HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/25/2021 Item 4a, Finger1
From:Helene Finger <
Sent:Friday, August 20, 2021 3:55 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Planning Commission - 279 Bridge St Project
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I am very excited that the City is building affordable housing projects. I reviewed the 279 Bridge St project agenda item
because I want to make sure that it is a good project for the new and existing residents.
I am concerned to see that the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), originally prepared for 3 warehouse shells, was
not updated for this important residential development. As a civil engineer, I know how important it is to address
potentially significant impacts from the beginning so that it is easier and less expensive to implement mitigation
measures.
Below are examples of two of the areas of the Environmental Review that need to be analyzed before moving forward.
Hydrology, (agenda package page 119 screenshot showing MND)
Placing housing in the flood plane is listed as “Less than significant impact”. This was true for the original project, but
not the current. The MND states, "This site is located in an “ AO” flood zone. This zone indicates that there is a potential
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of flooding up to two‐ feet over the existing grade during the 100 year storm”. This project needs to address how this
hazard will be mitigated for the future residents living there.
Transportation, (agenda package page 125 screenshot showing MND)
The original MND lists "no impact" on bicycle/pedestrian safety and states that the project, “would not significantly alter
the existing travel flow of vehicles, bicyclists, or pedestrians”, specifically stating that trip generation for this project
would only add 21 AM and 23 PM trips. For this project with 94 residential units, these values are far too low.
Currently Bridge St has one of the highest ratios of bikes/peds to cars in the city because of the very low car volume. It is
the primary low stress route used by many student traveling by bike to Laguna Middle School (see photo of middle
school students commuting on the Bridge St. multiuse pathway from yesterday morning where I counted 21 bike/peds,
17 Spectrum vans/cars, and 9 other cars using the top block from 7:45‐8:45 a.m.).
The impact of adding 94 residences with over 100 parking spots is something that can be mitigated and should be listed
as Potentially Significant in the ER so that mitigation strategies can be developed from the beginning.
Thank you for your time considering this information,
Helene Finger
Resident, San Luis Obispo
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