties on the 1900 block of Santa Barbara Avenue. We also counted the number of on-street parking spaces on Santa Barbara Avenue, Upham Street (between Chorro and Santa Barbara), and High Street (between Chorro and Santa Barbara). Then, we counted the 1 number of on-street parked cars in the area between 6:00 AM and 8:00 PM on a weekday when all business were open. We then compared the parking demand to the parking supply and found that there was technically adequate off-street parking supply in the private parking lots and on nearby public streets to accommodate the existing on-street parking demand on Santa Barbara. There is also some public parking available across the street at Railroad Square. With all that said, we understand that any loss of parking will be undesirable for some and there will still likely be times when individuals may not find an available parking spot as close to their destination as they would like. Another consideration guiding our planning efforts that I want to make clear – the existing on-street parking and bike lanes on Santa Barbara are narrower than even the minimum widths currently allowed per City, Caltrans and Federal design standards. The photo below illustrates this pretty well – a typical SUV parked legally along the curb sticks out nearly 2’ into the adjacent bike lane. This is a regular occurrence and increases potential for cyclists to be hit by a vehicle in the adjacent lane or “doored” by a driver exiting the parked vehicle. If our adopted plans did not call for protected bike lanes with parking removal here, we would have to strongly consider removing this existing bike lane completely, as retaining this non-standard design increases risk for the City and traveling public. To date, there have been 3 public meetings to invite community input on this project – one citywide public workshop at the library and two input sessions with the Active Transportation Committee. Mailers were sent twice to all properties along Santa Barbara Avenue (including the March 2023 letter) in an effort to make sure all affected residents/businesses were aware. I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to hear your input until now, but I’m glad that you are aware of the project and have opportunity to weigh in before plans are finalized. If you want to discuss this in greater detail, I would be happy to hop on a phone call. Thanks again for reaching out. Best, Luke Schwartz, PE Transportation Manager 2 Public Works Transportation Planning/Engineering 919 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3218 E LSchwartz@slocity.org T 805.781.7190 slocity.org From: Matt Quaglino < Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 2:37 PM To: Caldera, Ryan <rcaldera@slocity.org> Cc: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil@slocity.org> Subject: Santa Barbara St bike lanes This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Ryan, we own three properties that are adjacent to the proposed new bike lanes on Santa Barbara Avenue, 1957, 1965 & 1977, under the proposed bike lane all will be losing current street parking. I do understand the city will do what the city will do and sadly it is my opinion your request for input will have little or no effect on the outcome of the proposed bike lane project. I am guessing this project is a foregone conclusion input or not. The notice dated March 9, 2023 states, “Staff has collected data and reviewed the existing parking conditions for properties on Santa Barbara Avenue and determined there is sufficient on-site parking availability to support this proposal. Each adjacent property has sufficient on-site parking to support existing demand”. As the property owner I do not believe we were notified of the proposed project. I recently found out about the project on 3/28/23 when a tenant shared the notice with me. I can’t help but ask what was the extent of the review and data that was included in the cities determination that there is adequate parking available once the street parking is eliminated. To my knowledge none of the nine tenant occupying these properties were asked for their input or opinion on available parking. In addition Quaglino Properties, the properties owner was not notified or asked for their input as a part of the cities review. I understand the multimodal mandates and the city goals for providing bike lanes throughout the city, I get that. There are those that embrace the bike lane concept and those that are stark opponents. The recently installed bike lanes downtown are a tough concept for some to accept, but we all know with time they will become a part of our city and accepted as if they were always there. I have paid my share of impact fees for bike lanes, I recently paid the city $92,000 as an impact fee generated by a project by the airport to build bike lanes on Foothill Blvd. It was not all that long ago Santa Barbara Street provided parking on both sides of the street, the east side was the first to go followed by a portion of the west side, now the few remaining spaces are on the chopping block. I am not writing you to stand in the way of progress but I am going to ask if the city has considered alternate routes to meet their goals or if not, is that an option the city should or needs to consider. I am also very interested in what data was collected to determine that each property has sufficient onsite parking to eliminate the existing street parking. And by the way, as I am sure you are aware parking in SLO is always in short supply. Let me know what you are able to share and if alternate routes have been considered. Thank you. 3 Matt Matthew Quaglino Quaglino Properties, LLC. | Quaglino Roofing P: 805.543.0561 | F: 805.543.0214 Direct Line: 805.543.0882 815 Fiero Lane, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 www.quaglino.com 4 1101101Reservior CanyonNatural ReserveIrish HillsNaturalReserveLaguna LakeNaturalReserveSouthwood DrFlora StSlack StFerrini Rd Olive StGrove St Murray StGuerra DrIronbark StDalidi o Carmel St Beach StBishop StMcCollum StSydney StTanglewoodDrFuller RdFredericks StLincoln StDiablo DrRockvie w PlSuburban RdGarden StTiburon WayLaurel LnBulloc k L n W Creek RdVachellLnPinnacles RdWoodbridgeStAugusta StPalm StMount Bishop RdLoomis StSacramento DrHigh StIslay St Broad St Paciﬁc StMillStSan Luis DrGrandAve Poins etti a St WFoothill BlvdBlue Gran i t e L n Monterey StMarshStPismo StOceanaire DrSHigueraStMadonna RdCaliforni a Bl v d Mount Lowe Rd Mainini Ranch RdE Foothill BlvdOconnor Way Tank Farm RdReservoir Canyon RdOrcutt R d Los Os os Vall ey RdCaliforniaPolytechnicState University010.5 MilesProposed Bicycle/Pedestrian Grade-Separated CrossingProposed Bicycle/Pedestrian Major Crossing ImprovementAnholm Neighborhood GreenwayBroad St / Santa Barbra CorridorFoothill BlvdHiguera St/Marsh StLos Osos Valley RdMadonna Rd/ Oceanaire NG/South StMill/Morro/Railroad Safety TrailPrado/DilidioProposed Bicycle/Pedestrian Minor Crossing ImprovementTier 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Project CorridorsSan Luis ObispoSources:City of San Luis Obispo*See Ch. 5 for proposed bikeway and crossing types. SchoolPark or Open SpaceRailTrailsTank Farm Rd Terrace HillOpen SpaceReservior CanyonNatural ReserveCerro San LuisNatural ReserveLaguna LakeNaturalReserveFlora St King StRuth St Dali dioStory StHutton StHarris StBinns Ct Iris StEmily StAlrita StExposition Dr Wildi n g L n Rachel StCazadero StCenter StParker StPhillips LnVicto ri a A v e Meadow StDana StArch er St Hele n a St Caudill StWalnut StGeorge StLizzie StMission StUpham St Grov e St Montalban StBridge StSierr a W a y Corrida DrBlvd del CampoLawton Ave Hill S tOlive StChurch StBeebee StCorralitos AveMountain View StCarm el St Beac h St Bishop St Pep p er St Sydney StElla StSanta Barbara StLincoln StFixli ni St Gard e n St Calif or ni a Bl v d Sandercock StBranch StToro St Woodbridge St Osos St Augusta St Palm StLeff StNipo m o St Sant a R o s a St Peach StHigh StMorr o St Islay StBroa d StSan Luis DrPacific StMill StBuchon StMonterey StPismo StMarsh StHiguera StChorr o St Joh n s o n A v e 00.50.25 Miles7SYVGIW'MX]SJ7ER0YMW3FMWTS)\MWXMRK 4VSTSWIH&MG]GPI2IX[SVO'IRXVEPShared-Use PathBicycle LaneBicycle RouteBicycle/Pedestrian AccessNeighborhood GreenwaySchoolPark or Open SpaceRailTrails7ER0YMW3FMWTS)\MWXMRK`4VSTSWIHProtected Bicycle LaneExisting Bicycle/Pedestrian Grade-Separated CrossingProposed Bicycle/Pedestrian Grade-Separated CrossingProposed Bicycle/Pedestrian Crossing ImprovementMMMiMMissionMMissionFigure 21. Existing & Proposed Bicycle Facilities - Central102