HomeMy WebLinkAbout06_28-29_2017 PC Correspondence - Avila Ranch (Brooks)
To: San Luis Obispo Planning Commission
Chair Chuck Stevenson and Commissioners Kim Bisheff, Hemalata Dandekar, John
Fowler, Ronald Malak, Scott Mann, Nicholas Osterbur:
advisorybodies@slocity.org
From: Lea Brooks
1130 Islay St.
San Luis Obispo
leabrooks332@gmail.com
June 29, 2017
Re: Avila Ranch Project
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Avila Ranch Project. Although I am
chair of the City Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), I am commenting as an individual
resident of San Luis Obispo. I am an avid cyclist who has been riding 10,000 miles -plus
annually for transportation, recreation, health and environmental reasons for more than
40 years. I believe bicycling is a viable form of transportation.
I watched the Planning Commission meeting last night via the government access
channel and plan to attend tonight. I haven’t completed my review of the Avila Ranch
Final Environmental Impact Report, so apologize for not having more detailed
comments.
San Luis Obispo desperately needs affordable housing. The lack of affordable housing
hits home: My niece was married three weeks ago and she and her husband cannot
find an affordable place to rent in San Luis Obispo even though both have good jobs.
The question is whether multi-modal transportation has to be sacrificed in favor of
transportation infrastructure primarily designed to keep motor vehicles flowing and who
is going to pay to complete gaps in the bicycle transportation network outside the
responsibility of the developer, especially gaps in the unincorporated area.
Although there are excellent bicycle facilities proposed onsite, Avila Ranch, like San
Luis Ranch, is a multi-modal island that lacks safe and convenient connectivity to the
regional bicycle transportation network. There are no guarantees that crucial
connections the developer isn’t funding fully or in part as mitigation will be constructed
in the near future, especially in the unincorporated area. Unless these connections are
made at the same time the project is occupied, I am deeply concerned that trips by bike
will be largely limited to the project site and adjacent destinations.
As the Avila Ranch Final EIR concludes: “Project development would increase demand
for bicycle facilities in an underserved area and would potentially conflict with the City’s
Bicycle Transportation Plan regulations and General Plan thresholds.”
With the exception of people riding bikes within the islands of Avila Ranch and San Luis
Ranch, I am worried that the number of people currently riding bicycles outside both
project boundaries will decrease and others will not try riding out of fear of being hit by
motorists because of:
-The significant increase in project-generated vehicle traffic on South Higuera Street,
Los Osos Valley Road, Tank Farm Road, Buckley Road, Broad Street and other
roadways without adding buffered or separated bike lanes and other safety
enhancements specifically to protect people on bikes.
-The EIR’s proposed mitigations focus on improving motor vehicle traffic flow by adding
multiple left and right turn lanes in intersections.
The City Bicycle Transportation Plan notes that “intersections can be significant barriers
for bicyclists, depending on the bicyclist skill level and the complexity and volume of the
intersection traffic.”
City staff’s response to concerns about the impact of multiple left and right turn lanes on
bicyclists include that they meet design standards and the following: “Bicycles can use
the outside of the left turn lane(s) to turn at signals in a safe and convenient manner
while signalizing. Bicycles could also be accommodated on parallel Class I facilities or
frontage roads or may use sidewalks and crosswalks if needed.”
FACT: It’s illegal to ride on sidewalks in San Luis Obispo. People on bikes have to cross
travel lanes to reach the outside of the left turn lanes, which can be daunting. Class I
bike lanes are great, but they are limited and accessing them is not always convenient.
We need complete streets so people on bikes don’t ride on sidewalks and use
crosswalks because they are afraid of being hit by motorists.
Staff has stated that the specific designs of intersectio ns and bike lanes to
accommodate bicyclists will be part of the Development Agreement. My concern is that
these negotiations will take place between staff and developers with no public input and
oversight.
As a League of American Bicyclists gold-level Bicycle Friendly City that has established
multi-modal transportation as a primary goal, we can and must do better.
REQUEST
To help the Planning Commission make an informed decision, please ask staff to create
a map that shows the area impacted by both Avila Ranch and San Luis Ranch and all
the proposed mitigations that address both vehicle and multi-modal transportation to
determine if they are adequate. This area is roughly bound by Madonna Road, Los
Osos Valley Road, Buckley Road, Highway 227/Broad Street and includes Higuera
Street, Suburban Road, Tank Farm Road, Prado Road, Bridge Street and South Street.
To reiterate comments made at last night’s meeting, the city’s infrastructure is woefully
inadequate to handle current traffic demands let along absorb the significant increase in
traffic generated by these and other major development projects. Both Avila Ranch and
San Luis Ranch would be built with no improvements on Tank Farm Road, no extension
of Prado Road and a gap in Class II bike lanes on Buckley Road.
While Avila Ranch proposes Class II bike lanes along its frontage, the abrupt end of the
bikes lanes at the project’s eastern boundary in the unincorporated area leaves an
approximate one-mile gap to the airport and growing number of job sites in the airport
area. Increases in motor vehicle traffic when Buckley Road is extended to Higuera
Street, combined with project-generated vehicle traffic, will make riding a bicycle on
Buckley Road without continuous Class II bike lanes perilous. I can’t imagine under any
circumstances a parent allowing a child to ride to Los Ranchos Elementary School on
Buckley Road unless there is a continuous Class II bike lane. Safe Routes to School
should be one of the City’s top priorities.
The map should also show the intersection of Davenport Creek Road where motorists
desperate to make left and right turns may turn in front of bicyclists out of desperation
and an inability to gauge their speed.
Yes, this stretch Buckley Road is in the unincorporated area, but that doe sn’t mean the
City does not have a responsibility to initiate discussions with San Luis Obispo County
and the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) to address these very
dangerous conditions.
The Avila Ranch Final EIR requires mitigation to address “significant and unavoidable
transportation and traffic impacts to intersection capacities at Buckley Road/SR 227,”
which is in the unincorporated area, but nothing to address the gap in Class II bike
lanes between the eastern Avila Ranch boundary and the airport and the intersection of
Davenport Creek Road.
The map would clearly identify gaps and intersections with a goal of better designs to
improve safety for bicyclists of all abilities and to initiate discussions with the County
and SLOCOG.
Other Issues
-Suburban Road needs bicycle/pedestrian improvements and protection for residents at
its T-intersection with South Higuera.
-Traffic calming to reduce speeds is needed on Buckley Road, especially between
Davenport Creek and Jesperson Road.
-There is no mention of the BAC’s finding of inconsistency with the Bicycle
Transportation Plan, specifically the construction of two separated bicycle bridges on
each side of Buckley Road at Tank Farm Creek to avoid a costly replacement of the
bridge. The BAC found the bridges inconsistent with the plan’s consistent Class II bike
lanes because of concern that diverting through bicyclists from the roadway would
create more intersections and conflicts, especially with other users of the Class I trail on
the north side of Buckley.
In closing, I was really disappointed when that the Planning Commission accepted the
staff recommendation to override San Luis Ranch Class I impacts related to achieving
multi-modal objectives at Madonna Road and Dalidio Drive, Los Osos Valley Road and
Froom Ranch Way, certain segments of Higuera Street and the Highway 101 mainline
segments at Los Osos Valley Road and Madonna Road because:
-It’s walkable to key locations in the San Luis Ranch island.
-The San Luis Ranch island has a network of interconnected paths and trails.
-There is a central transit stop.
Your recommendation sacrificed multi-modal connectivity to multi-modal circulation
within an island!!! Hopefully the City Council won’t agree.
A major shift in emphasis from motor-vehicle dependency to safe and convenient multi-
modal choice to achieve the 20 percent trips-by-bike goals in the Land Use and
Circulation Elements (LUCE) and Climate Action Plan and the 20 percent mode share
objective in the Bicycle Transportation Plan to preserve our health and high quality of
life will require political will.
Please keep in mind a SLOCOG 2013 bicycle use survey that found that the majority of
County bicycle riders fall into three major categories:
-Strong and Fearless (14.6%): Defined as someone comfortable riding on almost any
road or intersection in the county regardless of road conditions, traffic speed and
volume.
-Enthused and Confident (31.3%): Defined as someone comfortable riding on certain
roads with wide shoulders, bicycle lanes and easy-to-navigate intersections.
-Interested but Concerned (27.9%): Defined as someone only comfortable riding away
from motor vehicles or on roads with bicycle lanes, neighborhood streets with low traffic
speed and volume, and on bicycle paths.
-The fourth group, No Way No How, was comprised of respondents who had no
interest in cycling. It was notable that the share of this type of respondent increased with
age.
It’s doubtful that the “Interested but Concerned” category of riders will bicycle on roads
with significant increases in traffic generated by the se projects and intersections with
multiple turn lanes. Facilities on and off the project site must be designed and built to
accommodate this category to achieve the City’s 20 percent trips -by-bike goal. The full
survey is posted at: http://slocog.org/sites/default/files/SLOCOG-Bike-Barriers-Survey-
Analysis-Report.pdf
Sincerely,
Lea Brooks