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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/08/1971MINUTES ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA March 8, 1971 - 7:30 P. M. City Hall Pledge ' Roll Call Present: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Donald Q. Miller, Arthur F. Spring Absent: Kenneth E. Schwartz City Staff Present: R. D. Young, Planning Director; J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; W. Flory, Park and Recreation Director; H. Johnson, City Attorney; R. D. Miller, Admini- strative Officer; D. F. Romero, City Engineer. 1. Vice Mayor Emmons Blake introduced the continued discussion of the pro- posed transit system for Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo. He presented for the Council's consideration a letter prepared by the Council committee and rep - resentatives of the Cal Poly staff for a preliminary application to the Urban Mass Transportation Administration for a determination on whether the proposed project lies within the scope of the UMTA. Vice Mayor Blake explained that the mere filing of this preliminary appli- cation did not guarantee a transit system to serve Cal Poly and the City, but was only an application for determination of eligibility. A great deal of work would be required to proceed from the preliminary to the final appli- cation for both Cal Poly and the City. (See preliminary letter in F -756) Douglas Gerard, Executive Dean of Cal Poly, agreed with the comments of Vice Mayor Blake. He stated that the preliminary application was only an exploratory matter and not a commitment on the part of either the college or the City. He continued, stating that Cal Poly would cooperate with the City if and when a transportation system were initiated, even to limiting cars on campus in order to make the transit system a reality. He recom- mended that the City Council authorize the Mayor to sign the preliminary application for determination of eligibility. John Grandy, owner of KATY Radio and president of the Chamber of Commerce, questioned whether the.City government of San Luis Obispo could afford the luxury of a bus system to serve the City and College. He hoped that the City Council would consider very carefully the initiation of any mass tran- sit system.proposed for San Luis Obispo. He read a report from the Wall Street Journal which stated that no-publicly owned mass transportation system was operating in the black in the United States. He asked that plenty of time be allowed for public discussion before a final decision was made to add this massive financial burden to the City government. He also questioned the use of the narrow City streets for the large buses proposed ' by the Cal Poly students. . . Mrs. Rose Barger, 175 Brook Street, felt the greatest need and benefit to San Luis Obispo was the inauguration of the bus transit system in the City of San Luis Obispo. She felt this need was not only for the students but was desperately needed by the senior citizens of the community. She hoped that a bus system could be started as soon as possible, preferrably with no help from the Federal government due to the time lag involved. She pledged to support any attempt to develop such a system. City Council Minutes March 8, 1971 Page 2 Walt Vargas, former bus driver, stated that 52 -foot buses had been used in the City streets in downtown San.Luis Obispo without any problems or inter- ference with traffic and hetoo felt there was a need for a public transpor- tation system to serve the City. Bob Leitcher, 642 Monterey, stated he was neither for or against the bus system for San Luis Obispo but felt that the City Council should carefully study the matter before City funds were committed:.:to: develop a bus system. He suggested that the City investigate the possibility of inviting a pri- vate company to come in and run the system on an interim basis to see if there was really a need for a bus system in San Luis Obispo. Councilman Miller agreed with Mr. Leitcher and suggested a trial period for developing the bus system. For this purpose he suggested that the City lease school buses from the Atascadero School District which-had a surplus and that the City try a bus system for a few months to see if there really was a need for the system. He continued that this trial could be carried on while the City and college were making application for funds for a new bus system. He then briefly reviewed for the public present the deterioration of bus transportation in the United States. He urged the City Council to proceed with the preliminary application. Councilman Graham felt a need fora well organized transit system and felt that the City Council should proceed with the preliminary application in order to get a determination for the feasibility of the system from the Federal government. Councilman Spring also favored the preliminary application to UMTA and felt the Council might investigate the possibility of using mini - buses. Charles Maino, property owner, urged the City Council to be very careful before spending public funds to make up a deficit which would be required when operating a bus system as they were very expensive to operate and the possibility was that the money needed to subsidize the system would come from some other department or agency of the City. Vice Mayor Blake felt that the preliminary application should be forwarded to UMTA and that.the committee working on this problem should consider all the comments made at this meeting for future consideration if the system develops. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer,.commented to the City Council on the City of Pomona's experience with.a bus system as follows: The City ran buses out to the college seven days a week, but students were not making very much use of the facility, contrary to.earlier useage forcasts. The City was losing approximately $80,000 a year on its overall operation; and the College was adding acre after acre of parking. He continued.that some possibilities to.encourage use of the bus system by the college students would be to add a nominal fee to the student body fees and then allow registered students to ride the buses free, although there were some legal obstacles to doing this, secondly, he.suggested that possibly some of the money that would be received through the annexation of.Cal Poly could be pledged to the support of the bus.system if the annexation took place, thirdly, he.suggested that the bus system could be operated by the College to give employment to students and thereby avoid a City.operated bus system with large overhead and possibly union complications. On motion of Councilman Spring, seconded by Councilman Graham, the.follow- ing resolution was introduced. RESOLUTION NO. 2171,'a resolution author - izing the Mayor to sign the preliminary.application letter to UMTA.' Passed and adopted on the following roll call vote: 1 1 1 City Council Minutes March 8, 1971 Page 3 AYES: Emmons Blake, Myron.Graham, Donald Q. Miller Arthur F. Spring NOES: None ' ABSENT: Kenneth E. Schwartz 2. Warner Chabot, Cal Poly student and President of the Committee on Aware- ness, presented the City Council with a study.prepared.by his organization, of the creeks. of San Luis Obispo which showed actual conditions on every foot of the creeks in the City and gave an inventory of the assets and liabilities and physical condition of the creeks. He continued that.this group had spent over 1,500 hours in preparing this map and inventory of creek conditions for the City Council. Susan Hopper, member of the Committee on Awareness, reviewed for the City Council the steps that were taken by the students in preparing this com- prehensive analysis of San Luis Creek. W. Chabot asked that the City Council request the Planning Commission to accept this report on the creeks and that the Planning Commission continue their study to protect the creeks of..San.Luis Obispo. He also hoped that the City Council and Planning Commission would cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce Ecology Committee and accept their proposals to adopt suggested ordinances to protect the creek. D. F. Romero, City Engineer, reported that the Engineering Department had taken detailed profile and.cross- section measurements of the creek from Cuesta Park to Toro Street, was plotting this information and calculating creek capacity. .Preliminary, studies indicate that the creek has less than 1 a ten -year storm capacity, which means that either creek improvements must be made or the City would have to accept periodic flooding. A more detailed report will be made to the Council sometime during the summer. Charles Maino, property owner, felt the City should maintain all creeks in the City for future generations and suggested that the City might consider buying the creek land which was undeveloped.north of the City which was the only way the creeks in the City could be protected. Miss Hopper offered the use of the student committee to .sell the creek pro- tection program to the property owners and to explain what was desired by the City. Kim Beale, student group, felt that this presentation was step one of the creek protection plan. Step two would be to submit the plan to the public and .step three would be to implement the plan. He felt that the students would like to take part in steps two and three with the Planning staff. Warner Chabot urged the City Council to place the creek preservation in a high priority and give the Planning Commission directions to proceed on this basis. If not, the creeks would be lost forever. Steve Wise, seventh grade Mission School, urged the preservation of the creeks in San Luis Obispo and particularly to clearing up the litter thrown in the creeks. Elizabeth Webber, Sierra Club, hoped that.the City Council would urge every- one to support the preservation of the creeks in the City and also hoped that the City Council would show an interest in the creeks outside the City. Councilman Miller again suggested that the City hire an environmental specialist to keep an eye on pollution and other violations to-the City's environment. He urged the City to hire someone immediately. City Council Minutes March 8, 1971 Page 4 Councilman Graham hoped the Planning Consultant to be retained by the City would look into the creek problem and relate a presentation to this problem. Councilman Spring felt that the matter of a pollution employee should be considered at budget time. Vice.Mayor Blake suggested that the City Council request that the Planning Commission accept the report of the Committee on Awareness and place it in a high priority in their studies for the development of the City. Dr. R. Kreisa urged the City.Council to take whatever steps were necessary to protect the creeks of San Luis Obispo. He felt the City owed the students on the Committee on Awareness a debt of gratitude for the work done on this inventory. He felt that the City was now reaping the rewards of past poor planning. Vice Mayor Blake thanked the Committee on Awareness for the report and in- ventory of the creeks. He stated the City Council would pass it on to the Planning Commission for high priority consideration. A representative of the California Native Plant Society stated his group was in support of the request of the Committee on Awareness to preserve the creeks of San Luis Obispo. On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, that the City accept the report and direct the Planning Commission to assign a high priority to the Committee's report for preservation of the creeks and that the Planning Commission work with representatives of the Com- mittee on Awareness to preserve.the creeks with progress reports to be submitted to the Planning Commission. R. D. Young, Planning Director, stated that the basic information pre- sented to the Council by the Committee on Awareness was the needed raw information for the Planning Department and that the Planning Department could now proceed with a detailed.plan for creek preservation but he felt with the existing staff, it would take six to eight months to complete. On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, the prior motion was amended as follows: .Accept the report from the Committee on Awarness; direct the Planning.Commission.to assign a high priority to.the report on creek preservation with the Planning Department to prepare a final plan and final report to be presented within eight months, and the City to cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce Ecology Committee. Councilman Miller objected to the Council action as he felt the Council should proceed with this program with no delay. The motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Arthur F. Spring NOES: Donald Q. Miller ABSENT: Mayor Schwartz 9:15 P. M. Vice Mayor Blake called a recess. 9:30 P. M. The meeting reconvened with all Councilmen present, except Mayor Schwartz. City Council Minutes March 8, 1971 Page 5 3. Communication from the City Housing Authority reporting on progress to date and on future projects.and pledging cooperation with the City depart- ments in attempting to eliminate substandard and unhealthy..living quarters and containing a proposal for the-Housing Authority to cooperate with other City agencies.in preparing a survey of the City's total housing needs to ' determine what groups were not now being served by either public or private sectors such as middle income families, elderly, single persons under.62 and the handicapped. The Housing Authority also.asked the City Council to approve an application of the local housing authority for 100 additional low rent turnkey leased housing units. This would bring the total of conventional units in the City to 120 and with this 100 the total would be 250 leased units. The City Council asked the City Attorney to prepare a.resolution approving the Housing Authority's request for the next Council meeting. 4. The City Council discussed the disposition of the recently acquired Hoffman property on Rockview Place. H. Johnson, City Attorney, recommended that the minimum bid be $6,000, based on the appraisal of value and explained that possibly a little more time should be given after accepting the bids for the bidder to put up the money for the lot. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded-by Councilman Spring, the City Clerk was authorized to advertise the lot under the conditions set by the City Council. Motion carried with Councilman Miller voting no. Councilman Miller stated he voted no because he felt the minimum bid was 1 too high and unrealistic; however, he was-not opposed to selling the lot. 5. The City Council discussed the sale of surplus property adjacent to the Fire Station No. 3 on Laurel Lane, a lot consisting of approximately 10,000 square feet. The City Clerk recommended that a minimum bid of $8,500 be placed on the property subject to the same conditions as the prior approval. Councilman Miller objected to the sale as he felt the City at some future date might need this property for a branch library. On motion of Councilman Spring, seconded by Councilman Graham, the City Clerk was-authorized to advertise the property for sale. Motion carried with Councilman Miller voting no. 6. At this time the City Council considered Senate Bill 141, Railroad Grade Separation Projects. H. Johnson, City Attorney, reviewed the provisions of the bill for the City Council which basically was the increase in gas tax by 1� per gallon for a period of four years in order to produce additional revenue for grade separation projects. The State estimated that $50 million annually would be raised through this method and that additional necessary grade separation projects could be completed if funds were available. On motion of Councilman Miller, seconded by Councilman Graham, a resolution supporting SB 141 was introduced. The resolution did not pass on the following roll call vote: AYES: Donald Q. Miller, Myron Graham NOES: Emmons Blake, Arthur F. Spring ABSENT: Kenneth E. Schwartz The matter was continued to the next meeting. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Spring, the meeting was adjourned. APPROVED: April 19, 1971 -lam; v� H. T PATRICK, CITY CLERK