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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - CC - 1973.05.23+)+ /8/ Burtingame, calj-fornia tlay 23, L973 A special meetj-ng of the Burlingame City Council, continued from j-ts meeting of M,ay 2, L973, was ca11ed to order on the above date at 8:15 p.n., by Mayor R. D. Martin. ROLL CAI,L Present - Councihen: Anstrup-crosby (8:30 p.n. ) -Cusick-l'langini-Martin Absent - Councihen: None This was the fourth in a series of meetings hetd for the Pu:rPose of gathering pubtic reaction to the recommendations contained in the "Burlingame Avenue Parking Study" prepared by Deleuw, Cather & Company. Before sta-rting the discussj-on on the Parking District, the Council Agreed to bypass the June study meeting because of an unusually heavy calendar during the month of June; Directed the city Manager to arrange for a special meeting to consider avrard of bids for resurfacing of Burlingame Avenuei To meet on Tuesday, May 29, 1973, at 7:0O p.m., to hear a proposal from representatives of San Mateo County Transit Develolxnent Project. PARKTNG DISTRICI Mayor l,lartin announced the purpose of this meet.ing was to explore the issue of expansion of parking facilities, the consultants recommended altercnatives--- horizontal, through acquisition of additional property, or construction of parking levels, ej-ther over or under existing lots. The cost of going under- ground will be double that of raised itructures. Mayor Martin stated that testimony heaxd at prior meetings indicates a consensus that "pay" long-term lots are needed. IIe suggesteC consideration to an experi- ment whereby pa-rking meters rarould be installed on Lot A, exclusive of a certain number of spaces behind the librar!,, and ticket dispensing machines on Lot F. If the test proves unsuccessful, and it becomes necessary to renove the meters, the investnent will not be lost because meters can be used in some other area in the city; on the machines, perhaps the city can arrange to lease these in lieu of outright purchase. Councihan Amstrup advised he h,as at Uetcalf-Reis plant recently and observed a new installation there wl.ere 22 c€lxs can be parcked on 11 spaces. This is a mechanical operation whereby two vehicles are parked in one space, one above the other i the cityrs chief building inspector advised that the cost of the installatj-on was probably about $15,OO0.O0. Councihan Amstxup suggested this might merit investigation. He explained that the car at ground leveI must be moved first to free the ca.r above but if both stalls were rented to people from the sane office or business establistment, it would appear the instalLation could work for the city. Frank IngersolL, 2L6 Park Road, suggested it ra'ould be necessary to have an attendant on duty to operate the apparatus. John Cockcroft, 1345 Howard Avenue, stated if there were to be meters on one lot and ticket machines on another, it would be i:nportant that rates be equal to assure a fair test. Douglas Beetlestone, 1375 Burlingame Avenue, presented a recommendation adopted by the Chanber of Cormnerce some time ago for ticket machines to be instalLed on Iots F, GrN, the machines to dispense separate tickets for morning and afternoon parking I 2 3 .{.9''l/rz distinguished. by different colors, and dated. I,lri. Beetlestone stated there would be tlro machines, a colored ticket to indicate morning or aft€Enoon park.ing. willian orr, Chairman, Parking comnission, stated that the Consnission in its deliberations heard advice from police personnel, with the result that the comnission reconmends there be a single pa!.ment for all-day parking in an amount deemed appropriate by the Council, whether 259 or 50f. It appears that the burden of enforcement with multi-color ti-ckets would be considerable. He mentioned that a type of machine was suggested where there would be num.bers corresponding with nurnbers on spaces in the lot; enforcement here would require silnply to check to determine ttrat car.s were parked only in the spaces that haal been paid fori there would be no tickets dispensed by this type of machine. The City Manager was dinected to investigate kinds of machines available, whether Iease purchase is feasible, and also meter costs. He was asked to have the data available for consideration at the regular Council meeting on June 4, L973. The City Engineer pointed out that the Bellevue AveDue portion of Lot A is 4-hour parking, Donnelly Avenue, 16-hour. EXPANS]ON OF EXISTING LCIS The Chair asked for comments on the consuLtantsr proposals for horizontal expansion: I. Acquisition of a property at I4I2 Chapin Avenue, 2- If there are to be additional parking levels on Lot E, the post office employee parking lot and the Jenkel-Davidson propelty should be considered for acquisition, 3. Adalitj-ona1 levels on Lot A would involve acquisition of a single fanily residence on Bellevue Avenue and cononerc ial buildings on Donnelly Avenuei 4. Connect Lot B and B-1 (Chapin Avenue) by land acquisition. Frank rngersoll, Chairman, Citizens Parking Committee, Lawrence E'utman, President, Chamber of Ccfirmerce, and Theodore Blunlcerg, property owner:., within the District, agreed that the best interests of the city will be served by the least amount of acquisition. Land costs coupled with construction costs will make the resultant parking very costly, land taken for par.king will create a ]-oss of tax revenue to the city. Adnittedly, if aII of the properties were acquired, thene could be ample 1and to meet parking needs, but this would be falc more expens.ive than multi-level construction on existing lots. Considera- tion should be given to expanding lots on the periphery to provide convenient, long-term parking; this should have the effect of moving "sleepers" out of the core lots, thereby increasing the amount of shopper parking. Carroll Schmj,tz, 1237 BeUevue Avenue, protested acquisition of propercties on Bellevue and Donnelly for the purpose of double-decking Lot A, especially behind the new library addition. lie spoke of personal hardship that will be created if a structure is built adjacent to his property. or if his property is taken by the District. He recommended multi-level construction on Lot C on the south side of Donnelly, imediately behinal the stores on Burlingame Averue. The people want convenient parking and this r,rould appear to be the ideal location for both shopper and snployee parking. He also suggested consideration to acquisition of the privately-owned parcels east of Lot C, extension of 'rC" to the curb area on DonnelLy, and removal of planted areas for maximum utiliza- tion of the land. councilran Mangini askecl if Mr. schmitz envisioned a stxucture across Donnelly connecting Lots C and A. Mr. Sctmitz stated that it would behoove the city to build the structure high in the first place. Frank Ingersoll advised that the Chauber of Cornrnerce and the Citizens Parking Commj-ttee agree the solution lies in decking existing lots north of Donnelly and south of Howard, this reverts to Lots A & F. furthermore, with respect to Lot H, west of El Cam.ino, thene a-re indications that this is being used by apartnent dwellers; perhaps meters should be considered for this Iot. The chair referred to the d.eficiensy chart on page 20 of the report and to the text comrnencing on page 30 where the consultants reconrnend multi-Ievel J{.1.'}lts structures on specific lots. The chair noted that the greatest deficiency bu1k in long-term parklng lies north of Burrlingane Avenue. Expansion of Lot A coulal help to cure this. Next greatest deficiency is between Prirrose and Park, Bur.lingame Avenue to Howard. The question arises whether "F" is the most suitable lot south of the Avenue for multi-Ievel construction. 14r.. Ingersoll pointed out there is considerable opposition on the part of the merchants to a parking deck on Lot C. Some of the Council mernbers and many citizens rebelled at the idea of disturbing Lot J when the proposal was made at a prior meeting. with respect to Lot E, expansion here would bring a heavy concentration of traffic into the alowntovrn area and, as mentioned earlier, costs of reconstruction would be excessive, because of land acquisition required. It woutd appear, then, that Lots A & F are the solution. councilman Mangini recalled that his earliest recollection of the Parking District philosophy envisioned a series of lots from Prilnrose through to Lorton connected by overhead structures. Councilman crosby stated that the idea was to acquire successive properties on a straight line, with eventual double-decking of aII. M.r. Ingersolt advised that the citizens' committee studied this but came to the conclusj-on it was not a solution to the problem; furthermore, the old city haLl site would be involved, contrary to the expressed desires of many that this lot not be changed. Frieda Freund, 1230 Donnelly Avenue, maj-ntained that Lot A is one of the most attractive lots with the liJ]rary and acacia trees in the backgroundi conversely, r,ot C is probabLy the most unattractivei amrlti-Ieve1 structure here would at least hide the unattractive rear entrances of the shops fronting the Avenue. John cockcroft stated that if "c" were double-decked, provision must be made for continued access to the rear of the stores with adequate loading and unloading areas for service and delivery vehj,cles. This would necessitate a reduction in area of the second deck. He advised that, in prior studies undertaken by the Chamber of Comnerce, r,ot F lras considered the most suitable for alecking from an economic standpoint. He expressed a personal feeling that the library portion of Lot A not be ta.ken, but reserved for library parking, for which it was originally purchased. He suggested consj-deration to depressing the Donnelly Avenue portion of the 1ot four feet, thus providing a lower level of parking four feet below curb lj-ne. Ttris could reduce the overall profile of a second and third deck. Possibly the same procedure could be applied to Lot F. He urged inunealiate consideration to irprovements to alleviate long- term deficiencies. Councilran Mangini noted that the new construction wilt result in two of the largest lots being unusable whj-1e construction is in progress. He asked if restriping, done effj-ciently, might not accomplish the alesired result. Councilman Cusick cormented that perhaps some of the deficiencies in the area of Lot A will be eu:ninated by increased use of free parking adjacent to the Southern Pacific property. She objected to parking structures alongside the library and on the former city hat]. lot and also noted that on l,ot E there is an area that must be kept free of obstruction for city crews to have access to the drainage channel. Councj-lman Crosby considered the consultants I report uEealistic. He recalled that years ago the city jinproved the strip adjacent to Southern pacificrs right of way for enployee parking but it has never been used for this purpose to capacity. There are problems in the core area resulting from Long-term parkers using ttte strort-term lots and this situation needs to be resolvedi the answer appears to be multi-1eve]- structures, whether north or south of the Avenue is a moot poj.nt. He stated that when the distxict rr,as Started 10 years ago Lot F was considered the nucleus and, in his opiiricn is probabty the prime lot for dlouble-decking, regardless of rdhat the report might state. Councilnan Arlstrup reported a recent experience where he hail the opportunity to observe, over a period of approximately a week, daily activity in the area of the city and Southern Pacific Cornpany parking lots. At any tilne of ttre day, ++e/r/ there were spaces available. The idea that long-term park.ing is aleficient appears to be a fallacy. There is parking but perhaps the problem is that the parking is not where the people want it to be. Councilman Amstrup suggested that consideration be given to acquiring the properties betr{reen Lots C and D to create a single large tot. There need not be multi-Ievel construction imealiately, perhaps, in time, it could be partly tiered for both long-tem and short-term use. Mayor Martin stated he was informed recently by the bond counsel, Kenneth Jones, of a system that could be used s/hereby the council can obta.in approxi- mate costs of construct.ion without 9oin9 through the procedure of havj.ng specific plans prepared and putting these out to bidl. l,lr. Jones stated there are fj-rms who examine a sj,te and prepare a bid. He suggested that the City Manager contact l,tr. Jones for further information and, if possible, arrangre for a presentation. Perhaps Lot F could be used. Councihan Mangini expressed preference for consideration to C and E, but haal no strong objection to F. He, too, was reluctant to see structures on either the library lot or Lot J. John Cockcroft asked if the engineerring department could survey the records that were j-n existence in 1962 with respect to approxirate caLculations of square footage in buildings. The Chair explained that Mr. Cockcroft was referring to the consultants' proposal exempting from code parking requirenents develolnnents two stories or under, or with less than I5,0o0 gross square feet in floor area. If the average in 1962 was 12,0oo square feet, that could provide the basis for using 12,000 squa-re feet ln considering new requirenents. The City Engineer reported there were approxilnately 15 properties granted credits and, to hj-s knowledge, the records are availa-b1e in his department. ADJOURNMEMI The meeting adjouxned at 11:OO p.m., the next meeting to be held on June 20, 1973, at 8rO0 p.m., where the Safeway Stores matter will be explored, as well as financing and building ljri-tations. Respectfully suhnitted,/M - Herbert K. White, city clerk APPRO\IED .D. MARTIN, MAYOR