HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/12/19707
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Pledge
Roll Call
Present
Absent:
City Staff
MINUTES
ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
January 12, 1970 - 7:30 P. M.
City Hall
Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Arthur F. Spring,
Kenneth E. Schwartz
Donald Q. Miller
Present: J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; H. Johnson, City
Attorney; R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer;
J. Stockton, Park and Recreation Supervisor;
E. Rodgers, Police Chief.
1. Mayor Schwartz explained that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss
ways and means of eliminating pollution in the creeks of San Luis Obispo. He
continued that several points should be kept in mind. 1) The creeks are pri-
vate property not owned by the City except for a small section in the Mission
Plaza area. 2) The creeks in San Luis Obispo are used to carry storm waters.
3) The creeks are home for many types of aquatic life. 4) The creeks in most
cases, are in the rear portion of residences along the creek. 5) In many cases
the private property owners have shown no interest in keeping the creeks clean.
6) In the last six months the creeks have been damaged by highly contaminated
products, such as oil from a truck turning over on Cuesta Grade, malfunctions
in the City sewer plant, and chemical cleaners from a downtown building. He
continued these matters were brought to the Council's attention by the Save Our
Stream Committee. He felt that now was the time for citizens and the City Council
to sit down and discuss the problem.
Dr. Kresja, Chairman of the ad.hoc committee to save our streams, appeared before
the City Council stating that his committee, on December 1, 1969, presented to the
City Council some of the pollution problems that had occured in San Luis Creek and
the damage done to the creek by these acts. He continued that the committee felt
that San Luis Creek and its tributaries added historical, esthetic and recreational
value to a very beautiful city. He continued that he and his committee had pre-
sented a petition expressing their concern for the present and future welfare of
creeks in San Luis Obispo. The petition was signed by 1318 concerned citizens
of the county and was supported by the Downtown Association, the County Historical
Society and the Sierra Club.
Dr. Kresja, stated the petition contained three requests: 1) That the City Council
honor the petition by hearing their plea. 2) That the Council discuss the issue of
pollution. 3) That the City Council make public, positive statement of the City's
immediate and long term goals regarding San Luis Creek and other streams within
the City limits. He added that two of the requests of the petitioners had been
answered by the City Council, but that the third request, the matter of a public
statement regarding the City's long -term goals had not been completed, and they
would like to discuss the matter at this meeting.
Dr. Kresia stated that he felt that a positive statement on pollution in the creek
would give notice to potential polluters that the City was committed to active pre-
' servation of its natural resources. Also, under this policy statement the City
and the citizens could formulate plans for the elimination of existing and poten-
tial sources of pollution and then get on with the job of preservation and
beautification. He continued that since the Council meeting of December 15, 1969,
when this matter was continued to this evening in order to allow more relaxed in-
vestigation of the overall pollution problem, two additional instances of pollution
had occurred in the creek. A drain pipe from one of the businesses downtown was
discharging an oily substance into the creek, and up until Christmas this pollution
was still flowing.into the creek. He brought to the Council's attention Chapter II,
Article 1, Section 5650 of the Fish and Game Code of the State of California which
states that it is unlawful to discharge or to permit to pass into or place where
it can pass into the waters of the State of California any petroleum, acid, coal oil,
tar, etc. or any material deleterious to fish, plant or bird life.
City Council Minutes
January 12, 1970
Page 2
He continued that this pollution violation was witnessed by the Fish and Game
representative and a complaint has been filed with the Fish and Game Commission.
He stated that in view of this continued pollution in San Luis Creek, the City
Council can no longer delay in taking some action to limit and prohibit the
pollution in the creek. He felt that the present lengthy procedure for controlling
pollution throught the State agencies wasnot doing the job, in fact he stated that
the locat representative of the Water Quality Control Board, Mr. McElroy, suggested
to the Council that the best solution would be a local ordinance enforced by local
employees.
Dr. Kresia stated that his organization also felt this is a local City problem
and should be handled by the City and its employees. He stated that his committee
again requested that the City Council "enact stringent ordinances against the dis-
posal of liquid waste in any City creek or tributary ". He continued that the
State Water Code indeed encourages local government to enact and enforce ordinances
which are more thorough and stringent than those :existing state laws. He again
suggested that the City Council enact a strict ordinance against waste of any
sort into City creeks. He stated there is no need for anything entering the
creeks except beavers, birds, frogs, fishermen and the drain water from roofs
or storm drains. He stated that the Save Our Stream Committee agrees with the
suggestion of Mayor Schwartz at the December 15, 1969 meeting, that the City
consider the development of a master plan for keeping pollution out of the creeks
in San Luis Obispo. He continued that the :.MayoP s suggestion that the study
should include a cross section of all the creeks for flood control so that the
creek can be maintained as a live creek and assure recreational and esthetic use,
was a good one.
Dr. Kresja felt that in order to complete such a plan the City Council should con-
sider the formation of a city -wide advisory and coordinating committee consisting
of City staff, students and faculty from Cal Poly, and civic minded groups and
individuals. He also suggested that if this committee is formed some type of
public education and awareness campaign should be undertaken to promote civic
pride in our creeks and their esthetic value.
In summation, Dr. Kresja stated he would like to stress four points. 1).A policy
statement by the City Council on creek pollution. 2) Enactment of a strict waste
disposal ordinance. 3) Establishment of an advisory and coordinating committee.
4) A:,public education and awareness campaign, including a tunnel survey of pipe
sources.
B. Barrows, Meinecke Street, suggested that the City adopt an ordinance in com-
pliance with the State Fish and Game Code, Section 5652.
Dr. Donaldson, Cal Poly, stated that he feels that now is the time for the people
to take the lead in conservation. He felt that the political climate was appar-
ently right for some action on this most important matter. He felt that conser-
vation was a political issue, that many petitions were being circulated through-
out the State for the State to take action on pollution and that several bills
have been introduced for pollution control, not only for air, but for water,
land, etc. He felt that a tremendous amount of federal funds were available
for communities to clean up their environment.
Dr. W. Williams, Higuera Street, agreed that now is the time to clean up the en-
vironment and atmosphere from the despoilation of private and industrial pollut-
ants. He felt that in addition to cleaning up the land we now have we should
procure additional open space.
K. Kupper.urged that the City acquire all the streams::in the City in order that
the City can control pollution and have clean open space in the community.
H. Miossi, property owner, felt that the people of San Luis Obispo must be made
aware of the pollution problems in the creek and the need for cleaning up the
creek. He felt that the creek must.be cleaned up and made beautiful and avail-
able to the citizens of the community. He agreed that the City government must
take the lead and issue a statement of policy against pollution of the creek,
and enact strict ordinances for keeping the creek clean.
D. Chamberlain stated he was in favor of stringent regulations to prevent pol-
lution in the creek.
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City Council Minutes
January 12, 1970
Page 3
Dr. Field, Santa Rosa Street, agreed with the committee that there.was a need for
strict regulations to require property owners to clean their creek and keep it
clean. He suggested that.one of the steps should be to protect the creek bank so
that the creek will always be a beautiful visual asset.
Dr. Rresja presented slides of the City of San Antonio, Texas, which has a creek
running through its center, and suggested that the City of San Luis Obispo might
consider this type of improvement for its creek.'
Dr. Fierstine, 1743 Serrano Drive, stated he would like to help with the program
of cleaning up the creek, including manual labor if it was needed.
Dr. Richards, Baywood Park, urged that the City of San Luis Obispo use the Cal
Poly faculty and students to develop a master plan for ultimate use of the creeks
in the City. He felt that all that was needed would be a request from the City
government.
Dr. Sanford, visiting. instructor, congratulated San Luis Obispo as he felt it was
an extremely beautiful city and also felt that the creek would be a great asset to
the downtown area and for visitors to the City. He hoped that the City Council and
the citizens would work.to.clean:up the creek and allow the natural biological life
to grow and prosper in the creek. He felt that if something is not done to protect
the creek, irrevocable damage could occur and nothing would remain except a sterile
storm drain. He also congratulated the City Council on the planting of street
trees in the downtown area. He felt this made a good environment for the downtown
area, and hoped the Council would proceed with further tree planting.
J. Bacon urged the City Council to take steps to clean up the streams in San Luis
Obispo before they were damaged beyond repair.
B. Leitcher, property owner, agreed with the suggestion that a committee be ap-
pointed to look into the protection of the creek. He felt that this committee
should look into the control of our creeks with the following priority. 1) storm
' water, 2) pollution, and 3) litter in the creeks.
He suggested that some of the City's bed tax or advertising money should be used
to clean up the creeks as they were a tourist attraction for visitors to the
community.
R. Rupper, 103 Santa Barbara Avenue, felt that the creeks should be improved, not
for tourists, but for citizens of the community. He felt that something should be
done now. He continued that Cal.Poly students were ready and willing to work to
clean up the creeks and our environment.
J. Gates, Director of Sanitation for the County of San Luis Obispo, stated that his
department, over the years, has fought the environment battle alone and he is most
pleased to have help from the City and County governments and from the public. He
continued that he felt a first step to cleaning up the creeks in the City would be
a mandatory garbage collection system requiring garbage service to all property in
the Community, and secondly he felt that the City department heads were best equip-
ped to handle the pollution from pipes in the creek and he felt they should, handle
it as they are on the spot and have the employees available for the work.
Councilman Graham stated he felt that the City should initiate mandatory collection
of garbage and refuse in order to control litter within the City. He felt that the
natural course of the creeks must be preserved for future generations. He also
hoped that the Save Our Stream committee should carry then requests to the Board
of Supervisors as the City can only pass ordinances for controlling those portions
' of the creek within the City.as the County controls the creek both above and below
the City.
Councilman Spring stated that trying to control the environment was a most difficult
problem. He stated he would support strict enforcement of creek pollution and was
in favor of initiating a mandatory garbage collection system.
Councilman Miller took his seat at 9:00 P. M.
City Council Minutes
January 12, 1970
Page 4
Councilman Blake stated he was pleased with the students and faculty of Cal Poly
for offering to help the City with the-creek pollution problem. He stated he too
would support maitoatory garbage and refuse collection and strict enforcement of
litter regulations in and about the creek. However he questioned the need for
the City to acquire the stream bed proper in order to control pollution as he is
not sure at this time whether the City should take away private property for pub-
lic use.
Mayor Schwartz stated that San Luis Obispo is blessed with hills, creeks and
beautiful vistas and they must be protected for the residents and for future-
generations. 'He felt that now is the time to proceed with cleaning up the eh-
vironment, not only the creeks, but air, land, etc. He explained that the streams
in San Luis Obispo were used to carry storm run -off in addition to its esthetic
value and with the constant buklding and improvement of streets more and more
storm water will go into the creeks. He stated that in any consideration for use
of the creeks the storm water problem must be considered first. He stated that
an alternative for using the creeks to carry storm waters would be the construc-
tion of a storm drain system. He felt that a compromise could be reached to use
the stream both as a storm drain system and esthetically.
Mayor Schwartz made the following suggestions for a course of action that the
Council might follow to bive direction to the resolution of the stream problem.
In order to take effective positive action to prevent further abuse,of the streams
within San Luis Obispo, abuse which has let to physical blockages causing flood-
ing; abuse which has led to pollution causing death of acquatic life and affecting
plant life; abuse which has made our streams litter depositories and visual eye-
sores, I propose the following actions be considered by the City Council:
1. Re- declare that it is the City's ultimate objective as indicated in the
City's General Plan to make multipurpose use of the stream systems- within San
Luis Obispo. Such multi- purpose uses to include, but not be limited to:
a. Natural channels to carry stream waters and storm run -off. '
b. Natural habitats for acquatic animal and plant life.
c. Natural park elements to give visual relief to man -made urban structures.
d. Pedestrian ways to allow people to circulate along segments of the
streams where such circulation would not be injurious to adjacent
properties.
2. Direct the preparation of a MASTER PLAN with precise elements which would:
a. Indicate those elements of the stream -creek system within the City as
well as immediately adjacent areas, which should be preserved in an
open natural condition.
b. Indicate the minimum cross - sectional widths (keyed to plan) needed to
carry present and projected storm run -off in channels preserved essen-
tially in their natural condition. Access for periodic flood control
work to be considered as well.
c. Indicate the controls needed and /or enforcement required to preserve
and maintain the streams as natural.fisheries free from pollutants
and litter.
d. Indicate how the stream systems can be treated with landscaping to
provide integrated park -like green ribbons serving both private and
public elements of the City as a visual relief.
e. Indicate those segments of the stream system which lend themselves to
present and /or future development for public pedestrian uses. Minimum
cross sectional widths keyed to plan indicating priority order that
easements or fee ownership should be ideally acquired by the City.
3. Upon receipt and review of such plan refer to the Planning Commission and
to the Park and Recreation Commission for review and public hearings'.
4. Upon receipt of recommendations from these commissions, hold necessary
public hearings to determine public acceptance of the plan, or modifications
thereof, and adopt the necessary resolutions and /or ordinances for impli-
mentation.
S. Update the CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM to include elements of such plan
into their proper priority position in the City's fiscal programming for
capital expenditures.
City Council Minutes
January 12, 1970
Page S
Councilman Blake stated he felt that the City was moving ahead slowly but care-
fully and that the City Council should adopt the necessary regulations for con-
trolling pollution but he felt that all facets of the problem must be handled,
such as garbage, refuse and litter control.
Councilman Miller felt the Council must take action now to protect the creeks in
the City from pollution damage. He stated he agreed with the Mayor's statement
and hoped that the Council would move ahead with a program for eliminating pol-
lution in the City's creeks. He stated he wished to thank the people involved
with the Save Our Stream Committee as he felt it was good to have citiznes
working on this most important project.
Councilman Blake felt that in adopting the Mayor's proposal, items Id, 2d, and
2e might be too binding on future councils, requiring them to purchase outright
all the land along the creeks for development by the City. He stated that other
than these items he had no objection to the Mayor!§ proposal.
Mayor Schwartz stated he felt that Councilman Blake was reading more into items
ld, 2d, and 2e than was his intention. He stated it was his intention in the
suggestion to include the consideration of pedestrian walkways along the creek
as a guide for future development and developers and to show these suggestions
in the proposed master plan. He stated it wasn't his intention to acquire all
the land along the creek from one end of town to the other in order to place
walkways on it. He gave as an example of this suggestion recently installed
walkways along the creek in the Mission Plaza. He felt that another area-that
could be considered would be upper San Luis Creek in the motel area which would
make a nice recreational area for clients of the motels.
On motion of Councilman Miller, seconded by Mayor Schwartz, that the City Council
adopt all of the Mayor's proposals for action on creek development and protection.
Motion carried on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Myron Graham, Arthur F. Spring, Donald Q. Miller, Kenneth E. Schwartz
NOES: Emmons Blake
ABSENT: None
R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, was requested to follow..through with the
various departments for their responsibility on the action program adopted by
the City Council.
Item 2a was referred to the City Engineer and Planning Director.
Item 2b was referred to the City Engineer to proceed on available time.
Item 2c was referred to the City Attorney for recommendation as to whether all
the litter controls should be placed in one section of the Municipal Code or if
present codification is sufficient.
Items 2d and 2e were referred to the Planning Commission and the Park and Recrea-
tion Commission and their respective staffs.
2. H. Johnson, City Attorney, presented for the Council's consideration the
agreement between the City and Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Somogyi for street widening
on Santa Rosa Street.
On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Spring, the Mayor was
authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the City and was also authorized
to sign the escrow instructions. Motion carried.
3. J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk, brought to the Council's attention the request
of W. Jones, representing Nashville Hawaiian Production Company, for permission
to put on a variety show at either the Veteran',s Building of the Junior High
auditorium on Sunday, January 18, 1970. Under the provisions of the Municipal
Code, permission is required from the City Council.
Upon question, J. H. Fitzpatrick stated that this request had been received by
telephone and no additional information as to type of people and type of show
was available.
City Council Minutes
January 12, 1970
Page 6
The request was denied on the basis that there was not enough time for proper
investigation of the people involved in the program.
4. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, presented for the Council's consider-
ation a resolution increasing the 1969 -70 Budget.
On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by Councilman Miller, the following
resolution was introduced. Resolution No. 2001, a resolution increasing the
1969 -70 Budget. (Account No. 211.4 - City Engineer.Motor Vehicle be increased '
by $500.00 and the Unbudgeted Reserve be decreased by $500.00)
Passed and adopted on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Arthur F. Spring,
Donald.Q. Miller, Kenneth E. Schwartz
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
5. R. D. Miller, Administrative Officer, announced the appointment of Delbert
Heading to the position of Maintenance Man II at Step 1 or $485 per month ef-
fective January 16, 1970 subject to a one -year probationary period.
6. H. Johnson, City Attorney, brought to the Council's attention the matter of
the request of James Hazard for a hearing before the City Council because he
was not present when action was taken by the Council at the meeting of January 5,
1970 after a discussion on obstructions in the creek channel.
The City Council stated that they had no objection to granting a further hearing
to the property owner.
On motion of Councilman Blake, seconded by. Councilman Miller, the meeting ad-
journed.
APPROVED: February 2, 1970
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