Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-12-2012 CLR AshbaughAGENDA RECEIVED CORRESPONDENCE Date6�'12- = JUN 12 2012 ._item# CITY CLE `•council fiAlson izcp%,�u city of san Luis osispo, office of the city council hand CO ' erI*atls O COUNCIL a CITY }FOR q CI)D DIR a FIT DIII DATE: June 12, 2012 c AWCM a ATTORNEY �pW D� tEF c CL$AKfaRic3 pol.ICe cHtfF 0 VARKS 41 RSC DIR TO: City Council a TRIBUNE UtrLnIR a JJRDIR a I411WIlmoli a 11A GiTy Nnws d COUNCIL FROM: John Ashbaugh P SUBJECT: Meetings, etc. May 16 — June 11 Mqy 16: Cal Poly Community Service Awards, President's House, Cal Poly — Always a great occasion to acknowledge the special volunteer efforts put in by Cal Poly students, staff, and organizations to improve our community. "Opening Minds" Art Show reception at the Souza House, Nipomo and Pismo, presented by Transitions /Mental Health Association. Plans were displayed within this building for its ultimate renovation as a supportive housing project for clients of TMHA. The art show will continue for another few weeks. Land Use /Circulation Element Task Force Workshop: Monday Club, public invited — a fascinating look at how individuals and groups define neighborhoods, with substantial agreement emerging about what constitutes a "quality neighborhood." Maw: Community Action Partnership Board: Continued discussion of homeless services, as well as energy conservation services, head start and early childhood development programs; reductions in State and Federal grants and program assistance threaten services that provide essential support for poor and working -poor citizens in this area. May 23: Business Visitation — Nick Tompkins, Mindbody corporate offices, Tank Farm and Broad Street, Mr. Tompkins is the developer of a large project in unincorporated area that will be the site of the new Level Studios and other large -scale office buildings. His absorption rate there is much more rapid than he had expected. As an investor, he noted that higher fees within the City are one issue, but not the only one: Equally or more important was the time frame and the offer of certainty once a development had obtained its main discretionary entitlements (specific plan, tract map approval). Others at this meeting echoed the observation that we need an inventory of 3 -5 ac sites that are "shovel ready" and where architectural approval can be obtained without undue delays. The County had guaranteed four months to get to Planning Commission; it actually took 6 months due to the delays on Mr. Tompkins' part. May 24: "Complete Street" Concept Presentation by students of Prof. Eugene Jud at Cal Poly, Creekside MHP. Four separate teams of interdisciplinary students presented some very interesting ideas, including: Place South Higuera on a "road diet" similar to South Street and Foothill Blvd.; consider a round -about for Tank Farm and South Higuera, as well as Vachel Lane and /or Suburban Road. Crosswalks and bulb -outs were proposed. COUNCIL Liaison 6-12 -12 V1 Council Memorandum June 12, 2012 Page 2 Separately, it was revealed that CalTrans District 5 may be contemplating a move out of their offices and corporate yard on South Higuera adjacent to Highway 101 at Madonna Road. More information about that prospect is available from me, if interested. May 28: "Lost at Sea" Memorial, Cayucos Pier, honoring "Pastor" Doug Carroll and Ross Sears June 1: Homeless Services Center Campaign Committee Oraanizational Meeting: About 50 people who have committed to helping raise the money needed for the new Homeless Services Center were briefed on the project during a 2 -hour presentation and Q &A at the CAPSLO offices. The Campaign Chair is John Spatafore, with key positions held by Roxanne Carr, Bob Wacker, and Rick Rawlings. Honorary Co- Chairs for this campaign are Ian Parkinson and Adam Hill. The official "kick -off' will likely be September 24. If more information is needed as to the goals for the campaign or the program for the building, please contact me. June 2: League of Women Voters Annual Meeting: Ian Parkinson spoke about the issues involved in the re- alignment, providing more robust solutions for incarcerated inmates, dealing with mentally ill defendants — often homeless when arrested. June 6: County Water Resources Advisory Committee: Update on the County's Integrated Regional Water Management plan, which the City of San Luis Obispo can participate in, and decisions will be coming before the Council in the near future. Agenda and staff reports for this meeting are in the Council office. A regional informational meeting on hydraulic fracturing ( "fracking ") will be held in Santa Maria July 11, place and time TBA. June 6: Ribbon - cutting and Lighting for the City's Downtown Enhancement Project on Higuera Street. Well attended. June 7: Central Coast Economic Forecast, Paso Robles Event Center. See separate memo. Central Coast Economic Forum/ Mid -Year Update — Paso Robles Event Center, June 7, 2012 Notes by John Ashbaugh, Councilmember Panel: Ty Safreno, CEO, Trust Automation, SLO; Kevin Meyer, CEO, Specialty Silicone Fabricators, Paso Robles; Tom Jones, Governmental Affairs, PG &E (Moderator: Maggie Cox, Barnett Cox Associates) The Mid -year update of the Central Coast Economic Forecast began with a welcome from Dr, Gil Stork who introduced the panel session. The panel began with each of these local private- sector employers explaining their business and what constraints /issues they saw. Ty Safreno: Trust Automation has 28 employees in their local manufacturing operation, but also employs a few others in administration as well as a sales force of about 60 to market their products all over the world. The products they make and sell involve ultra -high vacuum lab automation devices uses in a variety of machines, including robotics as well as electric bikes. Kevin Meyer: Specialty Silicone Fabricators is one of only 3 such companies in the world making medical devices from silicone; they feel they can compete in this area because their highest cost is the complexity of their fabrication process. They have 227 employees here as well as another operation in Tustin. Tom Jones noted that PG &E continues to recruit and hire new applicants, but doesn't have the same "image" as the newer, high -tech companies with flexible hours, organic food in the cafeteria, and pool tables in the rec rooms... People actually wear a hard hat at PG &E. Much of their work today involves encouraging energy conservation among their customers, retooling their existing grid on PG &E's side and at the consumer end. One message echoed by all three panelists was the need for more flexibility regarding overtime rules; this is one of the chief constraints to operating in California. Tom also presented data from PG &E records that indicate a gap between past service agreement records in both residential and commercial accounts, and current active customer accounts — indicating a significant "shadow inventory" in real estate in several communities. In Arroyo Grande, for example, there were 200 fewer business accounts in 2012 than in 2008. This part of the presentation seemed to rely on PG &E service and energy use data to derive conclusions about local differences in the rate of economic recovery within and between individual communities in the Central Coast. I'm not sure whether electricity usage is a valid economic indicator, however, without reviewing workforce or retail sales data from other sources such as EDD, State Board of Equalization, etc. One interesting "factoid" from Tom was that 40% of all the solar rooftop electricity production connected to the grid in this country is on PG &E's system. His argument was, however, that this success indicated that there may no longer be a need for the State income tax incentives for rooftop solar. Others disagree. The panel was asked to identify the one "best" thing local government can do to help businesses create jobs. Both Mr. Safreno and Mr. Meyers cited predictability in timing of permit review and reliability of answers given across staff. Both indicated that they found local government to be very helpful with their desired expansions, Safreno in San Luis Obispo and Meyers in Paso Robles. Mr. Jones noted that his office deals with 110 local government units throughout the Central Coast, and there is little consistency in the way that these units process PG &E permits. He complained that one city — presumably San Luis Obispo — had taken over a year to process an approval for a simple parking lot to handle car -pool parking for the workers during the Diablo Canyon turbine change -out in 2009. He indicated that other cities in the South County had taken much less time to approve their parking lot permit. Mr. Jones suggested that, as a result, PG &E has elected to develop a $16 million office building in the unincorporated area, presumably at Farmhouse Lane. If so, the PG &E corporate presence that is now located in San Luis Obispo will be relocated just outside our city limits. It would be timely for the City of San Luis Obispo and PG &E representatives to sit down together to clarify the factors that informed this decision and to open lines of communication. Chris Thornberg, Beacon Economics Thornberg is one of the more optimistic economists out there and seems to want to make it his personal mission to dispel the image of economics as a "dismal science." His major issue with national economic policy is that we continue to borrow money from China, in order to keep taxes low to consumers, in order to help us buy more goods from ... China. He does foresee a continued improvement in the economy, particularly as construction begins to pick up. We have lost 4% of our GDP from the 2006 -7 peak to the depths of the recession, and we still have a "tyranny of inventory" left over from that boom. The recent rise in the unemployment rate is mostly due to increases in the labor force, people returning to the job market — which is not a sign of weakness. The main area where weakness is shown is in the public sector. He does not believe that California is in a long- term decline; however we were more exposed to the factors that led to national decline in 2008 than other states. He suggested that not much will happen on a policy front until after the election, when we will see whether the new Legislature will be more ready to step up to correct the structural deficit we face — so far, we have only papered it over with temporary, non - sustainable solutions. He does forecast 2% growth overall next year, 4% increase in taxable sales statewide, and a 6% growth in property values.