May 6, 2024 -
City of Pismo Beach
Re: City Policies for Sidewalks
City Council:
I urge you to continue to make progress toward full curbs, gutters, and sidewalks in locations where the homeowners support it, and the streets are wide enough to accommodate full development; …and continue to achieve some sort of safe walkways for those streets that are substandard in width.
While some adjustments need to be made for the narrow streets in some neighborhoods, many, if not most, of our street rights-of-way, even in some of the oldest parts of town, can accommodate curbs, gutters, and sidewalks. I encourage you to make accommodation for the substandard lots as needed, but also please stay on track with the standard subdivisions, for the eventual improvement of more streets with curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and the undergrounding of utilities.
You have to start sometime, and in cases where the improvements would be out of place if installed piecemeal now, consider requiring a bond, or a ‘waiver of the right to protest the formation of a future assessment district ’. Legal counsel can advise the appropriate instrument. When there are 50% plus 1, the property owners can approach the city to explore moving forward. It would be interesting to know if you already have some on file, or written into some CC&Rs.
For now, if piecemeal installation poses a physical hazard, consider deferring it, in exchange for the property waiving its right to protest a future assessment district. Keep records o n which parcels have waived their right to protest a future assessment district, and make this information accessible to the public for those who, in the future, might want to spearhead the project on their own street.
When a district’s time has come, the city may gain public support, if needed, by offering a variety of cost-sharing programs, ranging from paying the engineering and sharing in the cost, such as having the property owners pay for curbs, gutters, and driveway aprons, while the city pays for the sidewalk, … or some sharing of costs that makes sense at the time. These incentives can be offered, at the time, to get the neighborhood on board to support the project.
Though no one likes a piecemeal sidewalk job, when an entire street is done, these districts will be great improvements to our neighborhoods. The Waivers are key and the city should be ‘on this’.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this vital program.
Yours truly,
Effie McDermott
166 Leeward Ave.
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
[email protected]