HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/14/19701
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Pledge
Roll Call
Present
City Staff
MINUTES
ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY - COUNCIL
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO,_CALI.FORNIA.
December 14, 1970 - 7:30 P. M.
City Hall
Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Donald Q. Miller, Arthur F.
Spring, Kenneth E. Schwartz
Present: R. D. Young, Planning Director; J. H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk;
L. Wilson, Parks Foreman; H. Johnson, City Attorney; R. D.
Miller, Administrative Officer; D. F. Romero, City Engineer;
E. L. Rodgers, Police Chief.
1. On motion of Councilman Miller, seconded by Councilman Graham, the following
resolution was introduced. RESOLUTION NO. 2135, a resolution authorizing the
City of San Luis Obispo to enter into a cooperative purchasing agreement with
the County of San Luis Obispo for petroleum products.
Passed and adopted on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Donald Q. Miller,
Arthur F. Spring, Kenneth E. Schwartz
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
2. Bulletin from the League of California Cities dated December 2, 1970, regarding
League participation in the P. U. C. study of landscaping of railroad rights of
way in urban areas. The bulletin continued that the P. U. C. had been informally
studying the matter of requiring that railroads landscape their rights of way in
urban areas and had asked for cooperation of the League and all other.cities
interested in this proposal. They were asking cities to submit suggested guide-
lines or opinions concerning procedures for the railroads to landscape their
right of way.
On motion of Mayor Schwartz, seconded by Councilman Graham, the following resolution
was introduced. RESOLUTION NO. 2136, a resolution requesting the Public Utilities
Commission to investigate ways and means of landscaping railroad rights of way.
Passed and adopted on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Emmons Blake, Myron Graham, Donald Q. Miller,
Arthur F. Spring, Kenneth E. Schwartz
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
3. John Evans, Chairman of the Planning Commission, presented for the Council's
consideration the recommendation of the Planning Commission on work to be assigned
to the planning consultant proposed to be retained by the City in order to get some
basic planning accomplished. The following list of priorities was recommended by
the Planning Commission:
City Council Minutes
December 14, 1970
Page 2
A. Update the land use element of.the General Plan.
B. Revise the population density in the General Plan.
C. Prepare the housing element of the General Plan.
D. Rewrite the zoning ordinance.
E. Update circulation element of the General Plan.
F. Preparation of the public utility element of the General Plan.
G. Update park, recreation and open space element of the General Plan.
H. Develop a text of goals, standards and objectives for the City of San
Luis Obispo General Plan.
I. Update the central business district plan.
J. Prepare a civic center plan.
John Evans continued that items "I" and "J" could be considered in a second
phase study. He stated he wished the Council to approve these priorities and
to authorize the City staff to procure proposals from various planning con-
sultants so that a presentation of these priorities could be undertaken in
the spring.
Councilman Spring felt the City should move ahead and retain a planning
consultant to prepare the necessary studies but he hoped that the City would
hire someone who had never worked for the City before.
Councilman Blake felt the City should proceed with retaining a planning con-
sultant but also felt that the Planning Commission had asked too much for a
one -year program and suggested this could be phased over a period of years.
He also felt that the City should have a consultant for planning on a continuing
basis.
Councilman Miller felt that the program listed by John Evans was too all
encompassing and could not be done with the funds budgeted. He continued
that possibly the answer would be to add staff to the Planning Department
in order to get on with the job and solve the major problems facing the
City. He felt the City Council should take the lead in planning and work with
the Planning Commission and direct them in the areas the Council considered
had work to be done. He felt the work of revising the various planning
elements in the General Plan could be accomplished locally. He stated that
at this time he would oppose the hiring of a consultant.
Councilman Graham felt a consultant would be an asset to the Planning Commission
so that some of those necessary programs could be completed and further the
Planning Commission could benefit from the experience of the consultant in other
areas. He also felt that there was a wealth of planning talent available at
the college and that they should be considered for the assignment.
Councilman Blake felt that a consultant would be an asset to the City in making
the necessary studies and presenting a plan to the Planning Commission.
Mayor Schwartz stated that except for the zoning ordinance and the housing
element, all other items listed by John Evans were part and parcel of the
General Plan and should be considered as one assignment for comprehensive
review of the plan. He felt that a consultant could proceed with rewriting
of the zoning ordinance and preparing of the housing element without becoming
involved in rewriting the General Plan.
The City Council then discussed with John Evans the work that the consultant
should accomplish under the proposal.
City Council Minutes.
December 14, 1970
Page 3
On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Blake, the matter was
referred to a committee composed of 'Mayor Schwartz, John Evans, Administrative
Officer.R.D. Miller and Planning Director R. Young!to call for proposals and
select a planning consultant for employment by the. City Council.
Motion carried with Councilman Miller voting no.
4. Communication from Assemblyman William Ketchum regarding the upcoming 1971
legislative session and asking the City Council to present him with any pro-
posals or suggestions for legislation.
The City Clerk was asked to contact Mr. Ketchum's office to set up a meeting
with the City Council at the convenience of Mr. Ketchum. Each Councilman was
to prepare a list of items for discussion with the Assemblyman.
5. Communication from the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo
County, Inc. requesting the reappointment of a representative from the City of
San Luis Obispo to the commission.
After discussion by the City Council, Councilman Graham was to continue as the
City's representative with Councilman Blake as alternate.'
6. Councilman Miller brought to the Council's attention the matter of groups
of interested citizens who would like to look into the program of recycling
newsprint. He continued that newsprint was a valuable item and could be
resold if it were collected., packaged and shipped to the metropolitan areas.
He continued that the group interested in this problem felt that.a great
tonnage of paper was being place in the city.dump and taking up valuable
space when it could be salvaged and recycled.
Councilman Blake asked if the group had looked into the high cost of shipping
used newsprint to a recycling plant in San Francisco or.Los Angeles.
Leo Blickley,.Cal Poly Ecology Club, stated there was a need for cheap newsprint
for recycling as this paper could be used over and over again and he felt that
with the financial support of the City the.program could start and help the
ecology of the entire area. He.also felt this program could be used by organizations
to raise funds for their treasuries by collecting paper.
Mayor Schwartz felt the City Council would and could support the concept of
recycling newsprint but he wondered about the plan of operation. Who would
get the funds derived from the project? How would it work? Who would pay
for the equipment? etc.
Pat Mate.icek stated that it was her understanding that the recycling center would.
pay $20 per ton for baled paper and that it cost $8 per ton to ship the paper by
rail so she felt there was some area for-benefit in this program. She continued
the problem was picking up the paper within the City and delivering it to a central
point for bailing and.shipping.and the unknown costs were pick -up, baling and
buying the paper from the users.
Councilman Graham stated that it was his feeling that this was a good program and
that a committee of the Council, interested citizens and representatives of the
garbage company should look into the matter to see if it were feasible to ship
newsprint from the community.
' The City Council asked that Councilman Miller head the committee to look into
the feasibility of a recycling program for San Luis Obispo.
7. R. Young, Planning Director, presented the. following report on questionaires
and interviews with property owners in the Los Osos Valley area on the proposed
annexation and formation of a water and sewer assessment district to serve the
area. He stated that eighty -eight .(88) inquiries were mailed out and 22% were
in favor of annexation and 34% opposed it and 46% made no reply to the questionaire
or to personal contact. He continued that it was the staff recommendation that the
City drop any consideration of annexation of this area at this time.
City Council Minutes
December 14, 1970
Page 4
L..Morganti, property owner in Los Osos Valley, stated he was sure that many of
the large property owners wished to annex to the.City..in order to get sewer
and water service. He continued that he did not send in his feelings on the
matter as he thought he was being represented by a realtor but that he would
favor annexation.
Based on the information presented by L. Morganti, it was the general opinion of
the City Council that-the staff should again contact all major property owners
who had not returned their opinions for or against.the annexation.
8. D. F. Romero, City Engineer, again presented to the City Council his letter
of April 23, 1970, in which he reported on a meeting hel.d by City and County
officials dealing with restrictive building development on flood plains. He
continued that Mr. Hunter of the County Planning Department reported that the
County did not feel this was a matter of critical nature and the County was.not
pressuring for flood plan regulations at that time.
D. F. Romero continued that Mr. Drahn, County hydraulic engineer, outlined
four ways by which building development could be controlled in flood plain
areas:
1. Flood.plain zone.
2. Subdivision controls.
3. Creek set back lines.
4. Purchase of property by governmental agencies.
He continued that Mr. Drahn had serious reservations regarding legality of
flood plain zones since this was to some extent a taking of the property
without compensation.
It was mutually agreed at the staff level.that neither the City nor the
County was interested in purchasing property for flood control, and it was
also agreed that there were sufficient controls in City and County sub-
division regulations to prevent flooding in new developments. Finally, it
was the staff feeling that the City and County had different flood control
problems and that the City had sufficient controls to restrict development
of property subject to flooding.
Mr. Romero presented a photograph of the Laguna Lake area, showing the area
now subject to flooding.
Councilman Miller felt the benefit of flood plain zoning would be to.force
land to stay i.n its natural state and would stop all building within the
flood plain zone. He felt that.existing ordinances were inadequate to protect
the citizens and the City should adopt flood plain zonings.
The matter was continued for future discussion.
9. Councilman Miller asked why were not the buildings within the City of .
San Luis Obispo which were below standard brought up to the building code of
the City as he�.felt.:a promise was made to the federal government tht the City's
building code would be enforced when the low.rent housing program was started.
R. Young, Planning Director, stated that the City Building Department only
operated upon complaint of violations to the building codes of substandard
construction as it-was the feeling of.the Bu.ilding Department that if they
were to strictly enforce all aspects of the building code, many of the
existing dwellings would be shut down and the people would be forced to move
and there are no places for them to move into where they could afford the rent.
He also stated that without additional staff to.make door to door inspections
for violations of the building code, his present organization could not take
on this program as the present staff was busy on current construction inspection
although when time was available the existing staff did make -inspections of
substandard improvements.
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City Council Minutes
December 14, J970
Page 5
Councilman Blake stated he felt the staff.was.doing an adequate job of inspecting
substandard improvements but wished the Council to remember that when the staff
did bring buildings to the attention of the Council to abate violations of the .
City codes, the Council's action was normally to grant the property owner additional
time to comply with the code. As an example he cited the Delmartini building on
South Broad Street which was brought to the Councils attention for abatement and
was still standing in a deplorable condition. He also felt that many of the sub-
standard buildings in the community were owned by the poor or retired citizen who
could not afford to make the necessary improvements to bring the building up to
standard.
The Council agreed to postpone a decision or'further discussion on this matter .
until adequate housing was available for the citizens now living in substandard
homes.
10. R. Young, Planning Director, at the request of Councilman Miller again
presented the recommendation of the Planning Commission to add a "T" zone
for mobile home parks to the zoning ordinance. He briefed for the City Council
the standard recommendation by the Planning Commission for incorporation in
the zoning ordinance.
The City Council then discussed the possibility of developers building mobile
home parks under the Planned Development Section of the Municipal Code.
Consideration of adoption of a "T'.1 zone was delayed for referral to the planning
consultant who will be rewriting the zoning ordinance.
11. At the request of Councilman Miller, the City Council discussed the
possibility of a moratorium on the future development of service stations
within the City of San Luis Obispo. It was.the feeling of the Council after
discussion, that .there was.,no way that one specific business or industry could
be legislated against in future development.
' Mayor Schwartz felt that service stations could be controlled through the
provisions of the zoning ordinance by not rezoning properties for service
station operation or by increasing the standards for service stations in
area landscaping, parking, etc.
The City Attorney was asked by the City Council to see what the City could
do to have the old Gulf service station on South Broad Street that is now
in disrepair removed from the property.
12. Councilman Miller asked the City Council to discuss increasing the members
of the Citizens' Advisory Board from 13 members to 19 members in order to get
more representation.
R. Young, staff coordinator for the Citizens' Advisory Committee, stated that
this matter had already been discussed by the Committee and they had rejected
the suggestion and had asked the City Council not to increase the number of
members on the committee as it would become very difficult to hold meetings.
13. Councilman Miller brought to the Council's attention the possibility of
the City and County participating in a prepaid health insurance program in
cooperation with the County hospitals and Medical Association in a program
similar to that of Kaiser - Permanente. He continued that private health
insurance programs and public hospital plans were not adequate due to the
increased hospital and medical fees that were being charged and that the
suggested county -wide program had been looked upon as a possible solution for
1 the citizens of San Luis Obispo to receive adequate medical help.
Councilman Miller asked that this suggestion be brought before as many people
as possible in order to make a census of possible cooperation by the Medical
Association, hospitals, cities and county. He asked that the Mayor; if possible,
bring this matter before the next Mayors' Association meeting for discussion.
City Council Minutes
December 14, 1970
Page 6
14. Communication from the Division of Highways announcing a public hearing
to be held at the Veterans' Memorial Building on January 21, 1971, on "Des.ign
Features of Route #1 between Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo, and Baywood.Park
overcrossinq near Morro Bay." The matter was continued to the January 11, 1971
Council study session.
15. Request from the Central Coast Criminal Justice Regional Advisory Board
that the City Council consider amending its resolution supporting Region 8
South in this program and opposing any consolidation with Region 8 North
consisting of Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties.
It was the consensus of the City Council that no change be made in the
original resolution.
16. The City Council adjourned to executive session to discuss personnel
matters and.property.acquisition involving possible litigation.
17. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Miller, the
meeting adjourned..
� a
zpatrick, City Clerk
APPROVED: January 18, 1971
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