Paso Robles City Council meeting highlights for Tuesday, Oct. 6
–The following are highlights from the Paso Robles City Council meeting that occurred on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
In compliance with social distancing, the council, staff, and the public participated via conference call. The public was given the opportunity to view a live stream of the meeting at www.prcity.com/youtube, invited to call into the meeting at 805-865-PASO (7276), and to email public comment to cityclerk@prcity.com prior to the meeting.
The council took the following actions:
Received Update on COVID-19 – Council received an update on the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the state, county, and local levels; updated info available online. Under California’s new blueprint for reducing COVID-19, SLO County has now been in the red, or “substantial” tier, for two weeks, meaning that more businesses have been able to open with limited capacity and K-12 schools are permitted to reopen if they choose to do so and can follow State guidelines. The tier structure and information about what can operate in each tier is at www.covid19.ca.gov. The city’s COVID-19 response and communication efforts continue. Last Friday, Paso Play on Wheels, a partnership between the city’s recreation division and the school district, distributed 150 recreation kits to children picking up dinner at Winifred Pifer Elementary school, and more distributions are planned. COVID-19 resource information, “Open and Safe” signage for businesses to display, and information about City services during the pandemic is available at www.prcity.com.
Presented awards of valor to staff who played key roles in responding to the June active shooter incident – Bronze Medal of Valor to Dispatcher Kate McKinley: Dispatcher McKinley’s composure while tracking the suspect on camera, updating officers with the shooter’s location, and fielding numerous calls from the community and arriving officers undoubtedly saved the lives of officers and firefighters. Citizen Award of Valor to Battalion Chief and Fire Marshal Randy Harris: Without regard for his own safety, Chief Harris put himself in harm’s way to rescue Deputy Dreyfus, who had been shot. He coordinated a lifesaving rescue operation which, without doubt, saved Deputy Dreyfus’s life. Gold Medal of Valor to Sergeant Ricky Lehr: In an act of outstanding bravery Sergeant Lehr ignored his own safety to save the life of Deputy Dreyfus. Sergeant Lehr remained in the battle despite not having had the time to don proper personal safety equipment. He stayed to protect Deputy Pacas until relieved, never once thinking of himself. Sergeant Lehr’s actions were above and beyond the call of duty and deserved this highest level of commendation.
Approved an agreement with pavement Engineering Inc. to provide professional engineering design services for pavement rehabilitation projects – The city’s adopted Six-Year Street Maintenance and Repair Plan identifies Zones 4D and 4G, Nicklaus Street, and six streets on the west side for repair in Fiscal Year 2020-21. Professional engineering design services will ensure adequate evaluations of existing pavement conditions are completed to determine the most cost-effective solutions. The contract is for $425,524 and is funded by Supplemental Sales Tax revenues.
Approved contracts to repair Golden Hill Tank Number 2 – Golden Hill Tank Number 2 is a 4-million-gallon potable-water steel tank that provides operational and emergency water storage for the east side of Paso Robles. A 2018 inspection revealed degradation of the tank’s protective coatings resulting in areas of significant corrosion and metal loss. Now that the new Westside reservoir is operational, the city water system has the storage capacity necessary to take Golden Hills Tank 2 offline in to perform the required work. Council approved a contract with Paso Robles Tank Inc. to repair and recoat the tank at a cost of $1,032,505. Council also approved a contract with Advantage Technical Services, Inc. (ATS), who performed the latest inspection and prepared the bid documents, to provide construction phase inspections, for $105,107. This is funded by the Water Fund.
Approved a construction agreement for protection of the Munari Trunk Sewer – The Munari Trunk Sewer is a major city sewer line that serves a large area of east Paso Robles near the high school. It runs parallel to a natural drainage way, and old failed culverts are causing active erosion of the creek bed and banks, which threatens to undermine the sewer line in two locations. To properly protect the sewer line from damage or failure, the failed culverts must be removed, and the slopes must be stabilized to prevent further erosion. Council approved a construction agreement with CalPortland Construction for this work in the amount of $117,321, funded by the Sewer Fund.
Approved the Senior Volunteer Services Administrative Services Agreement – The city owns the Paso Robles Senior Center at 270 Scott Street. Since 2012, the city has contracted with Senior Volunteer Services (SVS) to operate the Center. Council approved a new agreement with SVS to provide staffing and program oversight at the Senior Center in a limited capacity while the Senior Center is closed to the public due to the pandemic (at a cost of $2,000/month), and at full capacity when the center reopens ($5,000/month). SVS intends to transfer operations from its current offices in San Luis Obispo to the center, providing higher-level oversight and increased opportunities for local seniors to participate in volunteer programs. The annual cost, depending on when the city is permitted to resume full service, will range from $12,040 to $47,040 from the General Fund, and $12,960 from the Senior Endowment Fund, all within the current budget.
Approved the Beechwood Specific Plan Project – Council approved the Beechwood Specific Plan Project, which consists of 234± acres located on the southeast side of the city, adjacent to unincorporated San Luis Obispo County land. The project required approval of a general plan amendment, zone change, tentative tract map, oak tree removal permit, and development agreement, and the formation of two community facilities districts. The project, if built out entirely, would include 911 single-family and multi-family residential units and a Mixed-Use Overlay District that will support up to 47,000± square feet of non-residential use. The project will dedicate approximately 8.1 acres of land to the city for a community park, which will feature two regulation baseball fields, two multi-use athletic fields with lighting, youth sporting activities, two picnic areas with gazebos, a tot lot, and parking. Additionally, bicycle paths, walking trails, and other amenitized green spaces will be provided to enable opportunities for passive recreational amenities and other outdoor activities. The project is required to complete several traffic mitigation measures at certain development milestones to minimize traffic impacts of the project.
A development agreement (DA) is a commonly used tool executed between a local jurisdiction and a project applicant for large or complex developments to delineate the terms and conditions of a proposed project. The Beechwood DA stipulates that grading of the initial phase is to begin within five years and the Applicant must give preference to local laborers and home buyers. There are three types of affordable housing requirements, including: a requirement to build 53-66 deed-restricted rental apartments affordable to low or moderate-income households; 96 for-sale units affordable to workforce households as defined by SLO County; and 53 accessory dwelling units. A services and maintenance community facilities districts (CFD) will be formed to fund the cost of city services that this project will require so that the project will not have a negative fiscal impact on the city, and an infrastructure CFD will fund much of the infrastructure development. To fund the CFDs, homeowners will pay an additional property tax; their entire property tax, however, cannot exceed 1.8-percent of their property value. The entire staff report, Specific Plan, Development Agreement, final Environmental Impact Report, traffic mitigation measures, and other documents are available online.
Council approved the project with modifications to the street lane width, requiring at least12-foot travel lanes on arterials and 11-foot lanes elsewhere, while preserving striped bike lanes wherever possible. Councilmember Strong did not vote to approve the project due to concerns with the density proposed on the northern perimeter of the Specific Plan.
Adopted an Urgency Ordinance on camping – The ordinance adds chapter 7.50, Camping, to the Municipal Code. It defines camping and camping-related terms and prohibits camping in the following areas: lands owned or operated by the city, lands zoned as open space, high fire risk areas, and water supply risk areas. The ordinance calls for the council to adopt procedures for the removal and retrieval of personal property. With respect to enforcement, absent exigent circumstances, the camping prohibition will not be enforced when there is no available alternative shelter. When the camping prohibition is not enforced, people may only set up camping facilities between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily. It is a matter of urgency for the preservation of public peace, health, and safety that the city council adopt this urgency ordinance, to enable the city to determine that areas like the Riverbed are fire risk and water quality risk areas dangerous for camping. Further, this urgency ordinance will ensure that regulation of camping is consistent with the parameters set by Martin v. City of Boise.
Clarified the budget motion from Sept. 15 – During council comments, councilmembers provided clarification to the community that their motion regarding city cost containment on Sept. 15 was to not require the consideration of any additional budget reductions until January, and only then if necessary, based on the midyear fiscal update.
The agenda can be found at https://www.prcity.com/agendacenter and the livestream from the meeting can be found at www.prcity.com/youtube. The minutes will be available as part of the packet for the City Council’s next regular meeting.
The next regular City Council meeting takes place on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. via livestream at www.prcity.com/youtube. Public comment can be made during the meeting by 805-865-PASO (7276) or provided prior to the meeting by emailing cityclerk@prcity.com.
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