HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/01/2001MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2001 - 7:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBER, 990 PALM STREET
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
ROLL CALL:
Council Members
Present Council Members lan Howell Marx, Christine Mulholland, Ken
Schwartz, Vice Mayor John Ewan, and Mayor Allen K. Settle
City Staff:
Present: Ken Hampian, City Administrative Officer; Jeff Jorgensen, City
Attorney; Lee Price, City Clerk; Wendy George, Assistant City
Administrative Officer, John Mandeville, Community Development
Director; Bill Statler, Finance Director, Ann Slate, Human Resources
Director, Jim Gardiner, Police Chief; Bob Neumann, Fire Chief; John
Moss, Utilities Director; Mike McCluskey, Public Works Director; Paul
LeSage, Parks and Recreation Director
PRESENTATIONS
1 PROCLAMATION PRESENTED TO DR. STEPHEN HANSEN FOR HIS WORK WITH FIRST
NIGHT&
Mayor Settle presented a proclamation to Dr. Stephen Hansen honoring him for his
contributions to First Night.
PROCLAMATION FOR NATIONAL ARSON AWARENESS WEEK.
Mayor Settle presented a proclamation to Fire Marshall Drake, Fire Inspector Madden, and
Fire Chief Neumann declaring the week of May 6, 2001 as National Arson Awareness Week.
PROCLAMATION ANNOUNCING MUNICIPAL CLERKS WEEK.
Mayor Settle presented a proclamation to City Clerk Price and staff pronouncing the week
of April 29, 2001 as Municipal Clerks Week.
INTRODUCTIONS
INTRODUCTION OF NEW FIREFIGHTERS
Fire Chief Neumann introduced Richard Barrett, Mark Vasquez, and Samuel Fox, recently
hired Firefighters for the City of San Luis Obispo.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 7:00 p.m.
Page 2
PUBLIC COMMENT
Sandi Sipuerdson, former Director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony, thanked Council for
support of the symphony and updated the Council on their recent trip to Carnegie Hall.
Andrew Carter asked Council to consider mid -block signalization on Higuera and Marsh
Streets. Public Works Director McCluskev provided background and reported that traffic
studies show there are no warrants for signalization.
CONSENT AGENDA
C1. WATER RECLAMATION FACILITY DIGESTER NO.3 REPAIR, SPECIFICATION NO.
90046A AND 90046B.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Marx to: 1) Approve plans and specifications for "Digester
#3 Empty and Clean" and "Digester #3 Repair" Specification Numbers 90046A and
90046B." 2) Authorize staff to advertise for bids and authorize the City
Administrative Officer to award the contract if the lowest responsible bid is within
the Engineer's estimate of $180,000; motion carried 5:0.
C2. RISK MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999 -00.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Marx to receive and file the Risk Management Report for
1999 -00; motion carried 5:0.
C3. AUTHORIZATION TO APPLY FOR GRANT FUNDS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
REGIONAL TRAINING WEB SITE SELF- CONTAINED BREATHING APPARATUS
(SCUBA). AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS EQUIPMENT.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Marx to authorize staff to submit applications for grant
monies in the amount of $138,500 from the Federal Assistance to Firefighter
Grant Program for a regional training web site and self- contained breathing
apparatus and $50,000 from the Domestic Terrorism Planning Grant for hazardous
material equipment; motion carried 5:0.
C4. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO FURNISH JANITORIAL SERVICE. SPECIFICATION
NO. 90201.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Marx to: 1) Approve the "Request for Proposals to Furnish
Janitorial Service, Specification No. 90201." 2) Authorize distribution of the request
for proposals. 3) Authorize the City Administrative Officer to award a contract if
contract prices are within the cost estimates of $162,800; motion carried 5:0.
C5. ADDITIONAL CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING PLAN,
Council Member Mulholland pulled this item to vote in opposition and stated her reason to
be that she does not support the annexation of the Airport Area.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Schwartz to: 1) Amend the contract with Wallace Roberts
Todd for preparation of the Airport Area Specific Plan by $33,000 for additional work
on the financing program. 2) Appropriate $33,000 from the unreserved General
Fund balance in order to fund this added cost; motion carried 4:1 (Mulholland).
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Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 7:00 p.m.
C6. LETTER TO SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PROVIDING
INPUT ON THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS.
ACTION: Moved by Ewan/Marx to authorize the Mayor to sign the letter and direct
staff to forward it to the County not later than May 8, 2001; motion carried 5:0.
BUSINESS ITEMS
1. FIRST TIER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DRAFT PARKING AND DOWNTOWN
ACCESS PLAN (PDAP).
Public Works Director McCluskev. Deputy Public Works Director Bochum, and Finance
Director Statler provided the report.
Public Comments:
Dave Romero, 2057 Skylark Lane, voiced concern about the use of parking enterprise funds
for unproven parking demand reduction activities. He also argued that staff has not
Implemented any parking demand reduction measures to date even though there is money
in the budget to do so.
Eugene Jud, 665 Leff Street, urged the Council to look into the costs of providing transit
services and spoke in favor of implementing parking demand reduction measures. He
urged the Council to use the parking fund for parking demand reduction, and reiterated
opposition to building the Marsh Street Parking Garage expansion.
Andrew Carter. 1283 Woodside Drive, voiced support for the recommendations and urged
the approval of higher fines for overtime offenders and monthly passes at both garages.
Jean Anderson, 544 Pacific Street, expressed support for parking demand reduction
measures, and urged citizens to read the book "Divorce your Car."
Mike Span-gler , President of the San Luis Obispo Property Owners Association and Director
of the Downtown Coalition, reported that the City of Santa Barbara will soon be
constructing a new parking facility that will provide over five hundred new spaces for
vehicles and alternative modes of transportation (copy of handout provided and on file with
the City Clerk). He asked Council to approve the implementation of parking demand
reduction measures but not fund the expenditures through the parking enterprise fund.
Bill Walter. Chair of the Downtown Association Parking Committee, suggested that the draft
resolution be amended to change the word "successful' (as it relates to parking demand
reduction measures) to "effective," and further, proposed that the Downtown Association
be included in any assessment process to measure effectiveness.
Tom Swem. Downtown Association President, stated that the Association wants to
participate in the design and review of all parking demand reduction measures and that
they are opposed to any use of the parking enterprise fund for parking demand reduction.
Brett Cross. 1217 Mariner's Cove, supports "gold card" concept, but took issue with some
of the program components. He also suggested that the Council consider what is fair to the
property owner when it looks at parking in -lieu fees. Lastly, he urged the Council to avoid
being too punitive when examining parking ticket fines.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 7:00 p.m.
Dave Juhnke. Chair of the Chamber Board, voiced support for staff recommendations
Including the use of parking fund monies for parking demand reduction measures provided
that those activities can be shown to be effective in reducing the demand for parking. He
concurred with Bill Walter's request to Include "stakeholders" in the process and added
that he hopes that parking demand reduction measures that are found to be ineffective will
be dropped or paid for by some other funding mechanism.
Richard Milgrem. Department of Regional Planning at Cal Poly, contended that the City's
parking fees are too low and spoke in favor of the staff recommendations.
Mark Shaeffer. Director of Ride -0n, reported that alternative transportation activities
implemented by CalTrans for the Cuesta Grade project have proven to be effective. He also
explained that Ride -0n is currently seeking grant monies to help develop programs and
asked the City to involve them in the process of designing, implementing and assessing
parking demand reduction measures.
Mayor Settle called a recess at 8:40 p.m. The meeting resumed at 8:55 p.m.
Council discussion followed.
Council Member Mulholland proposed a minor revision to the resolution as follows: In the
third "Whereas," add the words "violations of "' before the words "California Vehicle Code."
There were no objections to this amendment.
Vice Mayor Ewan voiced concern about the proxy card program and the differential
between the Palm and Marsh Street garages and proposed additional study. He
commented that he does not believe that a savings of 50% for "gold card program"
members is enough, and proposed that if the incentive proves ineffective, the Council
consider increasing the subsidy. Vice Mayor Ewan added that he supports increasing the
parking in4ieu fee and the use of parking enterprise funds for parking demand reduction
activities.
Council Member Marx proposed that expanding the parking district to include "uptown"
would allow the parking enterprise fund to collect more in -lieu fees. She rioted that she is
in favor of using the parking enterprise fund to pay for parking demand reduction measures
but does have some concerns regarding some of the particulars of the programs proposed,
including the name of the °gold card program."
Council Member Mulholland commented that proposed fees and fines are still not enough.
She indicated that she supports parking demand reduction measures and funding them via
the parking enterprise fund. Additionally, she urged staff to implement "park and ride"
programs (Tier 3) quickly.
Council discussion followed regarding Section 6 of the draft resolution. Several members
of the Council provided suggestions for refinement. Council agreed to amend the draft
resolution as follows:
1. Third "Whereas, " add the words "violations of" before the words "California
Vehicle Code."
2. Amend Section 6 to read:
Program 6.1 of the Parking Management Plan is hereby amended to read as
follows:
The principal purpose of Parking fund revenues will be used to:
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Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 7:00 p.m.
a) Maintain and expand parking operations and supply, Including effective
parking demand reduction programs; and
b) Repay bonds that financed the construction of the parking structures.
Pilot or "test case" parking demand reduction activities may also be funded,
provided that they are well- defined and monitored for a specific period of
time, and a measurement of effectiveness is predetermined.
Mayor Settle commented in support of the staff recommendations, indicated he would
support suggestions made by his Council colleagues for modifications and made the
following motion:
ACTION: Moved by Settle/Schwartz to 1) Adopt a resolution: (a) Reducing the free
time In downtown parking garages, increasing the maximum daily fee charged in
garages, and increasing various parking fees and fines effective July 1, 2001; and,
(b) Amending Policy 6.1, of the existing Parking Management Plan on the use of the
Parking Fund to allow its initial use to pay for untested parking demand reduction
(PDR) activities on a pilot test case basis and its ongoing use to pay for proven PDR
activities that reduce the demand for downtown parking. (See Attachment A). 2)
Receive a progress report on other first tier parking and access activities authorized
by the City Council and endorse implementation strategies, financial plans and
schedules for each. 3) Receive and file information on Parking in -lieu fees. 4)
Review and endorse staff recommendations for second tier parking and downtown
access activities; motion carried 5:0
Additional Council discussion ensued regarding next steps. By agreement, the Council
directed staff to bring back a discussion of the proxy card program and the differential
between the Palm and Marsh Street garages when staff returns with options to consider
relative to parking in -lieu fees. Further, staff agreed to provide follow -up on establishing
the baseline for the 'gold card' program in three months, or as part of the discussion on
parking in -lieu fees.
COUNCIL LIAISON REPORTS
None
None
There being no further business to come before the City Council, Mayor Settle adjourned the
meeting at 10:15 p.m. to Tuesday, May 15, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, 990 Palm
Street, San Luis Obispo.
APPROVED BY COUNCIL: 5115101
LP:mk
City Clerk