HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/17/2000, 6 - EXPANSION OF THE MISSION STYLE SIDEWALK DISTRICT. council
j agenda Report
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO ��y�y�
FROM: Michael D. McCluskey,Director of Publi Works No' "
Prepared By: Jerry Kenny,Supervising Civil Engineer V9
SUBJECT: Expansion of the Mission Style Sidewalk District.
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution rescinding Resolution 4183 (1980 Series), thereby expanding the Mission Style
Sidewalk District, as shown on Exhibit A in Attachment 1 and eliminating the City's contribution
toward the additional cost of the Mission Style sidewalks.
DISCUSSION
As part of the City's 1999-2001 Financial Plan (Attachment 2) the City Council established a major
goal of considering expansion of the Mission Style Sidewalks (MSSW)District for the Downtown
core. This report makes recommendations regarding potential areas of expansion for the MSSW
District. In making the recommendation for expanding the MSSW District, staff reviewed the two
primary planning documents used to guide development and character of the Downtown. These
documents were: "The Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center", and the City General Plan.
Staff used these documents as a guide in determining a "best fit" for the MSSW areas of the
Downtown core and how the sidewalk treatment could effectively create a unified theme for the
commercial and cultural center of town. Because the above mentioned documents do not contain
the same boundary areas for the Downtown core, staff worked to develop an expanded MSSW area
that incorporated as much of the central core as seemed reasonable without unduly encroaching into
the surrounding multi-family and residential neighborhoods. The proposed MSSW District is
shown in Attachment 1 -Exhibit A.
In reviewing this issue, staff identified two potential additional areas that Council might wish to
include in the MSSW District. The two alternative areas (Attachment 3) are logical extensions of
the Downtown core area. The expansion areas and alternatives are discussed in more depth in the
following sections.
History Of Mission—Style Sidewalk Policy & District
The City Council initially established the "Mission Style Sidewalk District" on January 20, 1975
per Resolution No.2715 (1975 Series). This resolution established the requirement that new or
reconstructed sidewalks within the district are to be constructed with special "mission style"
materials to enhance the area in the vicinity of the mission. In order to encourage participation, the
resolution also established a contribution by the City to offset the added costs associated with the
sidewalk design and construction (the added costs are for the "adobe-colored admixture" and
adobe-colored clay tile borders). The resolution provided that the City contribution could be revised
from time to time or eliminated altogether"by resolution" of the Council without notice or hearing,
6-1
Council Agenda Report—Mission-style sidewalks
Page 2
J
and without affecting the obligation for new or reconstructed sidewalks within the district.
In 1979, a new resolution [Resolution No. 3933 (1979 Series)] was passed by City Council that
maintained the established MSSW District boundaries, but required the Public Services Director to
verify the reimbursement amount for MSSW by a cost survey or actual construction bids of the
MSSW installation.
A year later, a new resolution [Resolution No. 4183 (1980 Series) was passed by Council which
rescinded both Resolution Nos. 2715 (1979 Series) and 3933 (1979 Series)], and expanded the
MSSWD to match the "downtown core" as depicted in the City General Plan at the time
(Attachment 4). The Council maintained the requirement that the Director of Public Services (now
Director of Public Works) establish the amount of City contribution towards reimbursement
requests be based on a survey or bids. However, unlike the initial 1975 resolution, this resolution
did not incorporate wording that "the contribution could be eliminated altogether by resolution of
the Council without notice or hearing, etc." Regardless, that option is obviously still under the
discretion of the Council.
Determination of the Expansion Area:
The Downtown Core
The MSSW has always referred to the City "core". However, the definition of just exactly what
that area is has been the subject of many debates. In trying to resolve the issue for the sake of this
review, staff compared the"Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center" to the City's Land Use
Element of the General Plan looking for guidance. The "Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's
Center", prepared by an ad hoc committee of local architects, planners and many other community
stakeholders provides the guideline for expansion of the Downtown commercial core, government
offices and other zoning designations. This plan was adopted by the City Council in May of 1993
and was used by staff as a starting point to establish the basis for recommended expansion areas of
the MSSW District. This document covers a large area of the downtown but basically covers the
area from Toro Street southerly to Higuera Street, and from Palm Street easterly to Pacific Street.
It does not define a"core" per se but places emphasis on a downtown as a whole.
Staff also reviewed this issue as it relates to the "Downtown Core" area as established in the
City's General Plan (Attachment 5). The primary difference in these two plans is found along the
boundary of the General Plan core area. Many of the exterior streets such as Pacific, Toro,
Johnson, westem Higuera and Marsh that are included in the "Conceptual Physical Plan" are not
contained in the General Plan's core area. However, many of these streets are commonly thought
of as in the Downtown and therefore were considered for inclusion in the MSSW District.
Two specific areas of the "Conceptual Plan" were not included in staff s recommendation for the
MSSW expansion area. Pacific Street from Higuera to Santa Rosa is not being recommended for
inclusion in the expansion area because of the mixed land use (residential and office) along the
street. Similarly, streets east of Toro were excluded from the expansion area because of land use
incompatibilities.
6-2
Council Agenda Report—Mission-style sidewalks
Page 3
Staff also surveyed other areas of the Downtown where development has requested and voluntarily
constructed MSSW outside of the existing MSSW District. We recommend that, to the greatest
extent feasible, the expanded MSSW District extend to these project areas. Examples of Mission
Style sidewalks that already exist outside of the current district boundary include:
1) the County Government Center expansion project included MSSW along Monterey, between Osos
and Santa Rosa;
2) the Valley Federal Savings &Loan building(now Heritage Oaks Bank) at the comer of Santa Rosa
&Marsh,installed MSSW along its Marsh St.frontage;
3) the recently completed Santa Rosa St.bridge replacement project included MSSW;
4) wheelchair ramps were installed at the intersection of Santa Rosa & Marsh under the Marsh St.
"makeover"project;
5) a private office remodel project at the northerly comer of Santa Rosa and Marsh;
6) the existing Marsh St.parking structure project along its Chorro and Pacific frontages;and
7) the parking structure "expansion" project includes MSSW along its remaining Pacific and Morro
frontages.
After considering all the above factors, staff tried to come up with a reasonable boundary that: a)
reflects the essence of the downtown, and b) establishes a set of District boundaries that could be
easily understood and communicated to developers. Thus as seen in Exhibit A of Attachment 1 the
proposed District is neither the General Plan core nor the Concept Plan boundary. It significantly
expands the current district but does not extend into office/residential areas along Pacific Street.
The proposed District boundary map as well as the enacting resolution, regarding staff's
recommendations for the MSSW expansion, is shown in Attachment 1 —Exhibit A.
Additional Alternative Expansion Areas
Two additional expansion areas are shown on Attachment 3 for Council's consideration in
establishing the new district boundary. The first area includes extending the MSSW District along
Monterey to Hotel Row. The second includes Pacific Street as depicted in the"Conceptual Physical
Plan for the City Center".
Alternate A: Monterey Street(Hotel Row Extension)- between Toro and the old Motel Inn
Inclusion of Monterey Street in the MSSW District could enhance the pedestrian corridor concept
to the Downtown from Hotel Row. This corridor is envisioned as a "follow the red brick road"
theme in connecting tourists to the city center along this pedestrian corridor.
One possible complication to adding this area to the MSSW District is the possible future widening
of Monterey Street. The Circulation Element currently directs that right-of-way be acquired in case
road widening may be needed in the future to handle increased traffic volumes. Thus, mission style
sidewalk installed by a developer prior to that widening would need to be removed during a
widening project. Staff feels that since a decision to widen is years away, if the Council wants to
add the area, any sidewalk installed would have a significant lifespan prior to any need for removal.
6-3
Council Agenda Report—Mission-style sidewalks
Page 4
-J
Since any project to widen would be a City sponsored C.I.P. project anyway, the cost of removal
and replacement would be the City's responsibility.
Alternate B: Pacific Street- between Nipomo and Santa Rosa Street
Pacific Street is not included in staffs recommended MSSW District expansion area primarily
because of the land use mixture of residential and office properties. However, inclusion of this
street in the MSSW District would complement the existing and proposed Marsh St. parking
structure improvements along Pacific St. and the new MSSW recently installed between Marsh St.
and the new Santa Rosa St. bridge project. Including Pacific Street in the MSSW would also more
closely adhere to the"Conceptual Physical Plan for the City Center".
CONCURRENCES
The Community Development Department concurs with the recommended action. Staff has
received verbal concurrence from two of the Downtown Plan design team committee members
regarding expansion of the district within the Downtown Concept Plan area.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact to expanding the MSSW District boundary.
However, the current MSSW District guidelines allow for private property owner reimbursement to \
cover the difference in cost between standard gray concrete sidewalk and mission style sidewalk.
Since the 1992 "budget deficit", sufficient funds in the sidewalk budget line item for
reimbursement to developers and/or property owners for the added costs to construct MSSW has
not been incorporated into the City Budget. Although City revenue streams are much recovered
from that period, staff is formally proposing to eliminate the reimbursement arrangement as part of
this proposed District expansion issue.
The Council has full discretion in creating and administering the MSSW District. The cost of
MSSW (above conventional sidewalk) should be considered "part of doing business" in the
Downtown area and should not require public financial participation. This issue is highlighted by
the fact that many businesses outside of the current MSSW District have voluntarily chosen to
install MSSW to appear consistent with the mission-style theme. Likewise, since 1992 (a
"recessionary" time) no developer has asked for any financial reimbursement and in fact assumed
that cost as a cost of doing business. While the idea of a reimbursement may have been a good idea
in 1975 as a way to induce redevelopment of the downtown, today no need for such inducement
exists, the downtown is alive and well. It attracts redevelopment on its own and the cost of
mission-style sidewalk is a very minor part of any redevelopment cost. As such, there is no
absolute requirement to reimburse developers/property owners in the district for additional costs.
Staff is therefore rec-rnmending that this policy be eliminated.
6-4
Council Agenda Report—Mission-style sidewalks
Page 5
ALTERNATIVES
Alternate 1. Include Monterey Street,Toro Street to Motel Inn Site
Alternate 2. Include Pacific Street,between Nipomo&Santa Rosa
Alternate 3. Maintain current MSSW boundaries and policies.
Alternate 4. As a Fiscal Alternative, the Council may wish to reconsider this recommendation
and decide if continuation of the past policy of reimbursement for this type of sidewalk is
appropriate. If contributions to private projects are continued, the annual contribution to
an ongoing CIP budget item is estimated to be between $5,000 and $15,000. Since,
historically, there haven't been a significant number of private projects that have replaced
existing sidewalk with MSSW (because sound sidewalk existed), the annual contributions
could be carried over to the following years, thus building a greater fund to accommodate
larger projects that would cost more than the budgeted annual contribution.
Expansion of the current District would add approximately $70 per linear meter ($23 per
linear ft.) for color, salt finish and placement of tiles, based on a 10-ft.-wide sidewalk, if
incorporated into a City project outside of the current MSSW District. A slightly lesser
added cost to fund private development sidewalk projects within the new expansion areas is
expected, since public bidding procedures would not be required. If private costs are 10%
less than a City project cost, the total extra cost for a typical 50 foot frontage business
remodel in the downtown would be$1,000($20/ft x 50 ft).
Attachments:
1) Draft resolution and Exhibit A
2) 1999-2001 Financial Plan excerpt(pg. D-50)
3) Additive Alternatives to District
4) Resolution No. 4183 (1980 Series)—District Boundaries
5) Downtown Core—Land Use Element
FAMAgendaWission Style sidewalks
6-5
ATTACHMENT 1
RESOLUTION NO. (2000 SERIES)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
REQUIRING CONSTRUCTION OF MISSION - STYLE SIDEWALKS IN THE EXPANDED
CORE OF DOWNTOWN, AND AUTHORIZING CONTRIBUTION OF CITY FUNDS FOR
SUCH CONSTRUCTION.
WHEREAS,the City intends to require that new sidewalks in the core of downtown be
constructed as Mission-style sidewalks; and
WHEREAS, this Council finds that both a public purpose and a municipal purpose
would be served by the construction of Mission-style sidewalks in said area by enhancing the
sense of community in the City's downtown.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of San Luis
Obispo as follows:
I. All new or reconstructed sidewalks in the core of downtown as set forth
graphically upon Exhibit"A" map, attached hereto and thereby incorporated herein, shall be
constructed per the City's standards and specifications for Mission-style sidewalks(MSSW).
Copies of said standards and specifications are maintained on file for public use in the office
of the Public Works Department.
2. Resolution No. 4183 (1980 Series) is hereby rescinded.
On motion of , seconded by ,
and on the following roll call vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
the foregoing Resolution was passed and adopted this day of ,2000.
6-6
ATTACHMENT 1
Resolution No. (2000 Series)
Page Two
MAYOR Allen K. Settle
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK Lee Price
APPROVED AS TO FORM
TT/QkN Jetey G. Jorgensen
I:\...\Council Agenda Reports\Mission-style sidewalk resolution
6-7
I
I
•
��o art+�' •''^ � I
5 i 1 lv
t
. " � yr r � f� 7 �� �� rx. ♦•
� Y
A
Rpt T.f Cor � ` y� • ,
f
e
1' +tea._ IE 1 1 IJP 1n y
!Pi
LLE
��7N '.�.r+fy xya� r.�e�•n'.: � C�.1 T� �f%�.+vy
, 3 �
1
L� ��QG�1►'►'yP�'1 T 2
POLICIES AND OBJECTIVES
MAJOR CITY GOALS—DOWNTOWN PLAN
OBJECTIVE in this program is to be pursued, some delay in other
WVAWH� 11151 milli MEN projects or ongoing infrastructure maintenance
programs may be experienced.
Develop a program to advance the objectives of the ! Per City policy, construction in the downtown
Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center in needs to be spread out and carefully coordinated to
order to enhance retail opportunities, rationalize avoid excessive business disruption.
parking and circulation, and strengthen its
downtown cultural core. ■ Some of the concepts require the purchase of
privately owned property which may not be
DISCUSSION willingly sold, and as such, could require
condemnation action on the part of the City.
Background ACTION PLAN
■ The downtown is the "heart and soul" of San Task Date
Luis Obispo. Consequently, the Council has
established a number of General Plan policies to Enhancing Retail Opportunities
protect and enhance the downtown. • Proceed with the Mid-Higuera Plan
• Adopt plan 9/99
■ In the late 1980's,the Council determined that a . $ems implementation 1999-00
strong, more current physical vision for the . Establish a strategic retail recruitment 1999-r"
downtown was "missing" from our downtown partnership between the Downtown
planning efforts. The Council concluded that this Association,the City,local real estate
physical vision could best be recommended by local brokers and property owners to
professionals and other downtown stakeholders. increase the downtown's attractiveness
as a retail destination;prepare strategic
K In November of 1990, the Council appointed a plan
downtown physical plan"design team" consisting of . Seek opportunities for increasing the 1999-01
five design professionals. The work of the team was inventory of downtown retail space.
overseen by a much larger "review committee," • Convert some existing surface
consisting of a cross-section of the community The parking lots to retail uses as
resulting Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's replacement parking becomes
Center was adopted by the Council in May of 1993. available.
• Plan for retail and mixed use in the
■ Since adoption of the plan, several of the northerly quadrant parking
conceptual proposals have become realities through structure.
both public and private construction projects in the Cooperate with the County in its effort 1999-00
downtown. to maintain justice services and
administrative offices in the downtown
core.
Challenges We Will Face in Achieving this Goal • Evaluate feasibility of developing 1999-00
"Fremont Plaza."
■ Many of the concepts within the Plan are well . Analyze options for expanding 1999-00
beyond the City's ability to fund in the near term. Mission-style sidewalks.
• Evaluate downtown facility 1999-00
■ Staff resources are limited, and even if a large maintenance proms.
amount of capital finding were available, there are
only so many projects that can be managed at one
time. Therefore, if the aggressive program set forth
6-9
B-50
�F
•
,yrr:
■ I
r
1
♦ ' tSr s
t
1
W 1 } 1
• . • wo
Xi 4
• ~i 4 J'.. II
t
KIM l
Al
1
SIE, :
� I
WE
MIN-
1 Fun
�� � ��`^ L > t ' .✓ •-�+,.1 ..ter �' 13L ,—..
,�vyq: a x u
x
s F
_Cjixf x °-0j Es r 3E
vi
■
y.
141719 c.4 1-45
` Land Use
Element
(
a F �
� #'� f..M) 3 ;• f ire (A{`#•
$ ✓.'.f.�'r t�^�,. ... $.^ may. a
� YS
'i•@i. O .k. '�x1 { •
Z
u Y y
5 5 A +8
•� i +l 4 O
.ery Y v
41'
a&
FIGURE 4
f
CICy Of DOWNTOWN PLANNING AREA
l sail Luis OBIspo CORE
w a
City of San Luis Obispo -General Plan Digest 6-12U-a