HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/13/2020 cc - Nelson-Selby (French Hospital/Solar Concerns)
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Carol Selby <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:ARC Communication
Re: Impact on private solar systems from the Proposed French Hospital parking lot adjacent to the
Railroad right of way.
I have communicated about this in the past, but have had no luck finding out to what extent the
proposed design of the French employee parking lot will impinge on our existing solar production. My
understanding of your function is not to advocate for builders or residents but to consider all
consequences of a building. We are engineers and do not have the equipment to do this. The architects
probably do, but have no incentive to provide that information to the people who will be affected unless
the City forces them to do it. Of course, the City does have access to these engineering resources, and
you are tasked to answer that king of question, so we are begging you to please find out and notify the
people who need to know.
When you stand at the northwest corner of the proposed building, you will see that you are looking
down on the rooftops of the houses on the 1100 block of Leff . While the architects scoffed at the claim,
you will see that four stories (parking lot stories, not housing stories) make a significantly greater impact
at the top of that bluff above the tracks than it would if the houses and lot were on the same level.
Therefore, our concern is not without merit.
Because we use solar energy generated from our own roof, it is an asset we own. How can someone just
take that away without due process, without any effort at mitigation, without even acknowledging that
the rights of residents matter. By not acknowledging that they are TAKING something of value, they
avoid CQUA, eminent domain procedures and hope nobody will notice. While I generally support French
Hospital and have many friends who work there, we all know that it is not a charity: it charges insurance
companies and Medicare the same way other hospitals do, so their non-profit status is not relevant to
this issue, and does not confer upon them some entitlement to take what someone owns and
uses. Instead of powering our house, that light will go to waste on the wall of a monolithic parking lot.
San Luis Opispo holds itself out as a supporter of clean energy. It would be very inconsistent with that
position to allow a wealthy private non-profit to rob residents of clean energy THEY HAVE INVESTED
IN. You and the proponents of the building as planned should be trying to mitigate the impact by
investigating undergrounding of several levels of the parking lot or looking into ways to move existing
solar arrays so they are not affected.
We are not unreasonable, but this lot will have a significant impact on our neighborhood even without
the loss of solar energy, and we think the party who seeks to benefit from a plan, and who seeks the
City’s approval of their plan, should be transparent and open to mitigating what they are taking away
from us.
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Please continue to notify the residents on our block when any information becomes available.
Michael Selby & Carol Nelson-Selby
1201 Leff Street, SLO 93401; 805 59309187
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