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Staff Report PREPARED BY: STEVE REGAN Parks and Public Works Superintendent Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, Finance Director, and Parks and Public Works Director 110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 406-354-6832 www.losgatosca.gov TOWN OF LOS GATOS COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: 04/16/19 ITEM NO: 10 DATE: APRIL 9, 2019 TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER SUBJECT: ACCEPT A REPORT ON DOWNTOWN MAINTENANCE AND BEAUTIFICATION ACTIVITIES RECOMMENDATION: Accept a report on downtown maintenance and beautification activities. BACKGROUND: Downtown remains a vital contributor to the Town’s charming character and receives specific attention through enhanced maintenance services. Over time, the Council has added significant funding to the maintenance and beautification of the downtown. These enhanced services are generally above typical infrastructure maintenance efforts as described in this report. For the purpose of this report, the downtown reflects the business area along North Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street from Highway 9 to Pageant Way. DISCUSSION: Power Washing of Sidewalks and Sweeping of Municipal Parking Lots In 2015, the Town hired a contractor to provide ongoing downtown power washing services, including the sweeping of ten municipal parking lots. The power washing of downtown sidewalks is performed five times per year during the months of August, October, December, April, and June. The contractor sweeps all municipal parking lots once a month. The cleaning and sweeping operations are scheduled in the late evening or early morning hours to avoid inconveniencing businesses and shoppers downtown. PAGE 2 OF 5 SUBJECT: ACCEPT A REPORT ON DOWNTOWN MAINTENANCE AND BEAUTIFICATION ACTIVITIES DATE: APRIL 9, 2019 S:\COUNCIL REPORTS\2019\04-16-19\Downtown Beautification\Staff Report FINAL.docx 4/10/2019 4:04 PM DISCUSSION (continued): The current agreement for power washing services expires this fiscal year. Through the procurement process to renew the agreement, staff will obtain pricing for the current level of service as well as pricing for additional service months to allow for an increase in service levels if Council chooses to enhance existing services. The current contract amount is $20,000. An increase to eight cleanings per year would require an estimated $12,000 in additional funding. Trash and Recycling Collection Trash collection in downtown is performed Monday through Friday by the Town’s franchise waste hauler as part of the franchise agreement. The costs for this service are covered through the franchise rates. In 2015, the Town signed a contract with a service provider to collect trash and recycling based on needs above and beyond what the franchise waste hauler can provide. This service collects trash and recycling on Saturday and Sunday, and recycling only on Wednesday. The contract also includes monthly surface cleaning of receptacles. These additional services cost the Town $45,000 per year. Through this contract, and by increasing the number of recycling receptacles in downtown, the Town has resolved most issues associated with overflowing trash receptacles. Over the last several years, recycling receptacles have increased by 12, to a total of 38. Each recycling receptacle is paired with a trash receptacle to enhance the success for waste diversion. An additional 26 trash receptacles are in place without paired recycling receptacles. Staff continues to adjust the ratio of trash and recycling receptacles to meet the needs of downtown with a goal of reaching one-to-one receptacle pairings. This increase in recycling containers also helps to move towards State requirements for diversion of trash from local landfills. Tree Trimming On June 5, 2018, the Town Council authorized staff to enter into a five-year agreement for tree trimming services with BrightView Tree Company. These services allow for basic ongoing tree clearance Town wide that includes tree trimming in downtown. Staff has taken a proactive approach to ensure that trees in downtown are pruned frequently to ensure heathy growth habits and reduce limb failures within the tree canopies. A thriving and healthy urban forest is known to have many community benefits, including positive impacts on maintenance of urban habitats, urban heat island effects, air quality, aesthetics, public health, and property values. PAGE 3 OF 5 SUBJECT: ACCEPT A REPORT ON DOWNTOWN MAINTENANCE AND BEAUTIFICATION ACTIVITIES DATE: APRIL 9, 2019 S:\COUNCIL REPORTS\2019\04-16-19\Downtown Beautification\Staff Report FINAL.docx 4/10/2019 4:04 PM DISCUSSION (continued): Tree Lights Downtown tree lights are maintained on a weekly basis by contract, with the lights installed on every mature tree on Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street, including the most recent addition of lights on Main Street between Highway 17 and Pageant Way. Past challenges with the tree lights have included weekend vandalism, which was resolved through the increase to a structured weekly maintenance service, allowing for repairs on Mondays directly following each weekend. The contract for tree light maintenance is approximately $32,000 per year. Planter Boxes The Town Beautification Committee has historically led the effort to maintain the planter boxes along North Santa Cruz Avenue by a group of volunteers. The program allowed name recognition attached to each planter box identifying the name of the family or business that maintained the box. Over time, participation by some adoptees waned and staff recently took back the responsibilities of managing the planter box volunteer program. Volunteers maintaining their box were free to continue in the program, with the Town stepping in where ongoing maintenance has been deficient. Since taking over the planter boxes, Parks and Public Works has upgraded the irrigation systems in the planters, and replanted dead or missing vegetation. In addition, this year the Town implemented a voucher program for adoptees to cover the cost of plant material at a local nursery. The voucher program is meant to encourage more frequent plant updates. The Beautification Committee continues to make great contributions to downtown. Through its partnership with the Town, Committee volunteers conduct monthly meetups where they pick up garbage, prune, sweep hard to reach areas, etc. In addition, the Committee has taken on the task of repainting the planter box railings, making a big difference in the appearance of the planters. Staff researched the cost of a contracted maintenance service providing weekly routine landscape maintenance, including regular monthly maintenance and quarterly changes to annuals to keep the colors current and vibrant. The estimated annual cost for this program is $65,000. The costs of this service have made implementation prohibitive. Street Sweeping Typically, all Town streets are swept once per month. Downtown streets receive the service more often, averaging four times per month. PAGE 4 OF 5 SUBJECT: ACCEPT A REPORT ON DOWNTOWN MAINTENANCE AND BEAUTIFICATION ACTIVITIES DATE: APRIL 9, 2019 S:\COUNCIL REPORTS\2019\04-16-19\Downtown Beautification\Staff Report FINAL.docx 4/10/2019 4:04 PM DISCUSSION (continued): Additional Unmet Needs Several areas of downtown maintenance remain unaddressed. This includes landscaping areas in many parking lots where irrigation has failed, leaking garage deck sections on parking lot #4, and re-painting of streetlight poles. An area of ongoing concern continues to be PG&E vaults that are in the sidewalk along Santa Cruz Avenue. The lids on these vaults can make loud banging noises as pedestrians tread on them. Although past efforts to work with PG&E have provided temporary relief, staff has recently re-engaged with PG&E to identify a more permanent resolution for this ongoing issue. Staff explored an option of adding a part time maintenance position dedicated to downtown to proactively address minor landscape and maintenance needs and respond to calls for service for things like spills and trash. To be most effective, the Town would need to purchase equipment (i.e., a walk behind scrubber) that could be used to scrub the sidewalks on a much more routine basis than a pressure washer. (The Proposed Fiscal Year 2019/20 Budget is expected to include funds for the Town to purchase a pressure washer which would serve the entire Town, including heavy duty spot cleaning downtown.) The estimated cost for labor and the scrubber equipment for this part time work would be in the range of $50,000 annually ($37,000 for labor). This option has not been proposed by staff at this point. CONCLUSION: Staff recognizes that the Town Council might be interested in enhancing downtown maintenance service levels. While there may be one-time funds available for next fiscal year, ongoing funding to maintain higher service expectations may not be available in future yea rs. Many of the enhanced maintenance items desired for downtown are typical of work that could be incorporated in an Assessment or Business Improvement District. This may provide an option for addressing these needs for the future. This report highlights maintenance and beautification activities in downtown and does not require action by the Council. The Council may wish to provide input on these activities, suggest alternatives, or ask for specific additions that could be considered when the Council discusses the Proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2019/20 at its meeting on May 21, 2019. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with this report. PAGE 5 OF 5 SUBJECT: ACCEPT A REPORT ON DOWNTOWN MAINTENANCE AND BEAUTIFICATION ACTIVITIES DATE: APRIL 9, 2019 S:\COUNCIL REPORTS\2019\04-16-19\Downtown Beautification\Staff Report FINAL.docx 4/10/2019 4:04 PM ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required.