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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/08/2002, B1 - CONSIDERATION OF A NEW COLOR SCHEME AND FINISH FOR STREET FURNITURE AND LIGHT STANDARDS AS RECOMMEN i council ° °��-�-�z j acEnaa REpont "�` 1 C I T Y O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O FROM: John Mandeville, Community Development Director Prepared By: Philip Dunsmore, Associate Planner SUBJECT: Consideration of a new color scheme and finish for street furniture and light standards as recommended by the Architectural Review Commission (ARC 172-01). CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Adopt a resolution accepting the ARC recommendation that a Forest Green color scheme for light standards and related street furniture be adopted for the Downtown. 2. Provide staff with direction to pursue ARC recommendations to study sidewalk and crosswalk designs in the downtown. DISCUSSION At a recent Council meeting, the City Council asked staff to request input from the ARC on a new color scheme for downtown street furniture, including street lights, signal poles, benches, etc. The approved color scheme for street fixtures is currently "Sorrento Olive Green". The installation of new traffic signal poles at the corner of Osos Street and Higuera Street, manufactured with a Forest Green color, prompted the Council to ask for feedback from the ARC on whether or not a formal color change was appropriate. The ARC met on December 3, 2001 and determined that Forest Green should become the new official color. A copy of the ARC agenda report and meeting update is attached (attachment 1 and 2). The original Sorrento Olive Green color was chosen prior to 1975 through an extensive color choosing design exercise involving City staff and the former design review board. The City Council apparently adopted this color with recommendations from the design board. The implementation of Sorrento Olive Green has proven difficult however, and has given way to other colors being used over the intervening years. The reason: Sorrento Olive color is limited in availability for street furniture that is pre-painted or powder coated. City bike racks are not available in Sorrento Olive Green and therefore use a powder coated black finish. The newer downtown street benches are also not available in Sorrento Green and instead use an ARC approved powder coated Forest green color. Even the parking meters have been difficult to find a durable finish consistent with the Sorrento Olive Green color standard. At great expense, the City had special plastic sleeves produced with a custom Sorrento green color to fit the parking meters while Forest green is readily available. Finally, these same issues exist for the newspaper racks throughout the City. When the City staff was negotiating with the various vendors to try to coordinate the placement location and color scheme, they agreed to a ,9l-1 Council Agenda Report—:-...C-172-01 Street Light Standards and'u...ities colors. Page 2 green color that is readily available — which also happens to be a shade of green close to Forest green. The recent road construction at the corner of Osos and Higuera Streets has resulted in the need for replacement traffic light standards. The new light standards come manufactured with a Forest green color. The color is a powder coat finish, which is far more durable than a re-painted surface that would be necessary to achieve the approved Olive Green Color. The general opinion thus far has been that the new forest green powder coat finish is superior to the existing Olive green painted finish in both appearance and durability. Evaluation The two key facts that consistently arise are: 1) powder coated furniture provides longer life and less maintenance than galvanized traffic signal and parking meter poles that are painted; 2)Forest green is an industry standard powder coating color and Sorrento Olive green is only available as paint. Due to difficulty in availability, and because fewer items are able to utilize the Sorrento green, a uniform color and finish that is attractive, durable and readily available for all of the street furniture should be adopted. The protective sleeves used for the parking meters are readily available in a dark green color that would closely match the new light standards- and at a substantially cheaper price than the custom Sorrento Olive green color. Most newsracks and all downtown benches are already in place with a Forest green color and have found good citizen response. Adequate maintenance of existing furnishing is a key component in the upkeep and appearance of the Downtown. One quick look at any of the traffic signal poles shows the results of years of painting. Virtually anything that can be powder coated provides longer life and less maintenance. If it is damaged, it can be repaired and re-powder coated. Public Works staff, charged with maintaining these facilities, highly favors items that allow efficiency with a limited work force. Public Works therefore supports the ARC recommendation. Implementation If the City Council adopts a new color scheme for the downtown, implementation could be reviewed with the new two-year budget. Until that time, units that are regularly scheduled for replacement would utilize the new Forest green color. The conversion of bike racks and parking meters is relatively easy (older bike racks are replaced yearly and meter pole sleeves are readily available). Both are available in a Forest Green color. Existing traffic signal poles and street lighting poles will take future CIP projects to implement color changes. Existing "P" posts (sign poles that show parking information, transit information, etc.) can be changed out as maintenance funding allows. Over time, the look of street furniture and fixtures will become more uniform thereby resulting in a quality downtown experience for our citizens and visitors to our City. I � Council Agenda Report—r-..<C-172-01 Street Light Standards and L.--.sties colors. Page 3 Architectural Review Commission Action A proposal to adopt a new color scheme was considered by the ARC on December 3`d, 2001. The ARC was pleased to see the new Forest green color to replace the Sorrento green color and voted 6-0 to recommend adoption of the new color to the City Council. During the review of the proposed new color the ARC also discussed the options currently available for sidewalk paving materials, concrete colors and alternative crosswalk styles. The ARC discussed options for crosswalks such as the new bricks at Osos and Higuera that could be used instead of the mission tiles. Also mentioned were the options for the color and finish of sidewalk materials. The ARC summarized by asking City Council to consider a further review of available options for both sidewalks and crosswalks without giving specific direction on a preferred option. The Public Works department is currently working on a work program item to study the durability and trip hazards associated with adopted crosswalk materials. If the Council would like to expand the work program to include a study of crosswalk and sidewalk colors and finishes, direction should be given to staff to explore these items in addition to the current evaluation under way in the Public Works Department. FISCAL IMPACT The Fiscal impact is expected to be less than significant. Future budgets will address the slow transition to a new color scheme. Since a lot of furniture is already in place, only traffic signals, streetlights, bike racks and meter poles will need changing. It is anticipated that new street lights for the downtown, when chosen, will be installed with a CIP project while conversion of other pieces of street furniture will take place over time as needed replacement is necessary anyway. ALTERNATIVES 1. Recommend additional review of colors and finishes back to the ARC. 2. Continue the item for additional information or study, and specify the additional information or analysis needed. There is no mandated deadline for action on this item. ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1: ARC Staff Report ARC 172-01, December 3, 2001. Attachment 2: ARC Meeting Update, December 3, 2001 Attachment 3: Resolution adopting Forest Green as a standard downtown street furniture color. 131-3 / actirnent 1" CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMISSION AGENDA REPORT ITEM# 3 BY: Philip Dunsmore, Associate Planner (781-7522) MEETING DATE: December 3, 2001 FROM: Ron Whisenand, Development Review Manage FILE NUMBER: ARC 172-01 PROJECT ADDRESS: No Specific Address (Citywide) SUBJECT: Review of a new color scheme for light standards and street furniture. SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION Consider accepting a new color scheme and finish for street furniture and light standards and offer direction to City Council. BACKGROUND: Situation The recent road construction at the corner of Osos and Higuera Streets included replacement of the traffic light standards. The new light standards are a different color and finish than the existing light standards and "street furniture" found in the Downtown. The color is a darker, Forest green, different to the lighter Olive green found on existing downtown signal poles. The finish is a powder coat finish, which is far more durable than existing painted finishes. The opinion has been that the new forest green powder coat finish is superior to the existing Olive green painted finish in both appearance and durability. Councilman Ewan likes the newer shade of signal poles and asked the City Council to refer the topic of color schemes to the ARC for review and input. The original, official street furniture color is known as "Sorrento Olive Green". This color was chosen prior to 1975 through an extensive color choosing design scheme involving City staff and the former design review board. The City Council apparently adopted this color with recommendations from the design board. The implementation of Sorrento Olive Green has proven difficult and has given way to other colors over the intervening years. The reason: Sorrento Olive color is limited in availability for street furniture that is pre-painted or powder coated. City bike racks are currently powder coated black but are available in Forest Green. The newer downtown street benches are not available in the Sorrento Green and instead use the powder coated green color that the manufacturer could supply. The Downtown Association chose this color because it was the only color available that came any where close to the "green" color scheme of the downtown. Even the parking meters have been difficult to find a durable finish consistent with the Sorrento. At great expense, the City had special plastic sleeve produced with a custom Sorrento green color to fit the parking meters while Forest green is readily available. The same issues arose for the newspaper racks throughout the City. When the City staff was negotiating with the various vendors to try to coordinate with each other the placement location and color scheme, they agreed to a green color readily available — which also/ ATTACHMENT 1 ARC 172-01 (Street Furnicure) Page 2 happened to be a shade of green close to Forest green. The two key facts that consistently arise are: 1) powder coated furniture provides longer life and less maintenance — and its corollary galvanized traffic signal and parking meter poles are available for painting and continued maintenance; 2) Forest green is an industry standard powder coating color and Sorrento Olive green is only available as paint. Due to difficulty in availability, and because fewer items are able to utilize the Sorrento Green, the ARC should consider a uniform color and finish that is attractive, durable and readily available for all of the street furniture. Eventually the ARC will be reviewing a new design for a series of streetlights that will unify the downtown and be appropriate for pedestrians and cars. All of the new fixtures come in an array of powder-coated colors, however the Sorrento olive green is not available. The ARC will have a choice of several pole height, lamp arm and fixture designs as well as colors including the forest green color now in place near at the corner of Osos and Higuera. In essence, staff is asking that the color scheme be decided now; with the more important task of architectural detailing of the pole and light specifications to be decided by the ARC and the City Council at a later date. The protective sleeves used for the parking meters are readily available in a dark green color that would closely match the new light standards and at a substantially cheaper price than the custom Sorrento Olive Green color.. Because Forest Green appears to be an industry standard does not mean that every manufacturer will produce the exact same shade of the color. Any standard color scheme that ARC deems appropriate will always have shade variations due to differing manufacturers. Most newsracks and all downtown benches are already in place and have found good citizen response. If the City Council adopts a new color scheme for the downtown, implementation could be reviewed with the new two-year budget. Until that time units that are regularly scheduled for replacement would utilize a new color. The conversion of bike racks and parking meters is relatively easy (older bike racks are replaced yearly and meter pole sleeves are readily available). Existing traffic signal poles and street lighting poles will take future CIP projects to implement color changes. Existing "P" posts (sign poles that show parking information, transit information, etc.) can be changed out as maintenance funding allows. When the ARC and the City Council decide upon a new pedestrian street lighting standard, all new pedestrian street lighting poles available from manufactures are available in Forest Green. It should be noted that one color for all items (street lights, benches, bike racks etc.) is not the only option. The ARC is open to exploring different color schemes for different types of street furniture. In conclusion, a new alternative color and powder coat finish would enhance the appearance and durability of street furniture. The existing Sorrento Olive Green painted finish is a maintenance concern and limited in availability for pre-fabricated street furniture. A Forest green color is consistent with a variety of street furniture items currently used throughout the City. The Public Works department supports the use of a powder coated street furniture and believes the new forest green color powder coat finish for new light standards provides a better pedestrian environment and general improved appearance. ARC 172-01 (Street Furniture) — ATTACHMENT 1 Page 3 RECOMMENDATION Accept a new Forest Green color scheme and finish for street furniture and light standards and offer direction to City Council. Attached: Attachment 1: Existing and proposed finish colors 131-lv . . , �;1 l h,(; 11 ��1 f r� � • . . s..- r$ Al d I. r; < 51 ( � 1. f i F. .•r"�� '•I L ' A t ' i Attachment 2 Copy of Meeting update from December 3, 2001 Architectural Review Commission Hearing. 3. Downtown Area. ARC 172-01; Review and possible modification of the City's standard street furniture color; City of San Luis Obispo, applicant. Phil Dunsmore, Project Planner The Commission voted 6-0 to recommend adoption of a new Forest green color scheme for light standards and street furniture to the City Council. The ARC felt that the new color was more attractive and powder coat finish will reduce maintenance costs. As part of the recommendation, the ARC asked the council to consider sidewalk and crosswalk colors and materials. The ARC felt that sidewalk materials should be reviewed in conjunction with street furniture. The ARC made varying comments on the use of bricks vs. Spanish tile for crosswalks as well as options for the pink pavement on sidewalks. No conclusive determination was given on sidewalk or crosswalk options. Attachment 3 RESOLUTION NO. (2002 Series) CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION ADOPTING FOREST GREEN AS A STANDARD COLOR FOR DOWNTOWN LIGHT STANDARDS AND STREET FURNITURE (ARC 172-01) WHEREAS, Sorrento Green is the recognized adopted color used for Downtown light standards and street furniture; and WHEREAS, the City of San Luis Obispo Architectural Review Commission conducted a regular public hearing on December 3, 2001, for the purpose of reviewing a new Forest Green color and finish for downtown traffic light standards and street furniture; and WHEREAS, the Architectural Review Commission recommends adoption of a new Forest Green color for downtown light standards and associated street furniture to replace the existing Sorrento Green color; and BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of San Luis Obispo as follows: SECTION 1. Action — Adoption of Forest Green. The City of San Luis Obispo hereby adopts Forest Green as a standard color, as shown in Exhibit "A", for downtown light standards, parking meter poles and associated street furniture, based on the following findings: Findings: 1. The Forest Green color is widely available as a durable powder coat finish for a variety of City utility fixtures. 2. Forest Green is superior in appearance to Sorrento Green and a new powder coated finish for light standards will reduce long term maintenance costs. 3. Forest Green is an accepted,widely used color for existing newsracks and benches. 91- 9 City Council Resolutioia-,.o. (2002 Series) ATTACHMENT 3 ABAN 172-01(Downtown street furniture color) On motion of seconded by and on the following roll call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: The foregoing resolution was passed and adopted this 8th day of January 2002. Mayor Allen Settle ATTEST: City Clerk Lee Price APPROVED: ty torn; Jeff ' G. JO4, gensen Attachment: Exhibit "A"—Forest Green color shown on existing light standard 8/ -ID City Council Resolution-No. (2002 Series) ATTACHMENT 3 ABAN 172-01(Downtown street furniture color) EXHIBIT A A'. 7. i ^y - i Existing light standard shown with new Forest Green color located at the corner of Osos &Higuera Streets, October, 2001. - ZMNG AGENDA DATEL F-02 ITEM #_ 11'1E11101zAnbum January 8, 2002 Q06� UNCIL DD DIR ❑ FIN DIR Eri CQAO Cl�CHIEF TO: City Council Members � A�ORNEY PW DIR fta'CLERK/ORIG ❑ POLICE CHF ❑ T DSREC DIR FROM: Betsy DeJarnette, Assistant to the CAO' O LITIL DIR VIA: Ken Hampian, CAO t8' 94 ❑ HR DIR SUBJECT: Questions Regarding the Consideration of a New Color Scheme and Finish for Street Furniture Councilmember Schwartz posed several questions regarding Item #B 1 — Consideration of a New Color Scheme and Finish for Street Furniture and Light Standards. Staff researched each of these concerns and provides the following information for consideration: 1. How did the proposal for Forest Green come about? The contractor for the Higuera Street Bridge project misread the specifications and ordered the wrong color light poles in forest green. He installed these, with the understanding that new poles would be ordered in the correct color specification and changed out upon receipt. In the meantime, Councilmember Ewan saw the forest green poles, liked them and asked the Council to consider changing the standard from Sorrento green to forest green. The Council agreed with Councilmember Ewan and directed the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) to consider such a change and make a recommendation on its appropriateness. 2. Was the ARC presented with a full spectrum of colors available? No. Forest green was the color suggested by Councilmember Ewan based upon the look of the Higuera Steet Bridge poles and the fact that it is a stock color available in powder coating. 3. Did the ARC review color only or did they also review the effects of color on the display of vertical elements? Color only. Consideration was not given to vertical elements during the discussion. 4. What is the cost and life expectancy of the following pieces of street furniture in both standard galvanized and powder coating: signal standard, street light and p-post? A) Cost: While staff was not able to obtain costs for all pieces; the following information provides a point of relativity for making decisions. The cost of a galvanized signal standard is approximately $2000. A powder coated signal standard$2300-$2400. B) Life expectancy: The life expectancy of these signal standard and street lights is 50 — 70 years, unless damaged by a vehicle. P-post life expectancy would, in theory, be the same. However, they are less substantial in size and design and are therefore more subject to wear by abuse. Because of citizen abuse many have been.replaced and others are in need of repair or replacement. In conclusion, the life expectancy, in average, has been found to be about 20 years. C) As noted in the staff report, sorrento green does not come in powder coating, therefore there is an ongoing program to repaint the poles every other year at a cost to the City of several thousand dollars. 5. Can powder coating be applied to our old fixtures in place? No. Powder coating must be applied using an electromagnetic and heat process in an enclosed area. Additionally, the closest facility for powder coating such a large piece is in Carpenteria at a cost of approximately$2300/standard. 6. Is there a policy that says that all"street furniture"is to be of the same color? Staff has not. been able to locate a policy which sets a color standard for all "street furniture". Note: There is a resin paint available that has a life expectancy of 10-15 years so the poles could be painted forest green until they are replaced. A CIP for$150,000 has been proposed in the past two Financial Plans to paint the downtown street poles, but funding has not been allocated. The current Financial Plan pushes the CIP out to 2004-05.