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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/6/2026 Item 6f, Floyd and Schwartz - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum City of San Luis Obispo Council Agenda Correspondence DATE: October 6, 2026 TO: Mayor and Council FROM: Aaron Floyd, Public Works and Utilities Director Prepared By: Luke Schwartz, Transportation Manager VIA: Whitney McDonald, City Manager SUBJECT: ITEM #6f - AUTHORIZATION TO APPLY FOR GRANT FUNDING THROUGH THE CALTRANS SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLANNING GRANT PROGRAM FOR PREPARATION OF A CITYWIDE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PLAN Staff received the following questions regarding Item #6f for the October 6, 2026, City Council Agenda. The questions are below with staff’s response shown in italics: 1) Will approval of this item impact the City’s ability to deliver on current as well as future active transportation plan projects that may be identified through the FY2027-29 Financial Plan? The 2027–29 Financial Plan process is just getting underway and as part of this effort, current and future active transportation projects and programs will be reviewed and prioritized by the Active Transportation Committee (ATC), the community, and ultimately the City Council. The ATC is scheduled to discuss and take action on budget priorities in November 2026. Although this meeting occurs after applications are due for this planning grant, feedback received so far from the ATC and community indicates that Safe Routes to School (SRTS) planning is likely to rank highly among the committee’s recommendations for funding in the FY2027–29 Financial Plan. Anticipating that SRTS will be a priority, and recognizing the level of work and resources needed to move planning efforts forward, staff are recommending pursuit of external grant funding. This funding would allow the City to hire a professional transportation engineering consultant to lead most of the outreach, technical studies, and plan development, reducing the time and effort required of in-house staff to prepare the SRTS Plan. If funding is available to allow a consultant to take on the bulk of this effort, either through success with this grant pursuit or by appropriating new funding for consultant support as part of the FY2027-29 Financial Plan, staff believes that this work effort could be advanced without substantially impacting other priority active transportation projects. Under this scenario, the Active Transportation Manager would be the staff person primarily managing this planning effort, with minimal involvement from other Transportation Engineering staff. Item #6f – AUTHORIZATION TO APPLY FOR GRANT FUNDING THROUGH CALTRANS Page 2 If preparation of a Citywide SRTS Plan is ultimately not ranked highly by the ATC or City Council for inclusion in the FY2027-29 work program, the City could choose to reject this grant funding (if this application is successful). If SRTS planning is ranked as a high priority for the FY2027-29 work program, but no funding is secured for outside consultant support, staff may have the capacity to prepare a Citywide SRTS Plan in-house, but at a much slower pace over several years to avoid pulling resources away from other high-priority active transportation projects, such as work on the South Broad Street, Foothill Boulevard, and Grand Avenue corridors. 2) If approved, are staff confident that a contractor will be available to perform the work? The City currently has several on-call transportation engineering consultants that have prepared similar SRTS plans for other communities and would be well- qualified for this work. Further, if the grant requires a competitive public request for proposals (RFP) process for procuring consultant support, this will further increase the potential to attract qualified consultants for this project. Staff is not concerned about the ability to attract a well-qualified contractor who can lead the bulk of this planning effort, with oversight and coordination from the City’s Active Transportation Manager to supervise the overall work product.