City Park Shelter Project Catches the Bus

By NEIL FARRELL for Morro Bay Life

The Morro Bay City Council has greenlit a project that will bring a major change to a Downtown park and replace a nearly 40-year-old bus shelter.

The council voted 4-1, with Zara Landrum against, to award a design-build contract to G. Sosa Construction of Santa Maria for the so-called “City Park Transit Hub Project.” The over $400,000 project will replace the bus shelter in Morro Bay Park (City Park) with a modern design facility that will accommodate more people and allow for an internet-based bus tracker system to be installed.

City Engineer Eric Riddiough said with the council’s OK, they planned to hold a construction meeting with Sosa in the last week of February and he expected work to begin in early March.

Already, two mature eucalyptus trees growing along Harbor Street inside the project area have been poisoned in anticipation of taking them down and rebuilding the vehicle pull-inand-out and the sidewalk that the trees have uplifted. The project proposes to plant four trees to replace the those two.

Sosa’s winning bid was for $368,000; add in a 10 percent contingency 0f $36,800 and the construction budget tops $404,000. Riddiough noted that Sosa’s bid came in 6 percent lower than his engineer’s estimate of $392,000. The highest of the five bids the city received came in at $509,000, according to the report.

The overall project also includes $29,000 for two new bus stops shelters, $6,500 to Pacific Gas & Electric to trim the trees, and $83,000 for “design/bid support, construction plans, management, inspection, and testing,” bringing the overall project budget to over $524,000. Money for most of this expense is coming from transportation grants (gas taxes). Riddiough’s report lists $312,000 from a State of Good Repair transportation grant; $124,000 from a Rural Transportation Fund grant; and $42,000 from local transportation funds. The city is also using $44,000 from its Transit Fund to fill a gap in funding.

The bus stop in City Park is a transit hub used by the Regional Transit Authority, City of Morro Bay, and San Luis Coastal School District. It is the place where someone who wants to go to Los Osos or San Luis Obispo, or wants a ride to Los Osos Middle School, gathers to catch the bus.

RTA’s Route 9 connecting SLO, Morro Bay, and Los Osos; and Route 12 that travels up and down the North Coast from Morro Bay to San Simeon with stops in Cambria and Cayucos meet at City Park.

The existing bus shelter, a concrete block, two-sided building was built in the early 1980s, “and has not been significantly updated or improved since its initial construction,” reads the report.

The city hired a consultant to look at the bus stop facilities and a final report went to the City Council in October 2019. That’s when the council first approved of a project. Since then, the city has gotten the grant funding over the past two fiscal years, with the capital project being included in the City’s Capital Improvement Project budget in fiscal year 2021-22. The project is intended to address “deficiencies” identified in the facility study.

“The project addresses deficiencies identified in the initial study relating to lighting, ADA, safety, and seating capacity that would be addressed by providing improvements to vehicle pull in/pull out, wheelchair loading/ unloading area, construction of new passenger shelters with improved visibility, installation of new benches, bike racks, lights, and capability for real-time traveler information display, as well as ADA improvements to the sidewalk where transit vehicles pull in, crosswalk ramps at either end of the transit hub, and sidewalk access from the transit hub to the public restroom,” the report continues.

Back in 2012, the Morro Bay Public Art Foundation led a project to turn the bus shelter into a public artwork, with a custom concrete “sofa” and murals on the walls in a project called “Grandma’s Living Room.”

The artwork will be destroyed with the replacement project; however, the city said it wants to save the concrete sofa, which cost $5,000, and move it somewhere that it can be further used by the public.

The new bus shelters are slated to also have some as-yet-undefined artwork included. The report said the city is working with the Morro Bay Art Association on that aspect. MBAA is also involved because City Park is where the association holds its thrice-a-year Art in the Park events (on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends).

The new bus shelters will be placed on the same spot in the park where the old shelter stands.

“With award of the bid and initiation of the construction phase of the project,” Riddiough said, “the city will move forward with releasing a call for artists to submit concepts for a mural or mosaic to be installed on the new transit shelters. The submitted concepts will be brought to the Public Works Advisory Board for review and recommendation to the City Council on the artist concept for selection.”

Once construction begins, Sosa will have 45 days to complete the project. In the meantime, the City is moving the bus stop during construction.

The project drew criticism from at least one local activist. Former City Councilmember Betty Winholtz urged the council to reject all the bids. She noted that no one has seen a final design, “Yet, you are being asked to approve the design literally sight unseen. Why is no permit required? Why was there no public review of the final product? The staff report includes nothing but a concept, not even a link to the plans.”

She said the size of the project is bloated and will put in seating for 30 people. And yet the city’s own study said, “While detailed records are not kept for MBT, a reasonable estimate given the available passenger survey data and total ridership by run indicates that up to eight passengers can be waiting for an MBT departure.”

Morro Bay’s ode to treasured junk — the 23rd Annual City Wide Yard Sale Weekend — is set for Friday-Sunday, March 24-26, at yards and garages throughout the community.

Sponsored by Visit Morro Bay, the event, with over 100 yard sales, should be open from 8 a.m. to about 3 p.m. daily (though one can never tell, given the laid-back nature of a yard sale). Sellers can have their addresses listed on the Yard Sale Map, with the deadline to sign up at 3 p.m. Friday, March 17. Email liz@morrobay. org to register a yard sale.

This year’s sale features the local nonprofit, the Morro Bay Active Adults (formerly MB Seniors, Inc.), who will have a yard sale at the Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, to benefit their various programs.

If readers don’t want to have a sale but would like to empty a closet or two of “gently used” items, they can donate them to the MB Active Adults. Suggested items are jewelry, puzzles, cellphones, tablets, and art of any kind. They can’t take large items like furniture due to space constraints. They will be accepting donations Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Digital Yard Sale Treasure Map will be available on Monday, March 20. See the website at moorobay.org/Events. The printed maps are also available at the Active Adults’ sale and from the Chamber of Commerce, 695 Harbor St., starting Friday, March 24, from 9 to 11 a.m., and Saturday, March 25, from 8 to 10 a.m.