HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/15/2020 Item 9, Riener
Dear Mayor Harmon and members of the City Council,
Please see my letter in support for the Froom Ranch Specific Plan and Villaggio San Luis Obispo, that I
sent to the Planning Commission in August.
Subject: Froom Ranchthe best place in SLO for a Life Plan Community (CCRC)
At an early Planning Commission hearing, one member of the Commission when referring to
the CCRC expressed the opinion that this is a good project, but this is not the best site for the
as pointed out in the
Froom Ranch EIR there are no other sites in the City of SLO that can accommodate the project
particularly the Villaggio portion of the project. There are so many constraints on any given site
that we are convinced that Froom Ranch is the best site we are likely to ever be able to build on
in the City of SLO.
Any property owner interested in a CCRC must be willing to accept a years-long process of
getting their property entitled. The Froom Ranch site has been in the entitlement process since
June 2016. This has imposed a huge financial risk and burden on John Madonna & Villaggio.
Some examples from our experience since 2003 trying to find a site for a CCRC like Villaggio:
The first requirement is that the owner be willing to sell the property at a reasonable price. In
2005, when a major CCRC operator made a full-price offer on the Holland Dairy property, the
owner did not even respond. They let the listing lapse, and several months later brought it back
on the market at almost double the original asking price.
Ken and I have talked with Cal Poly several times about building a CCRC on their property. A
major constraint for Cal Poly is that the property must be
mission.
In 2012, the owner of a parcel in Pismo Beach tried to include a CCRC but was unsuccessful. In
2003 we also evaluated the County General Hospital property but the idea of a CCRC was met
with strong neighborhood opposition. .
In 2011, when the Righetti property was identified for future annexation, we contacted the
trustee for the property. They said they were already working with a Southern California
developer, resulting in a much more traditional and low-risk development plan.
We met similar reactions from property owners in the Margarita area in 2003, the Avila Bay
Tank Farm site 2012, and Avila Ranch in 2017.
see it as one of the best uses The City has a serious
shortage of senior housing this project is a key component of fulfilling that need.
A CCRC will generate about 1/3 as much traffic as a similar number of non-senior housing units,
th
and about 1/7 the traffic of retail development on this site. Even so, based upon the
recommended Conditions of Approval it will be contributing a large of amount of money to
fund improvements to streets, bike lanes, and sidewalks. For all these reasons, we feel that
the proposed Froom Ranch Specific Plan including the Villaggio CCRC is the best use of this City
expansion area
We urge you to recommend approval of the Froom Ranch Specific Plan and Villaggio.
Ken and Judy Riener
6078 Pebble Beach Way
San Luis Obispo, 93401