Paso council changes mind on used-car dealership zoning

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• Bouquets and Brickbats: Paso council’s about-face on car lot too late

  Bouquets and Brickbats: Paso council’s about-face on car lot too late

  Like picky suitors who recognize too late that they let the Right One slip away, the Paso Robles City Council acknowledged this week that a used-car lot at 201 Spring St. may have been a good match for the city after all.

  But guess what? Six months have elapsed since the council turned down the application, and Smith Volvo has since withdrawn its request. Too bad. The city would have gotten a lot of mileage out of that sales tax revenue. Also, a car lot wouldn’t necessarily have detracted from the ambiance of downtown; the applicant had offered to work with the city to make the business “look less like the typical car sales lot, and more like an upscale professional store.”

  We give the council credit for revisiting the issue. While it appears to be too late for this particular business, at least the city has signaled other car dealers that it would be willing to consider such applications in the future. Still, we’re delivering rusted-out, banged-up, fender-bent brickbats to the council members who slammed

• Transportation sales tax measure will not be on Nov. 2012 ballot

  Transportation sales tax measure will not be on Nov. 2012 ballot

  The county’s regional transit agency voted unanimously Wednesday against putting a transportation sales tax measure on the November 2012 ballot, after reviewing a poll that told them the proposal would not receive the two-thirds vote necessary to pass it.

  Consultants D.J. Smith and Monte Ward told the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) that more than 60 percent of voters would support a half-cent or quarter-cent tax. But in California a minority of voters can override the majority on such a tax measure, and the consultants did not find two-thirds support for the proposal.

  SLOCOG is a regional agency that includes all five members of the Board of Supervisors as well as a representative from each of the county’s seven incorporated cities.

• SLO meter change delayed

  SLO meter change delayed

  Drivers will be able to park for free on Sundays in downtown San Luis Obispo for a little while longer.

  The plan to charge motorists to park during certain hours on the historically free day has been delayed, and city officials say the new charge will not be implemented until early next year, likely in January.

  In July, the San Luis Obispo City Council voted unanimously to charge for parking on Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m.

• Ruling halts SLO County improvement projects

  Ruling halts SLO County improvement projects

  Atascadero alone has $10 million in redevelopment money tied to work

• Arroyo Grande will again go to voters for a new police HQ

  Arroyo Grande will again go to voters for a new police HQ

  Arroyo Grande officials want to build a new police station at West Branch Street and Old Ranch Road, but doing so depends largely on local voters.

  The Arroyo Grande City Council this week chose a city-owned parcel east of Highway 101 as the preferred site for a new, 14,500-square-foot station to replace the current headquarters on North Halcyon Road.

  To pay for most of the estimated $8.3 million cost, city officials propose putting a $6.7 million bond measure to voters in June that would extend for 30 years the rate set by a fire bond measure that voters passed a decade ago.