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Home My WebLink About9/15/2020 Item 9, Cooper Wilbanks, Megan From:Allan Cooper < To:Codron, Michael; E-mail Council Website Subject:Letter To The City Council Attachments:409_14_20...lettertocouncilfroom.pdf Dear Michael, et. al. - Would you kindly forward the letter attached below to the City Council? This letter pertains to Public Hearing Item No. 9 (Froom Ranch) on the City Council's September 15, 2020 meeting agenda. Could you also ensure that this item is included in the City's correspondence file? Thanks and stay safe! - Allan 1 Save Our Downtown ______________________________________________________________________________ Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic success of downtown San Luis Obispo. To: San Luis Obispo City Council and Michael Codron, Community Development Director Re: September 15, 2020: Public Hearing Item #9: To Consider The Froom Ranch Project Entitlements, Certiﬁcation Of The Final Environmental Impact Report, And Introduction Of An Ordinance Amending The City’s Zoning Map Upon Annexation Of Properties Within The Froom Ranch Speciﬁc Plan Area From: Allan Cooper, San Luis Obispo Date: September 14, 2020 Honorable Mayor and Council Members - The Resilient SLO Community Priority Survey, a survey that will result in strategies for building community resilience to the impacts of climate change, asks the following question: "Do you have suggestions for how the City of San Luis Obispo can improve response efforts?”. When answering this question, the very ﬁrst “response effort” that came to my mind was denying (rather than approving) the Froom Ranch Speciﬁc Plan and related project entitlements and denying the annexation of this project site. This project, along with others 1 will be placing many residents in harm’s way while mitigating against any reasonable response to climate change. In the case of Froom Ranch, we are talking about jeopardizing the lives and/or livelihoods of over 1,200 future residents including physically disabled residents residing within the proposed Villagio Life Plan Community. Why? Permit me to explain. The EIR states that there are seven signiﬁcant and unavoidable impacts. No number of overriding considerations can possibly offset the negatives effects this project will have on future residents and on our pristine and fragile environment. The Froom Ranch development abuts land that is rated high risk for wild land ﬁres. Evacuation plans - in the event of hazardous air quality, wild land ﬁres or debris ﬂows - will be made nearly impossible because this housing development will be allowed to go ahead before the necessary road infrastructure is in place. The City will be turning wildlife habitat (which was originally protected by virtue of being outside the City limits and within the City’s Urban Reserve) into recreational playgrounds. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the overall number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians The Avila Ranch development is located in a ﬂood plain. The San Luis Ranch development is located under several 1 ﬂight paths and built on prime, high productivity soil. Inﬁll, high-density housing is being placed in our Downtown’s ﬂood plain. and ﬁsh declined 52 percent between 1970 and 2010. This sprawling urban development encroaching on our so-called “permanent” open space will only further accelerate this trend. Need I mention that congregate living in a retirement community is no longer a safe or healthy environment for the elderly in a world beset by highly transmissible zoonotic diseases? The Villaggio Life Plan Community would include a 3-story community area with a common area providing resident-serving amenities, such as retail uses, restaurants and a theater. In addition to the restaurants and theater, there will be elevators and narrow corridors where social distancing will be nearly impossible. The EIR states that the projected emissions for the project were found to be above the established daily thresholds for operational emissions of ROG and NOx, and projected increases in greenhouse gas emissions would result in inconsistencies with the local Clean Air Plan planning policies due to exceedance of projected population growth. Increasing jobs, population and population density is patently not sustainable. The increasing likelihood of droughts, ﬁres and high temperatures combined with population and job growth will place an unacceptable burden on our residents, on our infrastructure and on the region’s carrying capacity. The EIR states that there will be unmitigable exacerbation of queuing and peak hour traffic for automobiles on Los Osos Valley Road. In the short term when the majority of cars still remain carbon based, increasing traffic congestion will increase idling and this in turn will generate more CO2. Increasing jobs and population will require new highway, road and bridge construction. However, the CO2 emissions caused by heavy, civil engineering road construction far exceed those generated by the construction of buildings. Should the necessary road widening not take place, increasing traffic gridlock will also hamper timely evacuations. In conclusion, the City’s approval of this project will prove Save Our Downtown’s point - that there is no direct linkage between locating tall buildings in our Downtown (which are presumably more “climate friendly”) and deterring urban sprawl. By approving this project, members of the City Council will simply prove how hypocritical they are when making this “tall not sprawl” argument. Should you demonstrate to us that you are committed to urban sprawl then we ask that this specious argument be, at long last, put to rest. Thank you!