HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-01-2017 PRC Item 3, Cooper■
FEB 2 8 2017
From: Allan Cooper [
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 3:57 PM
To: Stanwyck, Shelly <sstanwyck@slocity.org>; Mudgett, Melissa <mmudgett@slocity.o>; Carloni, Marcus
<mcarloni@slocity.org>; Hyfield, Devin <DHyfield@slocitV,org>; Advisory Bodies <advisorybodies@slocity.org>
Subject: North Broad Street Park
Dear Shelly, Melissa, Marcus and Devin -
Would you kindly see to it that the letter attached below is
made available to the Parks and Recreation Commission
before their 5:30 P.M. meeting tomorrow? Thanks!
0
To: SLO Parks & Recreation Commission
Re: March 1, 2017 Public Hearing Item #3: "Consideration of a Letter to Council in regarding
Funding for and update of the Parks and Recreation Element"
From: Allan Cooper, San Luis Obispo
Date: February 28, 2017
Honorable Chair Whitener and Commissioners
Please do not move into the General Fund any portion of the $900,000 appropriated during the
adoption of the 2016-17 budget for acquisition of parkland in the neighborhood North of Broad
Street. Chair Whitener is recommending this to offset the costs of a much-needed update to the
City's Parks and Recreation Element of the General Plan. This is predicated on the premature
assumption that no funding will be allocated by the City to undertake this update.
Chair Whitener's assumption is premature because the City's major Goal Work Programs and
Strategic Budget Direction will be discussed at the April 18, 2017 Council meeting. A preliminary
budget is set to be established May 15, 2017, another budget workshop is scheduled for June 1,
2017 and the final budget will be adopted June 20, 2017.
As you well know, the lack of a park for "North Broad" has been a part of city park planning
since the 1970s. In the most recent Park and Recreation Element of the General Plan (2001)
this need is made explicit in several places. The list of "unmet needs" denotes the "North Broad"
neighborhood as having the only unmet need for a neighborhood park in the entire city. For
unmet needs in an older built -out part of town developer exactions do not work. Meeting these
unmet needs is therefore a function of this general fund set aside and this is explicit in the Park
Element's program policies. The $900,000 set aside was placed in a_reserve account
earmarked for a "North Broad" park by the previous Council and it was not intended for any
other purpose.
Today there are only two obvious potential park parcels remaining within the
neighborhood and at the moment neither is for sale. We believe however that could
change quickly and without notice and the city would then have a narrow time window
in which to act. Our research of the current real estate market suggests a neighborhood park
site could cost close to $3 million meaning that the $900,000 would only pay for portion of this
purchase price. So please do not diminish it any further. Thank you!