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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/09/1977MINUTES SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1977 - 5:00 P.M. HEARING ROOM, CITY HALL J Roll Call 1 PRESENT: Councilmen Graham, Gurnee,-Norris, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None City Staff PRESENT: J.H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; R.D. Miller, Administrative Officer; D.F. Romero, Director of Public Services; Wayne Peterson, City Engineer 1. Mayor Schwartz announced that the purpose of the Special Called Meeting was continued consideration of the traffic lane striping on Broad Street. The City Council received a report from Wayne Peterson, City Engineer, stating that at the Council directive, the staff met with the District Director of Cal Trans to review the requirements to overlay Broad Street in order to facilitate the restriping. Several various methods were discussed that could be used to obliterate the stripes but to no avail. Mr. E.E. Gregory, District Director, supported his staff recommendation that any other method would make a new street look poor and leave them open to too much criticism.. Cal Trans did volunteer that the overlay could be made narrower than the existing roadway and not cover the parking lanes. They had been told that. the contractor had been paving the street this week and planned to stripe the street according to the approved plan on Friday, unless otherwise directed. It was, therefore, important that the Council make a decision as to how the parking and bike lanes were to be handled that week or the costs would go up. Wayne Peterson stated that the estimated cost for paving the street with .05 foot asphalt overlay between South Street and a point 675' north of Orcutt Road (that portion which had final striping on it) was $36,000. With the modification offered by Cal Trans of not paving out into the parking lanes, this cost could be reduced to $33,000. Further, he stated should the Council not wish to make a decision this week, he estimated the cost of overlaying the additional roadway in the manner in which the State was directing them to be $3,000 for a total of $36,000.. Again, he emphasized that those costs were based on office estimates and could vary considerably. if they wished the contractor that the State was presently using to do the work, namely, Diani. He recommended that Cal Trans be notified of the City's intention not to have bike lanes on Broad Street and to allow parking in those areas as ' indicated on the map. Further, that Cal Trans.be requested to prepare an agreement to have the work done after the present contractor, Diani, had completed and the work had been accepted. He pointed out that it should be recognized by the Council that Cal Trans would more than likely require the no parking signs be up until the work could be done. Wayne Peterson stated finally that Cal Trans had indicated their willingness to temporarily restripe portions of Broad Street to allow the parking to remain. This work would have involved sand blasting off the existing strip- ing and restriping; a rough estimate of this work would be $1,000. City Council Minutes March 9, 1977 Page 2 D.F. Romero, Public Services Director, stated again his opinion, that the need for parking was much greater on Broad Street than for bike lanes and he would urge the Council to proceed with the recommended expenditure. Rob Strong, Community Development Director, submitted a report to the Council opposed to elimination of the bike lanes and installation of parking. He felt that the adopted City policy was correct and that the bike lanes should remain on Broad Street as previously indicated by the Council. The City Council then discussed and reviewed documentation submitted by the City Clerk of minutes of the meetings.of September 3 and 17, 1974, November 4, 1974, newspaper articles of November 6, 1974 regarding the prior actions on this matter. Mayor Schwartz opened this matter publicly for discussion by the City Council. The Mayor suggested that possibly the street paving could be modified on the east side allowing a bike path, a parking lane, and one travel lane on the east side rather than the two present traffic lanes. Councilman Norris felt that the Council should call off the adopted.strip- ing plan, admit they made a mistake and put in the parking lanes without bike paths on either side. Councilman Petterson stated that regardless of what had been said, he would not approve the estimated cost to change the bike paths into parking areas. He felt that this was a tremendous amount of money for the City to spend on this matter. Mayor Schwartz again stated that he agreed with the principles adopted in 1974, felt-that the decision made at that time was good, and felt it was still good. He agreed that he would not spend City funds to make the change now. Also, he felt that this should be discussed at a full public hearing rather than at an adjourned session. , Councilman Petterson suggested that the Council adopt a policy that the City was unwilling to spend $33,000 plus or minus to correct or change the traffic striping on Broad Street. Barbara Hibbard, 1029 Islay Street, appeared before the City Council, stating that she wished to go on record on behalf of keeping the bike lanes on Broad Street. She reviewed the activities of her own family where four people ride bikes, both for recreation and transportation, and that the bike lanes made this area safe. She reviewed the various routes taken by her family and they preferred to use the bike lanes delineated on the various public streets. Mayor Schwartz again reviewed for the City Council's consideration, a proposal to reduce the size of the median strip on the east side, add this footage to the traffic lanes, which would then reduce the width of the traffic lane, allowing a bike path and parking strip on the east side of Broad Street. Councilman Petterson said, after discussion, if the Mayor's suggestion were accepted by Cal Trans that he would agree with the maximum cost of $16,000 to repave just one -half of Broad Street on the east side to provide parking lanes, bike paths and the parking lane. Councilman Norris stated that he, personally, was in favor of spending I $16,000 to correct the error made by the City. Councilman Graham stated that he, too, was in favor of spending $16,000 in order to correct this matter. Councilman Petterson stated that.if it were possible to do this work for $16,000 that this might be a good investment and would satisfy both the bikers and the business people. City Council Minutes March 9, 1977 Page 3 Mayor Schwartz stated that he was opposed to .the expenditure of City funds. Councilman Gurnee stated that it was not so much the expenditure of City funds, although this was a very important item, he just wanted to make sure the Council was not making a mistake in what they were doing. On motion of Councilman Petterson, seconded by Councilman Norris, that if the City staff could get concurrence from Cal Trans on the partial paving solution modifications of striping on the east side of Broad Street, they could complete the project according to the plan at this time with the City to modify the paving and striping at a.later date at the full paving cost. Motion carried, Councilman Gurnee and Mayor Schwartz voting no. On motion of Councilman Graham, seconded by Councilman Gurnee, the meeting adjourned to 12:10 p.m., Friday, March 11, 1977. Motion carried. APPROVED: July 5, 1977 u ritzpatrick, City Clerk 1 1