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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/29/1999, Agenda L council agenba CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO CITY HALL, 990 PALM STREET Monday, March 29, 1999 1:00 P.M. SPECIAL MEETING Council Chamber 990 Palm Street CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Allen K. Settle PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL: Council Members John Ewan, Jan Howell Marx, Ken Schwartz, Vice Mayor Dave Romero, Mayor Allen K. Settle CONFERENCE 1. CONFERENCE WITH CONGRESSWOMAN LOIS CAPPS REGARDING LEGISLATIVE ISSUES. A. ADJOURNMENT ® Regular City Council meetings are broadcast on KCPR, 91.3 FM. The City of San Luis Obispo is committed to include the disabled in all of its services,programs,and activities. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf(805)781-7410. Please speak to the City Clerk prior to the meeting if you require a hearing amplification device. For more agenda information,call 781-7103. Legislative Briefing with Congresswoman Lois Capps City of San Luis Obispo Council Hearing Room Monday, March 29, 1:00-2:00 AGENDA Welcome & Introductions Vice Mayor Dave Romero Congressional Update Congresswoman Lois Capps City Legislative Priorities- This will consist of a series of short briefings by City Staff relative to the City's highest priorities. (20 min) City Finance Protection E-commerce Bill Statler, Finance Director Social Security Mandating Ann Slate, Human Resources Director Federal Permitting of City Projects Streamlining permit process for City projects Mike McCluskey, Public Works Director Water Reuse Project- Environmental Permitting John Moss, Utilities Director Environmental Issues The Federal Role in Local Open Space Protection Neil Havlil; Federal "Brownfields"Assistance Natural Resources Manager Other Cily Priorities Salinas Reservoir Expansion Project-Ownership Transfer John Moss Child Care Paul LeSage, Parks and Recreation Director Homeless Services John Dunn, City Administrative Officer Welfare Reform Law Enforcement Concerns Cliff Chelquist, Police Captain Discussion/Idea Exchange Congresswoman Capps (30 min) City Council and staff members Federal Legislative Priority Summaries CITY FINANCE PROTECTION Electronic Commerce. It is clear that catalog sales and"e-commerce"over the Internet will play a large role in the retail economy in the years to come. Sales tax revenues are critically important funding sources for state and local governments throughout the nation. In California, sales tax is the most important revenue source for cities throughout the state; and it is the State's second most important revenue source, accounting for over 33% of its General Fund revenue sources. With recent shifts in service responsibility from the federal government to state and local government, the federal government now has a strategic stake in the fiscal health of these agencies. In short, if"devolution"is going to work, state and local governments must have the tax base needed to support these new responsibilities. As such, it is essential for both the State of California and its cities that there be a level playing field between`virtual" stores and those on main street. Accordingly,we support legislation that ensures a fair share of e-commerce revenues to cities; and we oppose legislation that favors or exempts taxation of e-commerce transactions. Social Security Mandating. The City is urging its elected representatives to oppose mandating Social Security coverage on local government employees as part of a Social Security reform plan. The fiscal impacts of such a mandate and the fact that we already provide our employees with a very good retirement benefit through the Public Employee Retirement System, at considerable cost to the City,make this proposal a loser for San Luis Obispo, our employees and those of other local government agencies, including school districts. The funds required to comply with this mandate will mean reduced services to the community. Senator Feinstein has joined Senator Boxer in expressing opposition to the proposal to mandate Social Security coverage on newly hired local government employees. She is circulating a letter to other Senators to sign that would go to the President opposing this proposal. We would urge Congresswoman Capps to join her California colleagues in opposing Social Security for local government. Federal Permitting of City Projects Streamlining permit process for City projects.The City has experienced problems with Federal Agencies when processing projects involving creeks in three areas. First the processing times by Fish and Wildlife service is too long. Each of the projects that we have worked on has been extended due to Fish and Wildlife Service's difficulty in responding in the consultation process. The most recent case, Santa Rosa Bridge, had the following schedule. Request was made to both Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service for consultation regarding a Nationwide permit for abridge replacement project. This project was processed via FHWA. The due date for response was November 1998. NMFS'returned their comments in September 1998,but FWS did finish until March 1999. The really sad thing about FWS response was that it was similar to the response they have made on a number of other similar projects within the City. The extra time was not due to a new discovery, a significant additional complexity or anything else. The slow response appeared to be due to the agencies inability to respond in a timely manner. The second problem was the Corp's decision not to allow Nationwide permits for creek bank repair projects. During a large flood event in 1995,the President declared the area a national disaster, our creek banks were eroded at several points. The City applied for a Nationwide permit to repair the damage but the Corps, after a year of review, decided that because of the many locations involved and because other banks within the City had been protected in the past they could not issue the City a Nationwide permit for the repair project. In fact they say we will have to apply for individual permits for all creek bank repair projects in the future. The Corps eventually issued a permit for the repair sites but only after the City had spent $80,000 for environmental work and $97,000 for the design of projects which cost$900,000 for actual construction and about$50,000 for mitigation work. Third,FEMA caused confusion during this process in two ways. First, they encourage the City to identify damage and apply for reimbursement for repair of damage for which their regulations do not allow reimbursement. The City began a process of designing and repairing damage assuming that FEMA would reimburse based on FEMA staff comments. After administrative review, 6 months later,by FEMA staff,many of the projects were denied or significantly reduced in scope. In addition FEMA kept requiring the City to request time extensions to perform projects that the Corps would not allow us to do. The City was caught between the two large agencies. Water Reuse Project-Environmental Permitting. The City of San Luis Obispo, like other Cities on the Central Coast of California is struggling to provide the water resources necessary to meet our current as well as future demands. We were very hard pressed by the drought of 1986 to 1991 and have since that time,been aggressively seeking to develop new, reliable supplies that will protect the community from future droughts and provide for the future growth needs of the community. In our efforts to do so we have been sensitive to the needs of the environment and have, in our opinion,been responsible stewards in attempting to balance the needs of a growing community with those of the environment. However, in working through the State and Federal regulatory process for our water projects, we have seen little interest on the part of the regulatory agencies in working toward a similar balance. With all the federal agencies,we have found that the individuals with whom we have worked to be friendly, competent and sensitive to both our needs and the needs of the environmental resources. However their efforts seems to be constrained by a fear of litigation with the environmental community. The City of San Luis Obispo would support legislation which further recognizes the legitimate needs of cities for adequate reliable water supplies and streamlines the environmental compliance and permit process for legitimate, well planned, environmentally conscious water supply projects. In the absence of permit process streamlining, the City would also be supportive of legislation which would assist in funding the extremely high cost of environmental compliance for projects such as our water supply projects where we are merely attempting to provide for the legitimate needs of our community. Our Water Reuse Project is a good example of these difficulties. The City's wastewater treatment plant was upgraded to tertiary treatment in 1994 to meet National Pollution Discharge Elimination System(NPDES)requirements for discharge to San Luis Obispo Creek. During the design of this upgrade the City began developing a project to distribute a portion of this treated wastewater for irrigation and other uses. The only significant environmental issue was the reduction in the amount of treated wastewater to be discharged to the creek. Both the US Fish and Wild Life Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service were invited to participate in developing the scope of the studies. Since the steelhead was not yet federally listed. The National Marine Fisheries Service did not have the staff to be interested. Since the Steelhead was listed in August of 1997, the project is now being reviewed. A recent draft biological opinion confirms the City's original opinion that the project will have a very little impact on steelhead and will not significantly affect the population within San Luis Obispo Creek. We anticipate that consultation with EPA and NMFS will be completed within the next few weeks. However, if we do not reach agreement on reasonable mitigation package, we may be asking for your assistance if we have to appeal to the Regional Directors of EPA and National Marine Fisheries Service. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES The Federal Role in Local Open Space Protection. The Federal government has actually been undertaking a modest expansion of its scope of operations in local open space protection, and potentially can expand its financial support for existing programs significantly. The Farmland Protection Program and Forest Legacy Program are two good examples of the former,wherein the Federal government is dealing more directly with local government on land conservation matters. Recent proposals by the President to expand the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provide additional funding to the Farmland Protection Program and Forest Legacy Program are examples of the latter. The City of San Luis Obispo is supportive of these efforts, and has been a beneficiary of them in the past. The Transportation Enhancements Act for the 21st Century(TEA-21) provides fimding support for historic and scenic conservation along the Nation's highways. The Forest Legacy Program can provide benefits through the nexus of the location of the Los Padres National Forest. Los Padres National Forest and several other National Forests in California are considered"urban" National Forests, and as such are eligible for special funding programs recognizing the fact that they are adjacent to urban areas. City staff appreciate the support that we have received from Congresswoman Capps and ask for continued support for(1) TEA-21 funding to pursue the Ayers property acquisition, a scenic and historic property alongside Highway 101 (and 1) south of town, and(2)working together to seek Forest Legacy funding support to develop a permanent open space buffer for the Los Padres National Forest in the upper San Luis Obispo Creek watershed through conservation easement acquisition. Federal "Brownfields" Assistance. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)has had a number of programs designed to assist communities to "recycle" lands with industrial contamination into productive community assets rather than liabilities. In the past year or so this effort has gained momentum. The City of San Luis Obispo is working on a plan to annex and develop lands in the vicinity of the County Airport, and one of the major landowners is the Unocal Corporation. Their property, about 356 acres known as the Tank Farm,has significant crude oil contamination caused by a fire in 1926 started by an electrical storm. A major road traverses the site and this road is also likely to be a major utility corridor. Portions of the property(100 acres) are slated for development and other portions(256 acres)would be retained as open space. EPA funding support for utility installation and development of specific plans for the lands slated for conservation and natural/cultural/industrial history interpretation would be welcomed. OTHER CITY PRIORITIES Salinas Reservoir Expansion Project-Ownership Transfer. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers(Corps)owns the Salinas Dam and Reservoir(Santa Margarita Lake),but the facility no longer serves a federal benefit. The Corps have wanted to transfer ownership to a local agency for 20+years but the City and County of San Luis Obispo could not agree on which agency should own and control the operations of the dam. The City Council of San Luis Obispo has tentatively agreed to support ownership transfer to the County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The City and County have had discussions with Corps staff in the past relative to the mechanisms available for ownership transfer. Corps staff have indicated that special legislation allowing the transfer of the property for little or no cost would likely be the preferred alternative. The idea, as conveyed by the Corps,would be to add the transfer of the federal property to some water related legislation which is moving through the legislature at a future date. There are several studies and evaluations, including NEPA compliance,which must be accomplished before the special legislation is initiated. Following completion of the required studies the City may be requesting and would appreciate assistance from Congresswoman Capps in supporting and sponsoring the legislative action required to accomplish the property transfer. Child Care. The City is appreciative of the Congresswoman's interest in child care issues. When she visited our programs last month she mentioned using them as a model for programs through out the country. That would be quite an honor for the City. The City would like to engage Congresswoman Capps in a brief discussion on child care issues and to discuss the possibility of a model program. Homeless Services. The City of San Luis Obispo today, as a relatively small city, now makes major contributions to both the Homeless Shelter on Orcutt Road and the Prado Day Center. Fifteen years ago,the County had responsibility for social services, and we had responsibility for "City" services. Today,we are heavily involved in homeless and other social welfare services, and in contribution to social service agencies. Even in the current good economic times, the number of homeless is growing, and families,women and children, are increasingly seen in our two facilities. Though CDBG has been helpful in the past in these two programs, we are now at the point where City general funds will have to be used to support these humanitarian efforts. Welfare Reform. The City is also working with the County department of Social Services and exploring opportunities to provide on-the-job training and to become a work experience training site. Again,because of the strong economy, welfare reform seems to be working however we continue to have concerns about what will happen in tougher economic times. Law Enforcement Concerns.The City is urging the Congresswoman to support President Clinton's 21st century Police Initiative as well as other Police Block Grant programs.