03.01.2016 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes March 1,2016 Cathy Lemoine, addressed the Council as a business owner for the last 12 years. Out of the Blue Salon was once a thriving business. Now they have 4 employees and they have had to borrow money to keep going. Customers are cancelling if they can't find parking. There has to be a conversation about parking before parking meters are put in place. On average our clients circle the block several times before they finally find something. This deters their customers. It seems like the City wants a restaurant/ bar district downtown. She stated that limited options means limited business. Carlos Russo, addressed the Council about the two way conversion and he stated that he said something that should be considered is a parking garage that would hold 200 parking spots. He then started talking about his business Aquabrew and the development barriers that he has run into during his process. Melissa Hodgkins, addressed the Council as a building owner in the downtown area. She spoke about the Guadalupe Bridge and how there would be a tremendous expense that would go into the conversion. Her other concern was the rail traffic and relocation of that line, if necessary. The walkability of this town is great for those people for the able bodied, but not everyone that goes downtown is going to a bar or restaurant. The older folks should be considered as well. She is very much against the conversion. George Forrester, addressed the Council as a building owner in the downtown area. He said that the conversion would be a very bad idea. He spoke about his concerns with the delivery trucks and how the traffic becomes gridlocked. Comanche and Hopkins are already two way and they completely block intersections because of the heavy traffic. The Council wants to calm the traffic, but that's not what will happen due to the frustration that it will cause. They bridge is too small on Guadalupe. He asked that the Council keep one way streets. HC Kyle, addressed the Council as a citizen and building owner. You don't have to be an engineer to know that you will zip right into a parking place and that you can't move again until the light turns red when trying to back out. He said that there is very little traffic coming and its perfectly safe. He said that if you have to back-in and have not come close to being parallel to the lines then you have to do it again. If there isn't traffic then you can try to back in, but he knows most of his family and friends do not use the back in parking. He stated that we have pretty good traffic and asked the Council to please not change it. There have been a lot of businesses that are hurting or have closed City of San Marcos Page 3