HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-2015 C4 John AshbaughCOUNCIL MEETING:
ITEM NO.: C4
Mejia, Anthony
From: Ashbaugh, John
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2015 1:49 PM I�`�Ef ��
To: Johnson, Derek MAY 0 5.2015
Cc: Murry, Kim; Lichtig, Katie; Mejia, Anthony
Subject: General Plan Annual Report - Consent Calendar item C4 "J. (C) CIP.' CLERK
Thanks for providing the Council with your General Plan Annual Report — an item that is often overlooked but
which deserves comment. This document does make note of the fact that our newly- updated Land Use and
Circulation Elements represent a major milestone in the long history of city planning for San Luis Obispo.
Those newly - polished plans will be the basis for NEXT YEAR'S Annual Report, but they could not be utilized in
relation this year's document.
It is not my intent to pull this item from the Consent Calendar tonight, but I'd like to supply the following
comments for Council Agenda Correspondence to be posted with the meeting tonight.
1. 1 could not find in the report any reference to the considerable effort staff put into our comments on the
Draft EIR on the Student Housing South project at Cal Poly. This type of formal dialogue with University
administrators is very much related to implementing the City's general plan, particularly those policies
that call for the University to provide more housing on campus.
2. On page 9 (C4 -23), the dates of the various adopted elements of the City's general plan are noted;
would like to call attention to the fact that the Noise Element was last updated in 1996, and the Parks
and Recreation Element in 2001. Both of these elements should be scheduled for updates within the
near future.
3. On page 11 (C4 -25), it is noted that the City's LUCE Update was determined by the Airport Land Use
Commission to be inconsistent with the current Airport Land Use Plan. Not mentioned was the fact that
the ALUC is now in the process of updating that plan. It is also not stated until the following page that
the City overruled the ALUC inconsistency determination on December 9 — perhaps a footnote or final
sentence should be added to clarify that on page 11. Additionally, it should bear mentioning that the
major development projects authorized in the LUCE Update — San Luis Ranch, Avila Ranch, and
Madonna /LOV Road, would all require separate review by the Airport Land Use Commission — although
it is also expected that they will have updated their Airport Land Use Plan well before these projects are
approved.
4. On pages 20 -22 (C4- 34 -36), there is a discussion of how well (or poorly) the City of San Luis Obispo
did in achieving its "Quantified Objectives" for affordable housing over the five years from 1/1/2010
through 12/31/14. It is noted that fully 27% of all new housing units were affordable to extremely -low,
very-low, low or moderate income households, but that we failed to meet the "quantified objectives"
outlined in that table — which called for 924 units in that category. It could also be explained that we
only had a GRAND TOTAL of 414 units in ALL price ranges built during that 5 -year period (from Table
5 on p. 20). In this context, the listing of seventeen active affordable- housing initiatives on pp. 22 -26 is
solid evidence that our City is doing everything within our power to achieve more affordable housing in
order to meet this growing demand.
5. On p. 28 (C4 -42), we list the Chevron Tank Farm property as 50 acres of "Commercial Tract." It was my
understanding that this project will entail about 800,000 s.f. of business park and service commercial
uses, and the acreage involved is about 56 acres. This significant project received a greater discussion
on page 31 (C4 -45) as the highlighted amendment to the Airport Area Specific Plan.
6. On p. 35 (C4 -47), our implementation of the City's Climate Action Plan did not mention the action taken
recently to partner with other agencies in an investigation of the feasibility of a Community Choice
Energy program — a study that was first proposed as one part of that 2012 Plan.
7. On pp. 55 -57, there's a discussion of the Parks and Recreation programs as well as our Open Space
program; however it bears note here that our Parks and Recreation Element is over 14 years old, and
its utility as a planning document is nearly exhausted. We need to update our Parks and Recreation
Element.
Thanks for the opportunity to raise these additional issues in relation to our General Plan implementation.
John Ashbaugh
Vice Mayor
r 1
f' IB QV
Office of the City Council
990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 -3249
E iashbaugh(c�slocity.org
T 805.7817122
C 805.550.7713