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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/17/19561 1 1 1 1 sometime after the first of the year. On-motion of Lowell -E. Christie, seconded by Warren G. Edwards, the recommendations of Mr. Miller, City Administrative Officer, were accepted. Mr. Richard D. Miller reported to the Council that the Chief of Police requests that he be allowed to withdraw the request for disability retirement for Lt. Reeves, as Lt. Reeves is back on full duty and seems to be in better health. The request of Miss Salisbury for an abatement of a Sycamore tree which is completely covered with termites was referred to the building inspector for the investigation of any violations of city ordinances or state laws. Mr. Richard D. Miller, City Administrative Officer, report on the request made by Mr. Tom Barrett, 113 California Blvd., that a street light be placed at the Railroad crossing opposite the Cal Poly Stadium. Mr. Miller recommended, that after a discussion with P.G. & E. engineers, that the city not place alight at this crossing as this is a private road and is unimproved. On motion of Lowell E. Christie, seconded by Warren G. Edwards, the recommendation-of Mr. Richard D. Miller, City Administrative Officer, was accepted and the City Clerk was instructed to write to Mr. Barrett the recommendation of the City Administrative Officer. Vice -Mayor Jones thanked Acting.Fire Chief ?;gym. Villegas for the excellent job done by the Fire Department in winning the sweepstakes award in the Paso Robles Pioneer Day Parade with the fire hose wagon. On motion of Lowell E. Christie, seconded by Warren G. Edwards, the meeting adjourned. Approved this vz=5�__ day of 1956. I� �.�.L SPECIAL CALLED MEETING - OCTOBER 17, 1956 7:30 P.M. - City Hall The City Council met in Special Called Session, with Mayor Fred H. Lucksinger presiding, to discuss the request for an appeal from the Order of the Public Utilities Commission, which will close Osos Street and Higuera Street at grade crossings of the Southern Pacific Company. Roll Call: Present: Nels Beck, Lowell E. Christie, Warren G. Edwards, Kenneth W. Jones, Fred H. Lucksinger Absent: None Comm. from Timothy I. O'Reilly, Attorney, urging the City Council to do all in their power to see that none of the crossings, particularly Osos St. and.Higuera St., are closed as ordered by the Public Utilities Commission. Mr. R.-J.-Phillips, representing the Railway Trainmen's Union, appeared before the Council objecting to the closing of Osos St., as it would depreciate his property and would be an. inconvenience to him. Mr. Phillips further objected to the findings of the PUC engineer regarding the safety of the Osos Street crossing, as he claims with his long experience with the railroad that this crossing is well protected by the Southern Pacific Company, who have placed a guard at this crossing. Mr. 0. R. Ochs objected to the closing of Osos Street as it is the main entrance to his business on Swazey Street and that all his customers and employees use Osos Street to get to work. He also claimed depreciation of property values. Mr. Tiffin claims that the Green Bus service will not service this area if Osos Street is closed. He objected to the closing of Osos Street on the basis of inconvenience; as many old people can not drive and would be forced to walk the additional distance down Ella Street to Johnson St. and down Johnson St. to town. Mr. Brown asked the City Council why any crossings were closed. Mrs. Gailbraith objected to the closing of Osos St. crossing due to the lowering of propert values and the inconvenience of getting down town. Jack Brown, County Recorder, objected to the closing of Higuera St. He stated the Council did not represent the people when they allowed the Public Utilities Commission to close these crossings. He again referred to the petition addressed to the Public Utilities Commission objecting to the closing of Higuera Street; a copy of which was filed with the City Council October 1956• Mr. Fred C. Kimball made an appeal to the Council to do all they could in not allowing Osos St. to be closed. He then defended the action taken by the City Council while he was Mayor of the City of San Luis Obispo when the Southern Pacific Company closed High Street. Mr. Miles Fitzgerald objected to the closing of the various crossings on the basis that the order of the. Public Utilities Commission had substantially damaged each of the properties adjacent to these crossings. Mrs.Bruce objected to the closing of Osos St. and resulting in inconvenience due to the fac that she does not drive and would be required to walk the additional distance to go to town also in her opinion, if Osos St. was closed Ella St. would become a speedway. i. 355 k I r I Mr. McClellan asked the City Council if the planning commission had made any studies re- garding Osos St. crossing in so 'far as future planning was concerned, as it appeared that Osos St. would be an important -crossing in future development of a circulatory road from the Goldtree area and would open' up the area south and east of Terrace Hill. Mr. Earl Bernard urged that Osos St. not be closed and that he agreed with former Mayor Kimball in quoting J. J. Jordan, Superintendent of Southern Pacific Co., when he promised that Osos St. would not be closed if High Street were allowed to be closed. Mr. Bernard stated that he could find no record of this conversation between Mr. Fred Kimball and J -. J. Jordan. Fred C. Kimball added that in no time to his knowledge was an agreement made between the Southern Pacific Co. regarding the closing of Osos Street. Mr. R. Harris, Attorney, stated that he was sure that the City Council did all that was humanly possible to keep all the crossings open but that the PUC was not interested in wha happens in San Luis Obispo but only what is good for the Southern Pacific Co. He stated that he believed that the City should file an appeal from the Public Utilities Commission order to close certain street crossings. He stated he further believed that all the city had to lose in making an appeal was time as he was sure that the Public Utilities Commissi would not withdraw their order to the Southern Pacific Co. to contribute $120,000 to the construction of the Johnson St. overpass. Mr. R. J. Phillips added that he could not see why the City Council could not go ahead wi the construction of Johnson St. overpass as he was sure that the Order of the closing of various crossings was a separate issue and not combined with the underpass. Mr. Harris answered saying, that he was sure that both the overpass and the order closing various crossings were contained in one order and were connected. Mayor Lucksinger then explained to the people present the background of the Johnson St. overpass case and the subsequent action taken by the City Council and the final result in the order of the Public Utilities Commission. Mayor-Lucksinger explained to the people present that at no time had the Council changed their policy in so far as closing of Osos St. or any other street was concerned. The Mayor stated the Council's policy was only to improve the overpass at Johnson Avenue and that the Southern Pacific Co. should pay a portion of the cost. The matter of the crossings were brought up by the Public Utilities Engineers and the testimony regarding the crossings was presented by the Public Utilities Commission Engineers. Mayor Lucksinger further stated that at the present time the City Council would have to decide what benefits would be derived for the City from the filing o an appeal from the order of the Public Utilities Commission and what delay in time would take place before the construction of the overpass could be started. Mayor Lucksinger stated the overpass was desperately needed for the people living in the fast growing Johnson St. area, General Hospital and Clinic, School buildings, and the main concern is the safety of the Junior High School students who are required to use this overpass two or three times a day going to and from school. William M. Houser, Jr., City Attorney, explained the history of the Johnson St. overpass case. Mr. Houser explained the step by step action taken by the City from the time of its first appeal to the prehearing conferences and the actual hearings held in San Luis Obispo, which was the time the city made their presentation and then the hearing in San Francisco at which time the Southern Pacific Co. made their presentation. Mr. Houser explained it was at the San Luis Obispo hearings that the Public Utilities Commission engineers presented their evidence regarding the 13 crossings of various streets in the City with the Southern Pacific Co. Whenrthe- .hearings moved to San Francisco the Southern Pacific Co. agreed with the report and studies made by the Public Utilities Commission engineers regarding the closing of various crossings in the City. (Mr. Houser referred interested parties to the transcript of the PUC hearings which is on file in his office). Mr. Houser said in his opinion, he believed the only basis for an appeal from the Order of the PUC would have to be new and important evidence or reversible errors committed by the commissioner. He said in his opinion, there was no new evidence to justify reversal of the decision and all that would be gained by an appeal would be a delay in the construction of the badly needed Johnson St. overpass. Ma or Lucksin er stated that he was sure that sometime in the near future an overpass or underpass would have to be placed over the railroad into the Terrace Hill area, east or west of Osos St., and possibly one at Foothill Blvd. where it crosses the Southern Pacific Co. tracts. Mr. Kimball stated that it was his studied opinion that none of the crossings that are being closed were unsafe. He stated he would rather cross Palm St., Higuera St., and Osos St. railroad crossings than use some of the streets in downtown San Luis Obispo. Mr. Mulkey asked the Council why not close Johnson Avenue overpass and let the people usin Johnson Avenue use the San Luis Dr. extension over to California Blvd. and then downtown from there. Ma or Lucksinger explained that this had been' studied and that due to the heavy concentrat of traffic going to the high school and also the great amount of traffic using San Luis Drive from the Mira Monte and Escuela Alta tract made this quite a traffic problem if you added the traffic from Johnson St. area. Mr. Wm. Houser stated for the benefit of the people present that the Southern Pacific Co. promised to lFave a pedestrian walkway at the extension of Santa Rosa St. and the Southern Pacific Co. tracks. He further stated that in a telephone conversation with Southern Pacific Co. attorney that the Southern Pacific Co. is going to appeal the PUC decision re- garding the improvement of the Orcutt Rd. crossing and it was their opinion that the Count of San Luis Obispo should contribute to the cost of installation of safety devices at this crossing. Mr. R. Harris asked Mr. Houser, City Attorney, that if the Southern Pacific Co. was going to appeal s portion of the order, why could not the city then appeal the decision on the closing of crossings along with the appeal of the Southern Pacific Co. (At this time, the City Council held a ten minute recess at 9:30 P.M., meeting reconvened at 9:45 P.M.) Il L