HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-13-2011 B1 JohnsonAcouncil m E m o R A n b u m
DATE: December 9, 2011
RED FILE
TO: City Council MEETING AGENDA
P,. 1)I l_ IITEM # 8
VIA: Katie Lichtig, City Manager -
FROM: Derek Johnson, Community Development Department Director
Prepared by: Kim Murry, Deputy Director, Community Development Department
SUBJECT: Item B1: Major City Goal —Land Use and Circulation Elements (LUCE) Update
The purpose of this memo is to provide the Council with an update on the LUCE Request for
Proposal process and describe the proposed structure and process for forming a Community
General Plan Task Force (GPTF).
Six firms submitted competitive proposals for the LUCE update. Four of those teams were
interviewed and thoroughly vetted by a local team of City staff, a SLOCOG staff member and an
advisory body member. All of the submitted proposals were within the approved budget and
consistent with the advertised scope of work. Staff is now completing reference checks for the
top consultant team. As a consent item for January 3, staff will prepare an agenda report
providing Council and the public with an overview of the selection process.
On January 17`
h, staff will bring forward a recommendation for how to structure the Community
General Plan Task Force (GPTF). The following is a description of the proposed structure and
process that will be followed to form the GPTF.
What is a GPTF?
In addition to the extensive public outreach component associated with the update of the Land
Use and Circulation Elements, it is typical to have a General Plan Task Force (GPTF) comprised
of residents and stakeholder group representatives. The
function of the GPTF is to inform the process at key points,
provide feedback and recommendations, and disseminate
information to respective stakeholders and related interest
People groups. Staff is recommending the use of the "triple
bottom line" concept — People, Prosperity, and Planet — to
identify organizations within constituencies that could
represent the community on the GPTF. While participants
may have a primary focus that represents one component,
Prosperity Planet the expectation is that members will have overlapping
interests that intersect and create a balanced and
representative community vision for the future of San Luis
Obispo. The goal of a GPTF is to bring the varied visions
of community members to bear on the discussions central
Land Use and Circulation Elements Update 2
to the LUCE update and to identify where intersections of thought and points of agreement are
found.
Previous direction from Council and good planning principles confirm that City residents are
critically important to the General Plan update process. In addition to resident participation on
the GPTF, stakeholder groups have been identified as important to the process. The GPTF
meetings will be open to the public and members of the public will have an opportunity to
address the GPTF. The task force will not become a standing advisory body, but would be ad-
hoc committee subject to the Brown Act and will have a sunset date corresponding to the
completion of the General Plan update process.
GPTF Composition
The composition of the GPTF should be representative of broad community interests. To that
end, staff has identified various groups with respect to their interest areas that will have a
particular interest in the update of the Land Use and Circulation Elements. There are likely other
groups that will be engaged in the update process, and this list serves as a starting point for
discussion and focused public outreach.
People Prosperity Planet
Residents Save Our Downtown Sierra Club
Residents for Quality
Neighborhoods
Downtown Association SLO GreenBuild
Students Chamber of Commerce ECOSLO
Cal Poly Administration Home Builders Association Bicycle Coalition
San Luis Coastal School District Financial community CCCMB
CAPSLO Hospitals RideShare
Housing Authority Arts Community
Transitions - Mental Health Caltrans
Community Foundation SLO Property Owners'
Association
Parent - Teacher Association TBID
Youth Sports Association EVC
Non-profit groyps
SLOCOG
Planning Commission Planning Commission Planning Commission
Count — Health and Planning
Area Agency on Aging
The General Plan update will include robust public involvement and interaction, and staff and
the consultant team will fully engage all representative groups. The consultant team the City is
currently negotiating with has a dynamic and very engaging public outreach component that will
provide multiple opportunities and methods for public input. The GPTF should be comprised of
community volunteers who can represent the perspectives and interests of their constituencies.
Land Use and Circulation Elements Update 3
The participants should also view potential conflicts as problems to be solved on behalf of the
community rather than battles to be won.
At the January 17 meeting, it will be recommended that Council select the make -up of
stakeholders to comprise the GPTF, with the actual members being determined by the Council
through a subsequent nomination/application process. The number of members should be a
workable size (7 -13 members) in order to be responsive and effective in completing the update
within the grant timeframe of 2 '/z years.
Once Council identifies the stakeholder groups to be included in the GPTF, those groups will be
asked to nominate a member who can commit to fully participate in the process. For resident at-
large representation, staff recommends advertising for volunteers and for Council to form a
subcommittee to interview and nominate participants to the GPTF. Both stakeholder group
nominations and Council selection sub - committee nominations would be subject to Council
confirmation. More details of the process along with associated GPTF ground rules and
appointment procedures will be provided at the January 17, 2012 meeting.
Staff has not done outreach to any organizations. Staff felt it was imperative to check with the
Council before staff began any stakeholder outreach. Based on preliminary internal discussions,
best practices and past participation, the GPTF could be comprised of the following
organizations and residents:
Number Group (in alphabetical order) Category
1 Cal Poly People
1 Chamber of Commerce Prosperity
1 Downtown Association Prosperity
1 Home Builders Association Prosperity
1 Planning Commission All
2 Residents at large People
1 RQN People
1 Save Our Downtown People
1 Sierra Club Planet
1 SLO GreenBuild Planet
1 SLO Property Owners' Association Prosperity
1 Student People
13 IOTA 1
The preceding list is preliminary, and the Council will have an opportunity to formally determine
the make -up of the GPTF on January 17.
In addition to the GPTF, the LUCE update effort will include a robust public engagement
process with many opportunities for residents and other community members to participate and
help shape the vision. Workshops, newsletters, public service announcements, social media, and
other tools will be used to help inform and engage the community. Advisory Body input will be
garnered for each body's particular area of expertise. In addition, stakeholder interviews are
Land Use and Circulation Elements Update 4
proposed to capture the ideas of various groups that have a more focused mission or charge. The
GPTF is expected to be an important additional method, and noticed venue, to capture
community input as part of the process.
Alternatives
The approach described above has been used successfully in many other jurisdictions. There are
other models for garnering this type of input and two are listed below:
1. The previous General Plan Update process took over seven years to complete and had
several task forces that participated in sequential order. While the Council could opt to
identify several single focus task force groups, this option is not recommended. The
grant time -frame makes it imperative that timely discussions and recommendations be
developed or the City risks losing the $880,000 grant for non - performance. In addition,
single focus task forces do not reap the benefit of the integrated plan that can result from
dialogue between interest groups. The community vision will be stronger if divergent
ideas can be explored and common ground found by members expressing points -of -view
and discussing them with each other.
2. The Council could hold open nominations and select participants. This option is not
recommended because the goal of the GPTF is to represent the community and a
selection not based on interest areas may not be representative enough to develop a
balanced plan. In addition, some community members with strong views may feel their
voices were not heard leading to difficulty in agreeing to a shared vision, which is the
goal of the process.
Next Steps
Staff will return on January 3`d with more details on the consultant team selection process. On
January 17t ", the Council will be asked to adopt a resolution establishing the General Plan Task
Force. The resolution will include a request for listed stakeholder groups to nominate a
volunteer to serve on the task force, as well as a call for applications for resident -at -large
volunteers. The resolution will also include proposed ground rules, and will outline the term and
role of the General Plan Task Force.
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