Emerging Projects
Save Our Downtown was pleased with the work of the LUCE Task Force and is urging the City to adopt the following new programs and policies which came out of the LUCE discussions:
1) New Program: The City shall prepare an inventory of uses in the Downtown Core. Particular attention shall be given to identifying uses at the street level as these uses directly impact the pedestrian experience and vibrancy of the Downtown. This information shall be used to target business support and attraction to achieve a desirable mix of uses in the Downtown.
2) New Program: The City shall incorporate into its zoning regulations specific criteria for evaluating use permits for bars/taverns, night clubs and late night drinking establishments.
3) New Program: The City will modify its Community Design Guidelines to enhance Safety and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Changes shall include, but are not limited to, inclusion of design statements on:
a) Enhanced lighting of building alcoves in Downtown area Wayfinding signs to better direct pedestrians and motorists in non-residential areas.
b) Visibility into entry and access points on non-residential buildings.
c) Design solutions that minimize the potential for graffiti.
4) New Program: The City, working with the Downtown Association, businesses, landlords, and residents will consider emergency callboxes at strategic locations in the Downtown.
5) New Program: The City working with the Downtown Association, Downtown businesses and residents shall develop a program to encourage lighted storefronts and street frontages throughout the night.
6) New Program: All specific plans shall identify design features utilized to enhance public safety.
7) New Program: The City shall conduct a nighttime safety audit of key areas of the City to see where deficiencies in environmental design may exist and should be improved. Key Areas should be defined as areas experiencing higher crime than City average by SLOPD.
8) New Program: The City shall implement the Economic Development Strategic Plan and other appropriate strategies for business retention and expansion with a focus on those providing head-of-household jobs. However, we urge you deem the Downtown Core (not just the Santa Margarita area) to be also worthy of your business retention and expansion strategies.
9) New Policy: City shall promote a healthy mix of downtown street-level businesses that emphasizes retail stores, specialty shops and food service rather than bars or taverns.
Save Our Downtown is also urging the City to support the following land use directives (some of which have been carried over with revisions from the previous Land Use Element):
1) The City shall work with the Downtown businesses and residents, the BID, and Chamber of Commerce to manage impacts from downtown drinking establishments, and if necessary, enact additional regulations to ensure that the late night environment in and near Downtown is safe and pleasant.
2) The City shall develop a master plan for San Luis Obispo Creek in the Downtown area.
3) Public Art should be placed along pedestrian paths. Traffic calming and pedestrian safety should be enhanced, where appropriate, through such features as road tables, pavement changes, bulb outs and scramble intersection signals. Landscaping should mitigate harsh micro-climates.
4) The City shall update the Downtown Concept Plan by 2016 and shall regularly update the plan as required to address significant changes in or affecting the Downtown area including the opportunity for meaningful public input.
5) Provide midblock or other significant pedestrian connections
6) Continuous Storefront: There should be a continuous storefront along sidewalks, at the back of the sidewalk, except for the Courthouse and City Hall blocks, plazas, recessed building entries, and sidewalk cafes.
7) Walking paths along the creek in the Downtown core should be provided and extended as links in an urban trail system, provided this will not further degrade wildlife habitat value of the riparian ecosystem.
8) Visual Resource Study: The City shall undertake a study of visual resources within the Downtown core area to identify potential locations for new public-owned open places with access to views of important scenic resources. The City will consider acquisition of one or more of these open places as resources permit. A range of options for property acquisition, including development agreements, will be considered, consistent with the City’s fiscal policies and objectives.
We do have few concerns remaining. Staff has been directed to explore the implications of combining the pedestrian plan with the bicycle plan. Even though the pedestrian plan and the bicycle plans should be coordinated with one another we would hope that these two plans would not be combined and particularly with regards to the Downtown Core.
We also have some concerns with the following text: “The City will shall consider including features of "A Conceptual Physical Plan for the City’s Center" (Downtown Concept Plan) in the approval of projects in the Downtown, recognizing that the plan is a concept and is intended to be flexible as appropriate.” There is no mention of coordinating, far less integrating, the Downtown Concept Plan into existing Zoning Regulations, architectural review guidelines, engineering standards and capital improvement programs. At the very least, we believe that the 2016 update of this plan should be coordinated with the newly adopted Pedestrian Plan and that there should be mention of this in the amended Land Use Element.
Emerging Projects
Save Our Downtown developed a document, the Downtown Pedestrian Plan and Revised Downtown Concept Plan in June 2012 that summarized perceived strengths and opportunities, ideas for improvements in infrastructure, and potential policies and performance measures for supporting the pedestrian realm.
Key input for the Downtown Pedestrian Plan from the Save Our Downtown plan includes:
The need for wider sidewalks,
More mid-block pedestrian crossings
Well-lit streets
Incorporation of more “necessity goods stores” and “nature” into downtown
Make downtown more dog- and bike-friendly
Preservation and enhancement of scenic views, solar access, and historic points of interest Desire for more places to linger and rest in the downtown
Concerns about pedestrian safety, crime, and traffic-related noise.
Sidewalks are cluttered with unattractive trash bins and newspaper racks
Gateways to downtown are not well-defined
Crossing times for pedestrians are too short and/or need for pedestrian refuge islands
Eliminate gaps in the pedestrian network
Additional bulb-outs at intersections and street calming features (including chicanes, traffic circles, traffic diverters, speed humps/tables, and landscaping
Mouse click here to view (read) or download attached PDF of Save Our Downtown's Downtown Pedestrian Plan & Revised Downtown Concept Plan.
1) New Program: The City shall prepare an inventory of uses in the Downtown Core. Particular attention shall be given to identifying uses at the street level as these uses directly impact the pedestrian experience and vibrancy of the Downtown. This information shall be used to target business support and attraction to achieve a desirable mix of uses in the Downtown.
2) New Program: The City shall incorporate into its zoning regulations specific criteria for evaluating use permits for bars/taverns, night clubs and late night drinking establishments.
3) New Program: The City will modify its Community Design Guidelines to enhance Safety and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Changes shall include, but are not limited to, inclusion of design statements on:
a) Enhanced lighting of building alcoves in Downtown area Wayfinding signs to better direct pedestrians and motorists in non-residential areas.
b) Visibility into entry and access points on non-residential buildings.
c) Design solutions that minimize the potential for graffiti.
4) New Program: The City, working with the Downtown Association, businesses, landlords, and residents will consider emergency callboxes at strategic locations in the Downtown.
5) New Program: The City working with the Downtown Association, Downtown businesses and residents shall develop a program to encourage lighted storefronts and street frontages throughout the night.
6) New Program: All specific plans shall identify design features utilized to enhance public safety.
7) New Program: The City shall conduct a nighttime safety audit of key areas of the City to see where deficiencies in environmental design may exist and should be improved. Key Areas should be defined as areas experiencing higher crime than City average by SLOPD.
8) New Program: The City shall implement the Economic Development Strategic Plan and other appropriate strategies for business retention and expansion with a focus on those providing head-of-household jobs. However, we urge you deem the Downtown Core (not just the Santa Margarita area) to be also worthy of your business retention and expansion strategies.
9) New Policy: City shall promote a healthy mix of downtown street-level businesses that emphasizes retail stores, specialty shops and food service rather than bars or taverns.
Save Our Downtown is also urging the City to support the following land use directives (some of which have been carried over with revisions from the previous Land Use Element):
1) The City shall work with the Downtown businesses and residents, the BID, and Chamber of Commerce to manage impacts from downtown drinking establishments, and if necessary, enact additional regulations to ensure that the late night environment in and near Downtown is safe and pleasant.
2) The City shall develop a master plan for San Luis Obispo Creek in the Downtown area.
3) Public Art should be placed along pedestrian paths. Traffic calming and pedestrian safety should be enhanced, where appropriate, through such features as road tables, pavement changes, bulb outs and scramble intersection signals. Landscaping should mitigate harsh micro-climates.
4) The City shall update the Downtown Concept Plan by 2016 and shall regularly update the plan as required to address significant changes in or affecting the Downtown area including the opportunity for meaningful public input.
5) Provide midblock or other significant pedestrian connections
6) Continuous Storefront: There should be a continuous storefront along sidewalks, at the back of the sidewalk, except for the Courthouse and City Hall blocks, plazas, recessed building entries, and sidewalk cafes.
7) Walking paths along the creek in the Downtown core should be provided and extended as links in an urban trail system, provided this will not further degrade wildlife habitat value of the riparian ecosystem.
8) Visual Resource Study: The City shall undertake a study of visual resources within the Downtown core area to identify potential locations for new public-owned open places with access to views of important scenic resources. The City will consider acquisition of one or more of these open places as resources permit. A range of options for property acquisition, including development agreements, will be considered, consistent with the City’s fiscal policies and objectives.
We do have few concerns remaining. Staff has been directed to explore the implications of combining the pedestrian plan with the bicycle plan. Even though the pedestrian plan and the bicycle plans should be coordinated with one another we would hope that these two plans would not be combined and particularly with regards to the Downtown Core.
We also have some concerns with the following text: “The City will shall consider including features of "A Conceptual Physical Plan for the City’s Center" (Downtown Concept Plan) in the approval of projects in the Downtown, recognizing that the plan is a concept and is intended to be flexible as appropriate.” There is no mention of coordinating, far less integrating, the Downtown Concept Plan into existing Zoning Regulations, architectural review guidelines, engineering standards and capital improvement programs. At the very least, we believe that the 2016 update of this plan should be coordinated with the newly adopted Pedestrian Plan and that there should be mention of this in the amended Land Use Element.
Emerging Projects
Save Our Downtown developed a document, the Downtown Pedestrian Plan and Revised Downtown Concept Plan in June 2012 that summarized perceived strengths and opportunities, ideas for improvements in infrastructure, and potential policies and performance measures for supporting the pedestrian realm.
Key input for the Downtown Pedestrian Plan from the Save Our Downtown plan includes:
The need for wider sidewalks,
More mid-block pedestrian crossings
Well-lit streets
Incorporation of more “necessity goods stores” and “nature” into downtown
Make downtown more dog- and bike-friendly
Preservation and enhancement of scenic views, solar access, and historic points of interest Desire for more places to linger and rest in the downtown
Concerns about pedestrian safety, crime, and traffic-related noise.
Sidewalks are cluttered with unattractive trash bins and newspaper racks
Gateways to downtown are not well-defined
Crossing times for pedestrians are too short and/or need for pedestrian refuge islands
Eliminate gaps in the pedestrian network
Additional bulb-outs at intersections and street calming features (including chicanes, traffic circles, traffic diverters, speed humps/tables, and landscaping
Mouse click here to view (read) or download attached PDF of Save Our Downtown's Downtown Pedestrian Plan & Revised Downtown Concept Plan.