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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/15/2005, COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT #1 - SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS (SLOCOC) NOVEMBER 2, 2005 RED FILE MEETING AGENDA - RECEIVED il�llllll IUilll DAT I ITEM # 1 NU V 15 2005 uIIIIIIIIIIIIP llllllll �-- � bison Repom SLO CITY CLERK November 14, 2005 COUNCIL TCDD DIR AO B'FIN DIR To: Council Colleagues P%CAO ZFIRE CHIEF ATTORNEY ZPW DIR ;?-CLERKBRIG Z POLICE CHF From: Dave Romero, Mayor ❑ DEPT HEADS RrREC DIR. ,B 2 UTIL DIR Subject: San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCO !a HR DIR November 2, 2005 The Council of Governments met Wednesday, November 2°d. Areas of special interest to the City of San Luis Obispo are as follows: I. The Board received a report from staff regarding extreme difficulty that all governmental agencies in California are experiencing with rapidly escalating costs of construction materials and the decreasing number of bidders on government contracts. This combination has resulted in most projects going over the engineer's estimates and beyond funding capabilities set in budgets. Staff outlined a number of procedures being put into place to deal with both problems. The Board sent a letter asking that CalTrans find a method of speeding up delivery of all projects. 2. The Board discussed the "GO Initiative"which is put forth by the Schwarzenegger Administration,.in an attempt to position California agencies to resolve the problem of ever- increasing traffic congestion, which is eroding our quality of life and impacting the environment. Staff outlined the purpose of a workshop being set up throughout the state to deal with these problems. Locally, the COG staff has also pursued the 2050 Plan, which incorporates-smart growth principles and will serve as a guideline for local planning agencies for a number of years in the future. One concern expressed by SLO City planners and myself at the meeting is that the principles might eventually transition into mandates, similar to HCD requirements of Housing Element updates. Many of us would find mandatory conditions difficult to deal with when applying them to local circumstances. 3. Staff reported on Regional Transportation Improvement Projects (RTIP). This is one of the funding sources for roads available to local communities, however, it has been severely restricted due to budgetary cutbacks and delays in projects. The good news is that the Pismo Beach decision to not move ahead with their$10 million construction project has made funds available to augment many other local projects. SLO City will receive some supplemental funds and should be able to move ahead with the Santa Barbara Street and Orcutt Road widenings within the next couple of years. 4. The Pismo Beach denial of a project near the date of construction after the expense of may millions of dollars in planning is unprecedented. How to deal with such a situation had not Gaston Report SLOCOO-SLORTA been previously included in SLOCOG policies. The SLOCOG Board adopted five policies which would guide future_ projects. These policies basically would require significant on- going participation from local,agencies and early warning if it appears there is the possibility that a project would be terminated. These policies would guide all local agencies during the '12-year timeframe that it takes for an average major road project to work its way through the process to and including construction. 5. The SLO Board considered whether it would be appropriate to impose a penalty because of the perceived lack of accountability on the part of Pismo Beach in allowing a major highway program to proceed for approximately ten years(and approximately $3 million in design costs) during which time CalTrans engineers were working on this project rather than other projects of interest to other communities in the County. The final conclusion of the COG was not to assess a penalty since the Board had no policies in place covering this situation: Board members also considered the difficulties and various modifications that were involved in the processing of this project, and the lack of good will that would be engendered by the city if a penalty were imposed.