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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/12/19707 L 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. 1 1 1 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 1