HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-2017 - HoffmannCOUNCIL MEETING: -.2r- I ;z
ITEM NO.: Ubloc__4c+••v�rnt
From:
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2017 12:14 PM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil slocity.org>
Subject: Laguna Lake Dredging Project
Dear Mayor & Council Members,
JAN 19 2017
With regards to the upcoming Goal Setting & Budget Process activities. I have the following comments:
I recently completed my online survey and while there are many other worthwhile categories, I placed all my
votes in the Infrastructure/Transportation/Bike Trail categories, since I believe this is the area where the City is
currently the most deficient.
In addition, I also noticed that the Laguna Lake Dredging project is still moving forward and has a $ l 0M -$12M
price tag. Based on that cost I'd strongly suggest to all council members that the timing is not yet right for this
project. The City has higher priority goals and objectives to tackle. In addition, this project is primarily
benefiting property owners along the lake only. This project is not truly benefiting the whole SLO community,
not at $ l OM -$12M, which could be used for many other worthwhile community projects.
I strongly urge you to not support additional funding for this project at this time. The property owners who will
reap the biggest benefits from the project should be willing to make significant (and ongoing) financial
contributions to the project itself, and the ongoing maintenance of the project in future years.
As a side note, I worked for 30 years in the Natural Resource Mgt. & Environmental Habitat Restoration field
on projects similar to the Laguna Lake Restoration (as it's called). These projects are always hard to justify on a
cost/benefit analysis. They just don't "pencil out". I think there could be some benefits to the project, but the
people who are benefiting the most should also pay the most. The City will have some benefits from the project,
but they need to be careful in this benefit analysis and not get stuck with paying the biggest part of the cost.
Thank You for your time.
Bill Hoffinann
SLO