HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/17/19561
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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