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Home My WebLink About01-14-2014 ac - farwell2ph1Kremke, Kate From: Mejia, Anthony Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 3:00 PM To: Kremke, Kate Subject: FW: comments on EIR Upper Monterey for special city council meeting 1/14/14 Anthony J. Mejia I City Clerk City of San Luis Obispo 990 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 tel 1 805.781.7102 AGENDA Gt FIRESPONDENCE Date. t 0 -y-Item #_If� - - - -- Original Message - - - -- // qh Lt From: Debra Farwell [mailto:dif53 @earthlink.net] 1 2�-3j j Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 2:56 PM J To: Mejia, Anthony; Marx, Jan; Smith, Kathy; Carpenter, Dan; Christianson, Carlyn; Ashbaugh, John Subject: comments on EIR Upper Monterey for special city council meeting 1/14/14 Kim Murry, Deputy Director Community Development Department City of San Luis Obispo General Plan Land Use and Circulation Elements Update Scoping Meeting for NOP Copies to City Council Members Jan. 9, 2014 Kim, I am submitting written comments, based on my oral presentation to the Planning Commission on Wednesday Jan. 8th. My concerns are directed toward the Upper Monterey Area LUCE Update and what appears to be a lack of knowledge about current conditions that we as neighbors, face day to day. I realize that at this point, the language for the NOP is standardized and non - specific, due to the large scope of the update. I will use the N.O.P. paperwork provided at the Dec. 7, 2013 Future Fair as a guideline for my comments. I'd appreciate it if you could please pass along my written comments to the Commission, as they consider the EIR for the LUCE Update. I appreciate your time and consideration. will e-mail my comments on the City Council myself, to save you some time. On page 1, Notice of Completion & Environmental Document Transmittal, dated 12/2/13, the second section, Project Location. Please note "Waterways" with San Luis Obispo Creek and Chorro Creek listed. I'd like to point out that there is a small (depending upon drought) year -round creek, which crosses our property. I believe that the source for the creek is along the foothills of the Cal Poly Grand Ave entry, along Slack St. It travels toward Hwy 101, to cross Wilson St. and behind houses along Park. It crosses behind VFW Hall on Mill St. near the Vet's Building. It crosses Palm St. and travels across resident property lines and can be found next to Frank's Hot Dogs on Monterey St. and California. I believe it passes along Monterey St. down to join San Luis Creek at the concrete culverts near the Anderson Hotel. Street run -off and gutter drainage passes directly into this small local creek, finding its' way eventually into the downtown creek system. While "no zoning changes have been proposed ", the language of the Update reflects an intent to increase the density of hotels, restaurants and a possible conference center along the Upper Monterey Corridor. With increased density, there will be more hazardous materials discharged into our creek. Increased garbage storage, auto drainage on streets, air and dust pollution will be washed by surface water into the creek in our neighborhood, to join the larger San Luis Creek. During my lifetime, I've lived closely to the creeks in my neighborhood. I've lived here on Palm St. for 39 years, next to our small creek. In 1971 -1972 1 lived over Muzio's Grocery Store in Downtown San Luis. We spent a good deal of time listening to the frogs in the creek in front of the Mission. Since the 70's there has been a significant decrease in the Summer frog chorus downtown and on our own property. Frogs have been considered the "canary in the coalmine ", by some environmental researchers. Please address supportive biological environments as required in the Biological Resources section of the EIR in relation to frogs and other impacted fauna. My second point of concern about the LUCE for the Upper Monterey Street Area is noise. In addition to auto traffic, the music of restaurants, impacts our environment. Frank's Hot Dogs have 2 speakers facing the outside eating patio. The "canned music" is audible about % a block away on Monterey and California. Daily sound volume and wind are factors in how far the sound travels. Add to that, the traffic noise. An additional source of loud noise and dust, are the "professional" landscape maintenance, which blows clean the businesses along Monterey and California. An increasing number of businesses and landlord's, use the "blow and go" type of landscaping. Noise is a Potential Environmental Impact, which needs to be assessed, in the EIR for the LUCE Update. Please address this very intrusive factor that we who live on the Monterey Street corridor live with daily. My third concern is related to restaurant and business garbage within the Upper Monterey Street Area. Over the last 5 years, the numbers of raccoons, opossums and rats have been increasing. These critters get into the numerous garbage containers along Monterey Street and use the creek as a transportation system. With the blessing of US Fish and Wildlife, I trapped 5 raccoons myself, between November and December. The raccoons killed one opossum and I trapped another. I still have raccoons coming in at night. The rats are a constant. The garbage containers are left open, wet garbage leaks out through the container onto the pavement, which can wash into the gutter system. The critters are destructive, digging and destroying landscaping. In additional, they are a health hazard. Please consider the impact that restaurant and business garbage has on the surrounding neighborhood, within the Hazardous Materials section of the EIR. Under the Aesthetics section of potential environmental impacts, light and glare is addressed. Currently the Lamplighter Hotel has security lights facing away from the hotel into the parking lot, due to vandalism and concerns of theft. They shine away from the hotel into the windows of the residence across the street. The neighbor has unsuccessfully approached the hotel in attempts to have the lights turned away from the house. Due to terrain, the Lamplighter Hotel towers about 4 stories above our homes, if one is standing on the corner, of Grove and Palm St. Security lights are rotated outwards, but the lights shine for quite a distance beyond the hotel. When we first moved into our home, we could see the Milky Way. Now, we are lucky if we can see the brightest stars /planets. Light pollution needs to be addressed in the EIR, with the current and any future density that is considered. View shed has been greatly reduced during the last decade on our 2 blocks of Palm Street. We used to be able to see mountains to the East and to the West from our home. Now, we have lost all view to the West and partial view to the East. A two story house was built to the West. We were assured that there would be no impact. However, due to the foundation being raised for flood purposes, and over height ceilings, we lost our view from our sun porch. Positioned on a slope, the Lamplighter Motel renovation expends 4 stories. It has a huge impact on the neighborhood view shed. I am concerned about any remodels that extend upward, blocking both sunshine and view to our neighborhood. Please consider the impact of buildings, which block the view or sunlight of pre- existing residences. This hasn't been taken into account in the past, leaving us with visual blights. z There is no mention of the environmental impact of odor into a residential neighborhood. This is a huge issue for those of us living along Palm Street. Starting around 6 AM, Franks' starts breakfast with onions and bacon cooking. As the day progresses, the smells are of hamburger and sometimes rancid grease. Depending on the wind, it is possible to detect odors from the railroad tracks on Palm, to Grove Street at Monterey. I have a lovely garden, but when I walk outside, it isn't my flowers I smell. It is onions, bacon and burgers from Franks'. All of my neighbors have complained as well. It is nauseating, to smell the odors every day. One can smell bread from Splash Cafe and Mexican food from Pepe Delgados walking along Monterey Street. By far, Franks' odors travel the farthest and are the most constant. For the neighbors with 2 -story homes, the odors seem to enter their higher windows easier. While odor isn't directly listed on the N.O.P. Potential Environmental Impacts to be Assessed, please discuss odors related to restaurant food prep and garbage storage. Being able to enjoy our homes and gardens is directly effected by the smells in the air around us. Increasing hotel, restaurants and possible conference center density, will make it worse, if the current problems aren't mitigated. I appreciate your consideration of these concerns. Increased traffic will make the intersection at California and Monterey Street even less safe. It has limited visibility and some high -speed traffic. Bikes, skateboards, pedestrians, food delivery trucks and autos all share a very small space. In walking through our neighborhood, it appears that very little forethought was used in creating a residential and business community. This is a good opportunity to improve upon the mistakes that were made in the past. Thank you for allowing our input into the process. Debbie Farwell Palm Street 3