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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/14/1970MINUTES ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA September 14, 1970 - 7:30 P.M. City Ha-11 Pledge Roll Call Present: Emmons Blake, Myron..Graham, Arthur F. Spring, Donald Q. Miller, Kenneth E. Schwartz . City Staff Present: Pat Gerety, Planning Assistant; J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; J. Stockton, Park and Recreation Dept.; H. Johnson, City Attorney; R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer. ----------------------------------------------- --------------------- - - - - -- 1. H. Johnson, City Attorney, reported to the City Council that the City's liability insurance carrier had denied the claim of William Benedetti against the City for alleged personal injuries. The City Attorney stated that the next step was up to Mr. Benedetti who could, of course, elect to file suit in the Superior Court. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Spring, the claim was ordered received and filed. 2. Mayor Schwartz brought to the Council's attention the request of the Down- town Association and the Old Mission Lay Advisory Board for the appointment of a board of representatives to plan and supervise the Bicentennial Celebration for the Old Mission in the fall of 1972.. The Mayor continued that the Church Advisory Board hoped that the City's committee would emphasize the historical events rather than commercial promotion. He suggested that in the next couple of weeks each member of the Council suggested names for appointment to this committee with the steering committee to consist of seven members, with ad- ditional subcommittee members appointed as the celebration progresses. 3. Mayor Schwartz brought to the Council's attention a letter he had received from Les Dirkes,.Manager of the Chamber of Commerce, requesting that the City consider cleaning the sidewalks in the downtown area which Mr. Dirkes felt were quite dirty and should be cleaned. The Mayor felt the City Council should discuss the. request -of the Chamber of Commerce. Councilman Spring stated that he was opposed to the City cleaning the-side- walks for private properties and for the merchants in selected blocks of the City unless all the business districts had their sidewalks cleaned at public expense. Councilman Blake felt the City should not clean the sidewalks in front of private businesses but that the property owner - and /or tenant should have enough pride to scrub down and clean their own sidewalks. Councilman Miller stated that he felt the sidewalks should be cleaned up and that perhaps the City should clean them in order to protect the trees because if a property owner used the wrong type of cleaning solution, the trees might be damaged beyond repair. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, stated that he felt the Public Works Director, D. F. Romero, would object to the City taking on the responsibility of cleaning the downtown sidewalks as he felt the property owners should clean their own property. Mayor Schwartz stated he agreed with Councilman Spring's comments as he, too, felt the property owner should keep his own sidewalk clean because if the City cleaned any sidewalks in the City, it should work on all the sidewalks and not just those in the business district. City Council Minutes September 14,.]970 Page 2 Councilman Graham suggested that the City Council appeal to the property owners and merchants to clean the sidewalks in front of their stores but in the letter warn them about potential damage to the street trees. On motion of Councilman Spring, seconded by Councilman Blake,. that the City Council not take any action or assume any responsibility for cleaning the side- walks in the downtown area but urge the property owners to keep their property clean. Motion carried. 4. Communication from Plant Industries requesting an extension of the contract with the City of San Luis Obispo for sewage disposal studies by California State Polytechnic Foundation. On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Miller, the request was approved and the contract extended to June 1, 1971, subject to. receipt of an appropriate certificate of insurance.covering the activities. 5. Communication from the City of Carpinteria proposing that the City of San Luis Obispo support the proposal for the formation of a Tri- Counties Air Pollution Control District to include.Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo Counties.. On motion of Mayor Schwartz, seconded by Councilman Miller, the Mayor was authorized to write a letter to the County Board of. Supervisors recommending that the Supervisors consider inclusion of San Luis Obispo County with the Tri- Counties area south of San Luis Obispo or possibly to the counties in Regional Planning District. 8 north of San Luis Obispo. Motion carried. 6. Communication from the Advisory Committee on Joint Recreational Use of School District Property requesting that the City Council consider setting aside up to $2,000 to provide security fencing at the San Luis Obispo Base- ball stadium at S.insheimer Park. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, reported that the fence would be placed behind the seating area and would be necessary to protect the seats from van- dalism, etc. On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, the request was approved. 7. Communication from the San Luis Obispo County Development Association re- questing the appointment by the City of San Luis Obispo of a 1970-71 repre- sentative to the CDA. - On motion of Councilman Blake,. seconded by Councilman Spring, Mayor Schwartz was re- appointed as the City's delegate to the CDA. 8. Report from the City Attorney on the request of Holser and Bailey for an encroachment in City Parking Lot No. 11. H. Johnson stated that in discussion with the architect and the lessee it was agreed that,.if the City would. grant an encroachment permit to the parking lot, they would agree to a revocable clause in the permit which would allow-.the City to revoke any passage at will. The lessee would also indemnify the City Council by co- insuring the City of San Luis Obsipo and the permit would expire after a five (5) year period with additional periods based on the lessee's option. Further, all landscaping and construction would be approved by the concerned City Departments.. Communication received from Dr. Karl F. Kundert, notifying the City that he had no objection to the placement of steps over his easement on City Parking Lot No. 11, ordered filed. Communication from Holser and Bailey notifying the City that they would maintain necessary insurance coverage to protect the City over the entrance to the store.. The area would only be used for pedestrian access.. The mer- chant would maintain the area including planting of flowers, etc. At the end of a five -year period they would renegotiate with the City. On motion of.Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, the City Engineer was authorized to grant an encroachment.permit to.Holser and Bailey in Parking Lot No. 11. Motion carried. City Council Minutes September 14, 1970 Page 3 9. On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, the: .Mayor wasiauthorized to accept and record on behalf of the City a Grant Deed frpm Merle R. Ekegren and Emma E. Ekegren for street widening on Johnson Avenue. 10. City Council discussion of a.program for possible study session on housing. Councilman Miller again reviewed for the City Council his feelings that the City government must do something to attempt to break the log jam in housing for the poor and the minorities in San Luis Obispo. He listed several things that could be done by the City to encourage housing develop- ment such as relaxation of the zoni.ng ordinance and the encouragement of mobile homes and factory built modular homes. Councilman Millercontinued that if .private enterprise could not meet the housing shortage, he felt the City Council should use tax funds to develop housing where it was needed. He felt that San Luis Obispo had a very criti- cal housing shortage and that- the Council would be derelict in their duty if they did nothing to help alleviate this need. Pat Gerety, Planning Assistant, presented for the Council's information a chart showing the existing inventory of land in each residential-classifi- cation and the amount in use and the amount of land found waiting for development. Mayor Schwartz reviewed with the City Council the Planning Commission's chart presented by Mr. Gerety which showed over 200 acres of land zoned for multiple development that were.not at this time being used. He agreed that a problem might be the availability of utilities to this vacant land such as water, sewage, electricity; etc., but he felt that even for esti- mating purposes from looking at the zoning maps at.least one half, or 100 acres of land was available for development and served by utilities. Mayor Schwartz continued that as he saw the problem, two things are delaying development: 1) the cost of land, and 2) the high cost of money to build housing. He then reviewed briefly the matter of tight money. as it affected the flow of money for housing development and he wondered what the role of the City would be in this money activity. Councilman Blake asked if the reduction of lot size would stimulate development. Mayor Schwartz stated that rather than reduce space in the City, the City should encourage ment,procedures which would allow an increase the amenities. The Mayor stated he felt that as the density on the land would increase and be reduced. standards for lot size and open the use of the planned develop - in density with an increase in it would stimulate development the per unit land cost would The City Council then discussed the affect of reducing lot size as far as encouraging housing development was concerned. Councilman Blake felt that rather than subsidize housing directly or reduce lot size, he would be willing to look into the matter of placing utilities for these developments with repayment at a low rate of interest which he felt might stimulate construction due to lower unit cost. Mayor Schwartz suggested that rather than have a meeting on housing, the City Council might better serve the community by inviting representatives of banks and savings and loan associations to discuss what they felt could be done to encourage development in the community. Councilman Miller felt that the City Council should meet with the public on housing in order to get opinions or feelings regarding the housing and the housing development problem within the City. He also felt.that the zoning ordinance should be rewritten to allow row or semi -row housing in R -1 zones without designating any particular land or area of the City for such develop- ment. He felt the suggestion of Councilman Blake to allow subdividers to install sewer and water utilities which would be repaid to the City ofer a period of a few years might be a good approach. City Council Minutes September 14, 1970 Page 4 R. D. Miller, City Administrator, stated he did not believe any developer would reduce the cost of land or housing even if the City helped in putting in the sewer . and water utilities. It was his opinion that the developer would still pass this cost on to the purchaser. He also felt that the City could not afford to spend funds for the installation of utilities without making serious inroads into net water revenues which were needed to maintain the water system. Councilman Miller was asked to set up a meeting for the City Council for 7:30 P.M., September 28, 1970 and to invite representatives from the City Housing Authority, banks, savings and loan associations, FHA, and the mobile home industry. 11. Mayor Schwartz brought to the Council's attention the matters continued from the July 1969 Council study session. He reviewed for the City Council those items that had been closed and those still open for Council discussion. He asked the City Council to review these items and at some future study session these matters could again be .reviewed by the Council as a whole. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Miller, the meeting adjourned. APPROVED: October 19, 1970 1 1 r ` ✓`T'