PISMO BEACH COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Agenda Item #12.B
SUBJECT/TITLE:
HIGHWAY 1/DOLLIVER STREET RELINQUISHMENT AND SIDEWALK UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive an update on the relinquishment process and provide staff direction on how to proceed with respect to sidewalk gaps on Mattie Road and Dolliver Street.
BACKGROUND:
Highway 1, which includes the entirety of Dolliver Street and the portion of Price Street from Dolliver Street to Mattie Road as shown in Figure 1 below, is the main north/south route through Downtown Pismo Beach. Highway 1 is a state highway owned, maintained, and controlled by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The lack of City control of this thoroughfare has presented challenges over the years, including:
Not being able to control or alter traffic patterns
Not being able to alter parking spaces, or implement paid parking Not being able to install signalization, including stop signs or signals Not being able to install crosswalks
Needing to obtain an encroachment permit for special events, such as band review, the classic car show, and Clam Festival
Needing to obtain an encroachment permit for work, such as the sidewalk paver project, paving of cross streets or to repair sewer and water mains
Figure 1. Highway 1 through Pismo Beach
The City’s most recent traffic study, dated April 11, 2016, recommends several operational improvements along Highway 1 that cannot be implemented because they do not meet Caltrans design standards. These recommendations do meet the City’s design standards and are in line with best practices and the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), but because they do not meet the State highway design standards, they cannot be implemented without a design exception.
Some of these improvements include:
Creating turn pockets along Dolliver Street to reduce congestion Installing a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Dolliver Street and Pomeroy Avenue
Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-1
Installing improvements for parking and pedestrian safety at the Butterfly Grove
The City has considered taking over Dolliver Street several times over the last 10-plus years; however, the City was reluctant to move forward due to the state of disrepair of the roadway. In August of 2017, City staff was notified by Caltrans and San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) staff that State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) Roadway Preservation funding was approved for project EA: 1G980.
The official project description was “On Route 1 in San Luis Obispo County in and Near Pismo Beach from Garcia Way to South Jct. Rte 101/1 Separation. Capital Preventative Maintenance (CAPM) project,” with an estimated total cost of $15,066,000. In short, this project would rehabilitate Highway 1 in its entirety from Oceano through Pismo Beach.
In September of 2017, Caltrans staff began outreach and meeting with stakeholders, including the County of San Luis Obispo, representing the community of Oceano and the Cities of Grover Beach and Pismo Beach. Staff from each agency was provided the opportunity to provide input on what was important to their community. At this time, City staff indicated to Caltrans staff that the City might be interested in relinquishment after the CAPM project EA 05-1G980 was completed and would like to see the missing piece of sidewalk from Pismo Lighthouse Suites to the Shore Cliff Hotel installed with the project.
On December 8, 2017, the City Manager sent a letter to the Caltrans District 5 Director indicating that the City had been considering the pros and cons of a relinquishment of Highway 1 and reiterated items of interest to the City:
Completion of the sidewalk between the Pismo Lighthouse Suites and the Shore Cliff Hotel near the intersection of Highway 1/Dolliver and Mattie Road Installation of a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Highway 1/Dolliver and Pomeroy Avenue
Installation of short one- or two-car turn pockets on Highway 1/Dolliver at Stimson Avenue, Ocean View Avenue and Pomeroy Avenue
Install two lanes on southbound Highway 1/Dolliver at the intersection of Price Street, one for through traffic and one for right turns Ensure that new ADA ramps have positive drainage and do not create “bird baths” Additional efforts to create a safe pedestrian crossing at the Butterfly Grove
Over the last five years, Caltrans has been very proactive at involving the City in the development of the project plans. The City’s goal was to make sure that the highway was improved to City standards and then could be left to be configured in a way that meets the City’s traffic standards and circulation goals. The current status of the City’s intent to shape the project can best be summed up from the meeting notes from a meeting that took place on April 2, 2021 which state, “After much discussion it was decided that Caltrans will design the project as previously planned [with respect to striping] and then during construction will do a Change Order to remove the [thermoplastic] striping from the project and Pismo will come in and do their own striping if the relinquishment is executed [and] do the striping in paint instead of Thermo Plastic and [Caltrans will] install temporary flag reflectors in the areas that Pismo would want to change, specifically through Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-2
downtown and at the intersection of Price and Dolliver on Price Street on the North side of the intersection.” The meeting notes also reflect that the sidewalk between the Pismo Lighthouse Suites and the Shore Cliff Hotel will be constructed as part of this project.
The current schedule for the Pismo Beach CAPM project is for construction to begin in March 2023 and to be completed in October of 2023. This is for the entire project from Oceano to Pismo Beach. Dates of work in the City of Pismo Beach have not yet been determined, however Caltrans staff has been very responsive and committed to keeping City staff up to date on the project.
Relinquishment Process
In order for a state roadway to be relinquished, several things need to happen. The typical process includes the following steps:
Initiation
o Letter of intent from agency
o Resolution of interest from Caltrans
Relinquishment Assessment Report (RAR)
Enabling legislation must be signed by the Governor
Draft relinquishment agreement
Environmental review
Project Approval Report (PAR)
Execute final relinquishment agreement
California Transportation Commission (CTC) vote
On December 8, 2017 the City Manager sent the City’s letter of intent to Caltrans and on April 26, 2018, the Caltrans District Director sent the resolution of interest to the City. The RAR was prepared by Caltrans and signed on January 12, 2021. On February 19, 2019, the City Council adopted Resolution R-2019-012 supporting legislative efforts to acquire State Route 1 under the State Relinquishment Process. On September 5, 2019, SB 504, authored by Senator Monning, was adopted by the California Senate and later signed into law by Governor Newsom on October 3, 2019. Most recently on August 3, 2021 the City Council adopted Resolution R-2021-067 authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with the California Department of Transportation for the relinquishment of Highway 1/Dolliver Steet/Price Street in Pismo Beach.
Current Efforts
City staff is currently meeting monthly with Caltrans staff to negotiate the details for the relinquishment agreement and to ensure the City is up to date with respect to the CAPM Project. So far, staff has two concerns with Caltrans requirements for the agreement. The first concern is that Caltrans is currently requiring two “exclusions zones” which Caltrans will not relinquish. These exclusion zones are at the terminus of the US 101 Southbound Off Ramps at Price Street and Dolliver, shown in Figure 2. Caltrans wishes to keep possession of these areas in case at some point in the future signalization of the offramp becomes necessary. Staff’s concern with the exclusion zones is that maintenance or traffic control within these areas would still require an encroachment permit. Further the City’s most recently traffic study recommends a dedicated right turn lane at the Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-3
intersection of Highway 1/Price Street/US 101 off ramp, which would meet the City’s standards, but not the current Caltrans standards.
Figure 2. Relinquishment Exclusion Zones
The other point of concern for City staff is that along with the roadway, Caltrans will be relinquishing ownership of the culvert system. These culverts have not been inspected in some time; however, Caltrans has committed to inspecting the culverts prior to relinquishment. The Caltrans grading system for their culvert system includes three conditions, good, fair, and poor. Culverts rated as poor would be rehabilitated prior to relinquishment, however culverts rated as fair or good, would be turned over the City as is. These culverts are shown in Figure 3, below.
Figure 3. Culverts to be Relinquished
Price Street Off-
Ramp Exclusion Dolliver Off-Ramp
Exclusion
Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-4
Sidewalk System Gaps
There are a number of gaps in the sidewalks along Highway 1 and the US 101 corridor along Mattie Road. These gaps are at the following locations:
Segment A – Highway 1 between the Shore Cliff Hotel and Pismo Lighthouse Suites
Segment B – Mattie Road from Foothill Road to the Pismo Preserve Segment C – Mattie Road from north of Tract 2295 to Spyglass Drive Segment Group D – Highway 1 at various locations from Ira Lease Park to the Butterfly Grove
Segment A – This missing sidewalk segment is approximately 75 feet and the reason there is no sidewalk is unclear. Staff assumes it is due to the narrow width between the road and the edge of the adjacent gully. During the relinquishment/CAPM Project negotiation process, staff was able to get Caltrans to agree to construct this missing section of sidewalk as part of the CAPM Project.
Segment B – Segment B is approximately a quarter of a mile or 1,365 feet. Sidewalks are typically constructed by developers when they develop a vacant parcel. Since the land adjacent to this stretch of roadway is undeveloped there has not been the requirement to install sidewalk in this location. The City could have required the Land Conservancy to install the missing sidewalk, however due to the cost associated with the construction of the required retaining walls, and the fact that the Land Conservancy was short on funds and had a deadline to purchase the property, it was decided that the public benefit of purchasing the land and constructing the Pismo Preserve was in the best interest of the public.
It is estimated that the construction of sidewalk Segment B would cost approximately $2.0 million.
Segment C – Similarly to Segment B, Segment C is adjacent to vacant property, and therefore a sidewalk across this frontage has not been required to be constructed.
It is estimated that the construction of sidewalk Segment C would cost approximately $1.4 million. Because both Segment B and C would connect neighborhoods to each other and public recreational opportunities, staff believes that they would both be competitive for grant funding. Most grants required that a project be “shovel ready,” i.e. plans and specifications are complete, or nearly complete, at the time of application. Staff estimates that it would cost approximately $450,000 to complete the necessary documents for these segments to be grant funded. Caltrans has recently adopted a policy that when a major transportation project is constructed that multi-modal alternatives along the project corridor be constructed if practical and feasible.
Segment Group D – The majority of sidewalk gaps in this stretch of right-of-way are adjacent to mobile home and/or trailer parks. This type of development is under the permitting jurisdiction of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and in very rare cases does the City have the opportunity to review and/or Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-5
provide conditions of approval such as the installation of sidewalks. The public right-of- way varies from eighty feet to seventy feet wide with a paved cross section that is approximately forty feet wide. Segment Group D is shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4. Segment Group D
On June 15, 2010 the City Council adopted the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan which calls for a Class I or II bikeway connecting to Grover Beach’s future Class I bikeway adjacent to the railroad tracks. Later, on March 19, 2013 the City Council adopted the Complete Streets Plan which identifies this stretch of roadway as Section L with the following cross section: 5’ sidewalk, 8’ bike lane, 1’ hardscape area/buffer, 11’ travel way, 0’-12’ median/turn lane, 11’ travel way, 1’ hardscape area/buffer, 8’ bike lane, and 5’ sidewalk. This cross section is shown in Figure , below
Figure 5. Highway 1/Dolliver Cross Section from 2013 Complete Streets Plan from Pismo Creek to Butterfly Grove
Staff has asked Caltrans if the sidewalk improvements in this section of right-of-way could be constructed with the CAPM project based on Caltrans new multi-modal policy, Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-6
however the policy was adopted after the development of the project, and the project is now too far along to include the sidewalks.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Staff seeks Council direction on Segments B and C and Segment Group D. With respect to Segments B and C, the City could invest $450,000 to prepare the necessary documents to position these segments for grant funding, or could wait in hopes that Caltrans will construct the missing sidewalk pursuant to their multi-modal policy when the Construction of the Five Cities Multimodal Transportation Network Enhancement Project (formerly known as the US 101 Pismo Congestion Relief Project) project is constructed which is estimated to be in the summer of 2024 or 2025, if funding becomes available.
With respect to Segment Group D, staff is seeking direction on whether or not to invest the time and resources necessary to develop conceptual project plans and a feasibility level cost estimation for this project. It is estimated that it would take a total of 100 to 130 hours of staff time combined from the Engineering and Planning divisions to complete.
Additionally, survey work may need to be conducted.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this report.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Provide alternative direction to staff regarding the sidewalk gaps.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
Prepared and Submitted by: Meeting Date: June 21, 2022
Benjamin A. Fine, P.E., Director of Public Works/City Engineer City Manager Approval:
Council Agenda 6-21-2022 12.B-7