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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/23/1991City Council Minutes Page 2 Tuesday, April 23, 1991 - 7:00 pm. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. FOCUSED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN (File No. 233) John Dunn. City Administrative Officer, reviewed City Council Goals and City Budget from June, 1989 review process and the City Council Goal Setting Study Session held on December 10, 1990. He explained that the outline for tonight's session on Focused Economic Development Plan was the result of direction from these past meetings and ideas "brainstormed" by Management Team and the Citizens Advisory Committee "White Paper" on the need for City revenue increases to support City services and facilities. Bill Statler. Finance Director, summarized the major points of the 1983 Strategic Plan; what it was, what was accomplished and what would be done if it were to be updated. Arnold Jonas. Community Development Director, gave a progress report on the current status of the Land Use Element and the work being done on the development of an economic study of the implications of the updated Land Use Element. He said that a joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission was scheduled for Monday, May 6, 1991 at which time a consultant will advise the Commission and the Council on further definition of the economic workscope. Ken Hampian. Assistant City Administrative Officer, reported on how other cities define and accomplish economic development. John Dunn. City Administrative 4it6cer, reiterated that the purpose of this meeting was to begin defining what the focused economic development plan is and to ensure that it remains consistent with planning and environmental protection goals. He suggested that Council go through the goals list-submitted to them this evening and choose those items that should be eliminated, those that should be embraced, and on which staff should focus their attention. Another alternative was to direct staff to prepare a report that provides more detailed information concerning options for stronger economic development. Councilwoman Pinard asked staff what it was that they were really asking the Council to do tonight. John Dunn responded that staff was looking to Council for consensus on what activities they should or should not be engaging in in the area of economic development and if the Council desired a focused economic development plan above and beyond that which is currently in place. Councilwoman Rappa asked if what was being proposed tonight should be consolidated with efforts on the updated Land Use Element. John Dunn. City Administrative Officer, said that it would be appropriate to defer further work on the. focused economic development plan until after the joint meeting with the Planning Commission and the updated economic base study. He also pointed out that staff is already proceeding on the Southern California Gas Company annexation, now known as the Broad Street annexation, the downtown physical concept plan, sprinkler /earthquake retrofit program for private properties within the downtown, and a program to retain the County Administrative Offices within the downtown; all of these programs based on previous City Council direction. Councilman Roalman asked if issues under "Action Steps" were land -use oriented and wasn't clear on how this plan coincides with the Land Use Element update. He inquired as to what citizen.input had been solicited in preparing this list. Mayor Dunin joined the meeting at 7:55 p.m. e City Council Minutes Page 3 Tuesday, April 23, 1991 - 7:00 p.m. Councilwoman RapRg questioned whether the Council viewed the General Plan update as a total revamping of the entire plan or as a revision to the existing plan. She felt that if the Council did feel the update .would be a total revision, they should not take any action tonight. Mayor Dunin said he felt items on the list tonight involving the Land Use Element should go before the Planning Commission before being placed for Council consideration. He asked staff for clarification on what they were supposed to do tonight John Dunn explained that staff was in the dilemma of how to proceed with the Council's goal of a focused economic development plan, and that until a clear cut policy direction comes out of the completed General Plan update, staff Is looking for anything else in the meantime that the City Council would desire the staff be working on. He suggested that they begin with the planning and preparation list before the Council tonight Councilwoman Pinard asked why the Planning Commission has yet to hear back from staff on the economic feasibility analysis of the LUE since their request in January. Arnold Jonas said that staff is moving ahead to retain a consultant and draft an economic analysis. Since that time, the Commission has chosen to focus their energies on the Circulation Element. Councilwoman Pinard said that she understood the update of the General Plan would take the aspects of the existing plan that were no longer appropriate for the community and make corrections to them. She said she would be looking to the economic study for guidance in this update. Mayor Dunin said that as he recalled Council had told staff during land use element session that the LUE does not address economic stability of the community and that they had directed staff to come back with focused economic development plan. Councilman Roalman stated that his recollection was that Council did not direct staff to prepare an economic development plan but to do an economic analysis of some aspects of the general plan update. Arnold Jonas contended that there were really two different issues here that were being confused. One is the LUE for which the Council has expressed an interest in haviag.an economic analysis so that we can understand for the future the consequences on the community of developing under different forms of land use; and the second issue is that of focused economic development plan which is not part of the LUE itself but more of a tool to implement the LUE. Councilwoman Pinard felt that the economic analysis related to the LUE would be the primary factor in determining the direction Council should take on focused economic development. John Dunn explained that in order for the City to offer the same level of services, build desirable public facilities and provide continued environmental protection activities, we would have to actively generate revenues. The Open Space Element alone is going to cost millions of dollars. This money will either come from sacrifices in areas such as cut backs in operations and services or from building up revenues. With the State facing a $13 million deficit, cities may be seriously affected. He explained that the City should be proactive and prepared for the worst by putting ourselves in the best revenue position possible rather than sitting back and waiting for the catastrophe to happen. Councilman Reiss said that he felt the city needed to be proactive. Councilwoman Rauna, asked if it was still the Council's desire to annex the Broad Street area (formerly known as the Southern California Gas Company annexation). Mayor Dunin asked for comment from the public. 491 City Council Minutes Page 4 Tuesday, April 23, 1991 - 7:00 p.m. Don Smith said he did not think the steps being considered tonight were environmentally sensitive. Deanna Constable, P.O. Box 12204, said she thought no decisions should be made by Council until they have all the facts. Carla Sanders speaking as a member of the General Plan Committee and representing Citizens Planning Alliance, reminded Council that three years ago when the City began the process of updating the Land Use Element a survey was conducted that indicated overwhelmingly that residents felt that the natural beauty, clean air and open space were the City's greatest strengths and its greatest problem was excessive development. She felt Council should take no action until they had reviewed the Land Use Element draft. Brett Cross. 1217 Mariners Cove, asked staff to let the Council and public know what the status of the economic study is. John French asked if there was a target adoption date for the updated Land Use Element and thought it was appropriate for staff to receive interim guidance from Council Monte Lukov. BIA, said 289a' of the City's monies come from sales tax revenues and another 22% from revenues derived from the sales tax, and that we have to have economic stability if we want to pay for all of the beautiful things we would like to do. 9:05 p.m. Mayor Dunin called for a recess. 9.20 pm. Mayor Dunin reconvened the meeting; all Councilmembers present Council reviewed the list for the focused economic development plan. Councilman Roalman felt that most of the items should be deferred. Upon consensus, Council agreed to the importance of political commitment and support for a meaningful economic development program prior to developing and implementing specific actions and addressing perceptions regarding economic development and its compatibility with quality of life goals. Councilman Roalman did not think there was any benefit to updating the Strategic Plan. Upon consensus, Council agreed to the importance of preparing an economic base study. The material generated from the economic base study can be used to update the Strategic Plan. Councilwoman Pinard asked for clarification on what the economic base study would include. John Dunn suggested that the details of the scope would become clear at the May 6, 1991 joint meeting with the Planning Commission. After discussion, decision on updating the Strategic Plan was deferred to May 6. Council discussed ways to gather and solicit citizen -based input in the preparation of the focused economic development plan. John Dunn said that the development review process is being reviewed at the staff level and that when there were more preliminary suggestions on improving the process, staff would bring it back to the City Council. Councilman Roalman said he felt the process was working very well and saw no need to streamline it. Councilmembers Reiss. Raaua. and Mayor Dunin agreed that staff should better define and specify the ' development review process. 492 City Council Minutes Page 5 Tuesday, April 23, 1991 - 7:00 pm John Dunn felt that the point regarding identifying and targeting the kind of retail commercial and. light industrial development that will best improve our fiscal and community economic health should be deferred to until further progress on the LUE. Council concurred. Council concurred that a decision on investigating the development of a regional conference center and identifying opportunities for locating a quality conference hotel downtown were not appropriate at this time. Identifying staff roles for an economic development program and. establishing an Economic Development Commission for the City were also put on hold. Council and staff had a protracted discussion on what they were indicating tonight by the work "deferred." Councilwoman Pinard said that by deferred, her intention was that any further consideration should be postponed until after the economic base study of the LUE Is performed. Council directed staff to examine feasibility of the Broad Street area annexation,'complete the downtown physical concept plan and develop an implementation plan, develop a financial assistance program for sprinkler /earthquake retrofits for private property owners in the downtown, retain County administrative office space in the downtown, implement the Parking Management Program, and re-examine efforts to development the Court Street property, Councilman Roalman voicing a no vote on the last issue. He also expressed concerns about the size of County offices downtown and wanted to know more about the Broad Street annexation. The Airport Area annexation was discussed and Council told staff that their previous action regarding the airport specific area should still be in effect Staff is to update Council on the background of this issue. Council discussed relocating auto dealerships in the Los Osos Valley Road area and directed staff to go forward with facilitating this process. , Upon general consensus, Council decided to reconsider the balance of the items presented to them tonight until after further work on the LUE. Those items included developing the northern portion of the DaBdio property as an integrated expansion of Central Coast and Madonna plazas, evaluating the feasibility of locating a factory outlet center in San Luis Obispo, developing programs to use Amtrak service to San Luis Obispo as an opportunity to get visitors to our community, soliciting and reviewing proposal from Gottschalk 's on their proposed expansion, and consideration of retaining a contract "project expeditor" to augment staff resources. COMMUNICATIONS Comm.l. Councilwoman Rapp requested that Council direct staff to bring issues in support of recycling legislation back to Council for consideration. There being no further business to come before . the Council, Ma or d the meeting at 1030 p.m. to Monday, April 29, 1991 at 7:00 p.m. / APPROVED BY COUNCIL: 5/21/91 kic Fi