HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-14-2014 ac - kovesdiph1JAN 14 2014
Kovesdi Consulting
Land Use & Environment
"Building Legacies"
January 14, 2014 AGENDA
To: City Council Members ORRESPONDENCE
From: Rachel Kovesdi D.��Item#
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Re: Dalidio (San Luis Ranch) Open Space /Agriculture ;2-01 L/
We are asking your Council to incorporate a provision to consider a small portion of the required Open
Space /Agriculture to be relocated off -site, through the Specific Plan process. We believe that it is in the City's
best interest, as well as the project's, to keep doors open to creative planning options. Please consider:
• The City Council should maintain its discretion through the Specific Plan process to consider alternatives
in order to balance City goals and objectives.
• We are NOT requesting a reduction in total acreage or percentage of this component, only the
opportunity to analyze whether there is more valuable open space that the City may want to preserve,
in addition to the on -site ag /open space component.
• The current conceptual site plan maintains 66.5 contiguous acres of organic farmland (to be operated
with SLO City Farm).
• When the LUCE Task Force deliberated on this issue, only two of its members were specifically against
relocating any portion of the ag /open space component off -site. The other members determined that
maximum acreage off -site, mitigation ratio, type and locations of land appropriate for consideration are
policy questions for the Planning Commission and City Council to determine during Specific Plan process.
• The City's Natural Resource Manager has identified a number of properties that may be more valuable
to the City than additional acreage on the project site. The Planning Commission and City Council will
have full discretion as to whether any of the potential options and multipliers presented are sufficiently
valuable to allow for the relocation of a small percentage of the project site's ag /open space.
• The LUCE EIR should include an option for a small portion (up to 10 acres or 15% of the required
ag /open space) to be located off -site - even if that alternative is ultimate rejected - so that
comprehensive information is available during a joint City Council /Planning Commission pre -app study
session for the project's Specific Plan.
• We 're requesting that the following language be inserted in the Performance Standards:
"A small portion of on -site open spate /agriculture (up to 10 acres or 15% of the required ag /open
space) may be relocated off -site by the City Council through Specific Plan approval."