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Home My WebLink About02/21/1990150 City Council Minutes Wednesday, February 21, 1990 - 7:00 p.m. City Staff Page 2 Present: John Dunn, City Administrative Officer; Ken Hampian, Assistant City Administrative Officer; Pam Voges, City Clerk; Jeff Jorgensen, City Attorney; Arnold Jonas, Community Development Director; Randy Rossi, Long Range Planner; Bill Statler, Finance Director; Dave Romero, Public Works Director; Dave Elliott, Administrative Analyst ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was no public comment. ---•-------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDY SESSION 1. CIVIC CENTER IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (File No. 192) Council considered the architectural programming phase of the Civic Center Improvement Project. ,nhn D -ann, City Administrative Officer, recommended that the Planning Commission and Architectural Review Commission review the architectural program, which would be presented by Fred Sweeney, the architect for the Civic Center Improvement Project, and by consensus, provide suggestions to the City Council about the program content and subsequent steps. Also, that Council, by motion, approve the architectural program, provide direction to staff for resolving the parking and transit issues, and authorize staff to proceed with conceptual design. Fred Sweeney, architect, then gave a slide presentation reviewing the Civic Center Improvement Project, accepting questions and answers throughout the presentation (please see File No. 192, City Clerk Library) for a complete set of the Civic Center Improvement Project Architectural Program, dated February, 1990, prepared by Fred Sweeney, project architect, with Grant Pederson Phillips, architect). The two Commissions and Council held general discussion. A summary of those discussions are listed below: I. Building scale and balance: A. At the service entrance near the corner of Palm and Morro, consider the foyer one story instead of two stories in order to reduce the height of the building and to incorporate the terrace effect of the existing City Hall. B. Reduce the height of the elevator tower or set the tower farther back from Palm Street. C. Place a large building element (like the elevator tower) near the corner of Palm and Osos for balance. 1 1 151 City Council Minutes Page 3 Wednesday, February 21, 1990 - 7:00 p.m. II. Building Program: A. Include more building area and place most of the additional area up against the A.T.& T. Building. B. Think about growth and expansion after the year 2010. Either provide more building area now, or carefully plan the next expansion. C. Do a master plan for the long term, and show precisely how a future building could expand into the rear parking lot. D. Take a look at improving the Council Chamber, with particular attention on acoustics, site lines, lighting, visual presentation and disabled accessibility. D. As conceptual design begins, refine the building program to include more detailed and focused objectives. F. Re- examine functional relationships between various City Hall activities and incorporate conclusions in the program document. G. Think about providing enough flexibility to incorporate future social functions like child care. III. Circulation and Entrances: A. Consider facing the service entrance towards Morro Street instead of Palm Street. B. Plan the two main entrances (one ceremonial entrance and one service entrance) carefully. Emphasize ceremonial entrance, don't let the service entrance dominate. C. Build up the main entrance to City Hall even more than originally planned. D. Consider building the sidewalk bulb -outs on Palm Street so that they extend in front of the main entrances to City Hall and the new library. Use design to better unify and align the two entrances. IV. Site Development: A. Articulate more clearly the intended uses for open spaces. B. Carefully refine the open spaces to fit their intended uses with particular attention on accommodating pedestrian traffic. C. Continue refining Civic Center Master Plan ideas for offsite improvements. 152 City Council Minutes Page 4 Wednesday, February 21, 1990 - 7:00 p.m. ' D. Look for opportunities to refine open space around the County Government Center. E. Preserve the tall redwood trees, if possible, but study to see if the plan construction would allow them to survive, and look at alternatives, if necessary. V. Traffic Management (Parking and Transit): A. Move the bus transfer facilities out of the Civic Center as soon as practical. B. Address immediate parking needs by developing a traffic management plan and making this a model for large scale downtown development. C. Address the need for short term parking (one -half hour or less) near the service entrance at Palm and Morro, and near the Library entrance. 8:55 p.m., Mayor Dunin declared a recess. 9:10 p.m., City Council reconvened, all Councilmembers present. 9:30 p.m., Councilwoman Pinard left the meeting. 2. COURT STREET CENTER PLANNED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (File No. 435) ' Council considered the current status of and appropriate future activities related to the Court Street Center planned development project located at 999 Monterey Street. John Dunn, City Administrative Officer, briefly introduced the project. Arnold Jonas, Community Development Director, reviewed the project in more detail and recommended that Council, after reviewing the applicant's presentation, provide direction to the Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Commission on the plan development issues outlined in the staff report (please see File No. 435 for complete recommendations). Marshall Ochvlski, applicant, then provided an update of where the project is at this time, and reviewed the footprint inside plan. Ted Rooecko, architect, reviewed in more detail the Court Street Plan. 10:20 p.m., Mayor Dunin declared a recess. 10:25 p.m., City Council reconvened, all Councilmembers present. Rob Strong, architect for the applicant, reviewed the five problem issues where there was not general agreement by staff and the applicant on the conditions in the planned development. These included 1) atrium design, I 2) public art, 3) the art gallery, 4) the fifth floor use, and 5) child care facility. 153 City Council Minutes Page 5 Wednesday, February 21, 1990 - 7:00 p.m. After general discussion and comments by various Commission members and Council, consensus was reached as follows: Atrium Design The atrium is inadequate, should be a public attraction and could be public art itself. It should not be merely an entry way or lobby to the retail areas. Access to the atrium should be from Monterey Street and access through retail space made secondary. Public Art The scope of public art included in the project, in part, will be determined by the nature of the atrium and art gallery. The developer will need to provide specific public art proposals before further positions on this matter can be established. Art Gallery The 1200 square foot public art gallery should be a publicly oriented amenity, as opposed to a commercially oriented space. It was recognized that it might not be possible to provide the space on a "free" basis, but rent should be as low as possible. Fift= Floor Use The fifth floor should be a publicly oriented space. For this reason, the fifth floor should not include office uses. A fifth floor is desired for the project, but only if its uses are oriented toward the public (e.g. a sports facility, restaurant). Child Care There was no clear consensus on this issue, except that it is a matter that needs clarification as this project is reviewed by the Planning Commission and Architectural Review Commission. It was expressed by some Councilmembers that the child care center "drop off" for retail shoppers. As such, it may need to be a "program" and not necessarily located on -site (if the physical circumstances don't lend themselves to that solution). 11:45 p.m., there being no further business to come before the City Council, Mayor Dunin adjourned the meeting to Monday, February 26, 90 at 7:00 p.m. APPROVED BY COUNCIL: 4/17/90 / �Y PV:nlo Pas - Voges, C y Clerk M I N U T E S ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1990 - 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 990 PALM STREET SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA