“Interesting Times”
July 2000
 

There is an ancient saying, "May you live in interesting times." Right now things are anything but dull around SLO City. So many major issues are coming to a head all at once that staff and City Council are scrambling to stay well informed on all of them so we can make wise decisions in guiding our future. There are two well-articulated sides to every issue, so the major decisions are never easy. Let me share the status of some of our major controversial projects.

Froom Ranch

On July 5, 2000, the City Council approved the 53-acre annexation, pre-zoning, and the subdivision of a portion of the ranch into four lots. The County is almost ready to issue a building permit for a 125,000 sq. ft. Home Depot store (kind of a "medium box" size). It would seem that most of the development problems are over. Au contraire. A number of citizens are generally unhappy with the project moving ahead. Arguments are: "Big Box, character of SLO, loss of Ag. Land, inadequate mitigation, the entire process." They may file suit, thus slowing or stopping the project. The Annexation must also be approved by LAFCo, which may have some difficulty approving boundaries that nearly create an island of County land (primarily the Dalidio Ranch). I’m confident that eventually, it will all work itself out after many more meetings, and Madonna will build a store that will be an asset to the community.

The Marketplace (Dalidio Ranch)

On July 12, 2000 the Planning commission recommended approval of the annexation, the zoning and the environmental impact report. Next step is City Council approval. The same arguments were presented in opposition to this project as were presented concerning the Froom Ranch development, with the same threat of lawsuit. When the City Council approved the General Plan for both the Froom Ranch and the Dalidio Ranch properties in 1994, the commercial areas were approved tied in with significant open space requirements. Half the Dalidio Ranch is proposed to stay in agriculture. As with all compromises, not everyone is satisfied with the result so the battles continue.

A complication for the Dalidio project is the City Council practice of not hearing controversial issues with less than a full Council. Various council members will be unavailable for all of August and the first half of September, so the hearing will be scheduled for September 19th. This places subsequent approvals such as the complicated Development Agreement right smack in the heat of this fall’s election season.

Marsh Street Parking Structure

The parking structure represents one of our most complicated bid projects every. With the high water table, the bridge over Marsh Street and the beautiful gazebo at the downtown center, the difficulty in working around the truck operation in the Post office parking lot, the offices on the ground floor of the new structure, the really tight area for contractor operations during construction, with the beautiful aesthetic treatment required on the exterior facing, it just had to be a very expensive job. We assumed our consultants had considered all that when they presented a bid estimate for the project at $4.8 million.

As it turned out, contractors who specialize in this type of work are overloaded. We had a tight bid schedule and a tight construction schedule, both of which bring costs up. The plans contain a mixture of metric and English units, which was just another complication for subcontractors. Prime contractors had difficulty putting bids together. We finally had only two bidders (a third missed a required pre-bid meeting) with a low bid of $8.2 million. That’s just too far to stretch, so it’s back to the drawing board to find ways to cut back.

This project will probably be set back at least four months, and its fate may well be determined by a new City Council after December 1st. If this project does not go ahead, we may be facing a delay in the Copeland project on Court Street. It may be five or more years before we can put together and build additional parking east of Santa Rosa Street. Downtown may be mired in parking woes for a long time to come.

Copeland Court/Palm Project

When first proposed to the City in September 1999, the plan was to "build the underground parking along Palm Street first." The developer seriously underestimated the complications involved with this project, and after almost a year of earnest negotiations, all parties have a clearer understanding of how to proceed. The Palm Street parking structure no longer is proposed as the first phase; the developer would like to proceed first with the retail and office development on Court Street. With this scenario, the 118 parking spaces on Court Street would be lost immediately, and shortly thereafter, the 117 parking spaces near Palm Street would also be lost as construction on the parking structure takes place. If the Marsh Street parking structure is not completed when the development starts, parking in the downtown will be in terrible straits.

This article is written prior to the July 20 public meeting when the public will have a chance to hear the latest proposal, phasing and costs. I’m sure all council members are still enthusiastic about the concept–let’s just hope we can all find a way to move ahead.

Binding Arbitration

The Police and Fire petition has qualified to be placed on the November 7th ballot. Since this measure strikes at the fundamental principle of whether the elected City Council or an arbitration panel will control about half of the City’s operating budget, the Council will place a counter measure on the ballot calling for a public vote in cases where arbitration awards are considered excessive. A citizen’s committee will campaign for this ballot measure.

As if our own binding arbitration disagreements weren’t enough, the legislature has passed a statewide Binding Arbitration Measure (SB 402). If signed by the Governor, that bill will become effective January 1, 2001.

The ancient saying didn’t indicate whether "interesting times" were good times or bad time–just interesting. Boy, are we ever living them now!