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Council to consider brew bike ordinance
Technical difficulties cancel this week’s meeting
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The Turlock City Council was forced to cancel its meeting on Tuesday night after technical difficulties, meaning items meant to be discussed will be placed on the Oct. 26 agenda. 

Tuesday’s meeting faced connectivity issues from the start, with neither YouTube nor Zoom streams working beginning at 6 p.m. While the City’s technical support team eventually got the YouTube livestream up and running, Zoom would not connect and City Attorney George Petrulakis told the Council by phone that the meeting must be cancelled. 

In accordance with an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March 2020, governing bodies must make their meetings available through Zoom, allowing for virtual public participation due to COVID-19. 

Vice Mayor Pam Franco told the audience attending in person that items scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting will be pushed onto the next meeting’s agenda on Oct. 26.  

Agenda items include a public hearing for the amendment of the Zoning Map for the Balisha Ranch housing subdivision, which is planned for 2930 E. Tuolumne Rd., as well as several action items, including reconsideration of a youth drug prevention ad hoc committee. 

Council will consider approving a change order contract in the amount of $280,697 for the Golden State Boulevard rehabilitation project, bringing the contract total to $2,066,892.01. They will also consider whether or not to move into a cost sharing agreement with Turlock Inn for the project.

The change order will allow for the City to include portions of 20th Century Boulevard and Geer Road in the project, and will also alter the road rehabilitation method to a thicker grind and overlay using conventional hot mix asphalt instead of the originally-proposed rubberized hot mix asphalt. 

If approved, the cost sharing agreement will see the owner of Turlock Inn pay $20,000 toward the total $50,000 cost of repairing 20th Century Boulevard in front of the hotel. Approval of the change order would also see the small segment of Geer Road between Canal Drive and Golden State Boulevard repaired as well. 

The Council will also provide City staff with direction on a potential pedicab ordinance, which 1507 Boutique owner Noel Dickey has repeatedly asked for. 

Dickey purchased a pedicab, a bicycle taxi, with the intent of starting a brew bike business in downtown Turlock, where patrons ride from business to business and alcohol can be consumed if permitted by local ordinance. Dickey spoke during public comment during the Sept. 14 and Sept. 28 Council meetings, and at the latter Mayor Amy Bublak requested the matter be considered by the Council. 

If Council chooses to move forward with initiating the ordinance, staff would research ordinances created by other cities, then begin drafting an ordinance for Turlock. The draft ordinance would be workshopped with the Downtown Property Owners Association to get their input on the regulations, and would then be heard by the Planning Commission for additional input and public comment before being brought to Council for action.

The ordinance would allow for pedicabs to operate in Turlock and would establish regulations for how they could operate as well as establish the permitting and inspection requirements for the business and the pedicab. 

Should Council decide to utilize City resources to establish a pedicab ordinance, it would cost $23,600 for staff’s time and an additional $800 for both code publishing costs and public noticing costs.

For more information on how to view the Oct. 26 meeting or to view the agenda for Tuesday’s cancelled meeting, visit www.cityofturlock.org.