HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/12/2020 Item 2, Borland
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Kathy Borland <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Letter for the Planning Commission
Attachments:letter to PC. 8.12.20.odt
Please forward this letter to the PC for the August 12th meeting.
Thank you, Kathy Borland
1
To: Planning Commission
From: Preserve the SLO Life
Kathy Borland & Jim Waldsmith (Officers)
Re: Froom Ranch Development
Date: August 12, 2020
We want to start by saying we are very supportive of a Senior Living Facility in SLO.
However, the location of this development has many concerns regard ing traffic, air quality,
biological resources, noise and emergency evacuation plans.
The list of 15 Overriding Considerations is another example of the city and developers
not addressing issues that have Significant Impact and are Not Mitigatable. The mitigation
measures are totally inadequate and lack substantial evidence that they will reduce impacts.
We have seen this with San Luis Ranch and Avila Ranch, and the residents are the ones who
suffer while all these developments are built without adequate infrastructure and mitigation
measures.
The traffic models have consistently under-estimated car trips to and from a
development. Costco was under-estimated by 36%. This is extremely frustrating on the
residents who have to continually deal with poor t raffic models. The south end of SLO has two
major developments that have started, San Luis Ranch and Avila Ranch, and the impact
cannot be determined until they are completed. A third development in this area only
exacerbates the current infrastructure ina dequacies. Villagio will have about 200 employees
which results in many cars and many delivery trucks. This alone will create increased car
trips.
The Prado Overpass is an example of the San Luis Ranch developers not keeping
their word to complete the project before Phase 2, and the City Council approving that it move
to a later phase. The Prado Overpass is essential to reduce traffic on LOVR and to improve
traffic flow to the East side of Hwy 101.
The evacuation plan is not clearly defined as to how they will quickly evacuate in an
emergency, such as a fire. There is one main gate at the entrance and two emergency exits
that will have locked gates, and both will put cars on LOVR. If LOVR is packed with cars there
will be nowhere for them to go. Due to the increased fires in California this should be
addressed.
We continually deal with the intersection of South Higuera and Vachel Lane which is
flat out dangerous, and the city has done very little to mitigate the problem. The extension
from Buckley to South Higuera was supposed to start this past April and now it is put off until
Phase 2 of the Avila Ranch project. Avila Ranch and the county do not have a solution for the
flooding at Vachel and Buckley.
We are passionate about Preserving the SLO Life and keeping our roads safe, and
encouraging our leaders to consider the residents of SLO. Developers have too much power
and the city leaders keep approving projects that have major negative impacts on the city.
We ask that you consider reducing this development and, at the very least, remove the
hotel and commercial portion of the Madonna project.
Thank you for your consideration,
Kathy Borland – Preserve the SLO Life
Jim Waldsmith, DVM – Preserve the SLO Life