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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealthy Communities_Froom Ranch DEIRCOALITION PARTNERS: Bike SLO County Boys and Girls Club – South County Cal Poly State University Center for Sustainability Food Science & Nutrition Department Kinesiology Department CenCal Health City of San Luis Obispo Parks and Recreation Community Action Partnership of SLO Community Foundation of SLO County Dairy Council of California Diringer & Associates First 5 San Luis Obispo County Food Bank Coalition of SLO County French Hospital Medical Center HomeShareSLO Lucia Mar Unified School District One Cool Earth Rideshare – Safe Routes to School San Luis Sports Therapy SLO Council of Governments SLO County Departments: Board of Supervisors Health Commission Planning and Building Public Health SLO County Office of Education UC Cooperative Extension YMCA of SLO County HEAL-SLO is a community coalition addressing complex and overlapping health challenges through integrated solutions. In carrying out that mission, a subcommittee called the Healthy Communities Work Group provides responses to Planning staff from a healthy community’s perspective on proposed land development projects, ordinance and general plan amendments, and special projects. December 20, 2019 Shawna Scott, Senior Planner City of San Luis Obispo Community Development Department 919 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 RE: Froom Ranch Specific Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report Dear Ms. Scott, The Healthy Communities Work Group has reviewed the Froom Ranch DEIR. Overall, our group supports the “Actionable Alternative”, or “Alternative 1” of the project design; however, we recommend the following improvements or considerations to promote community health: Include improvements to enhance bicycle and pedestrian safety. The California Office of Traffic Safety ranked San Luis Obispo County as the 6th worst county in the state for bicycle safety based on collision numbers1. Bicycle safety was recently identified as a priority issue in the 2018-2023 Community Health Improvement Plan, including a specific objective to “reduce the number of bicycle-involved motor vehicle collision injuries by 10% by Dec. 2020”.2 Additionally, only 28.8% of adults in San Luis Obispo County walk regularly (150 minutes per week or more)3. Safe, accessible bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure are critical to support and promote the health of residents. The Healthy Communities Work Group recommends that a Class IV bikeway is included along Los Osos Valley Road from Calle Joaquin to Froom Ranch Road, in accordance with the recently adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan. We also recommend the addition of a marked and signalized pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Auto Way and Los Osos Valley Road. Finally, we recommend that the City explore a secondary access point to LOVR or Calle Joaquin to improve connectivity and provide an additional emergency evacuation route. Improve transit facilities/services to encourage use of public transportation. Research has demonstrated that enabling potentially isolated populations, such as seniors and the disabled, to utilize public transportation is critical to promoting their social and mental health, allowing them to age in place and maintain a critical support network4. The Healthy Communities Work Group recommends that provisions are made to decrease bus headways to 10 or 15 minutes to better serve the transit-dependent population, and to attract non- transit-dependent users. COALITION PARTNERS: Bike SLO County Boys and Girls Club – South County Cal Poly State University Center for Sustainability Food Science & Nutrition Department Kinesiology Department CenCal Health City of San Luis Obispo Parks and Recreation Community Action Partnership of SLO Community Foundation of SLO County Dairy Council of California Diringer & Associates First 5 San Luis Obispo County Food Bank Coalition of SLO County French Hospital Medical Center HomeShareSLO Lucia Mar Unified School District One Cool Earth Rideshare – Safe Routes to School San Luis Sports Therapy SLO Council of Governments SLO County Departments: Board of Supervisors Health Commission Planning and Building Public Health SLO County Office of Education UC Cooperative Extension YMCA of SLO County HEAL-SLO is a community coalition addressing complex and overlapping health challenges through integrated solutions. In carrying out that mission, a subcommittee called the Healthy Communities Work Group provides responses to Planning staff from a healthy community’s perspective on proposed land development projects, ordinance and general plan amendments, and special projects. Maximize commercial/retail space as a resource to residents. The inclusion of 100,000 sq/ft of commercial/retail space can provide numerous services and benefits to residents; however, a 70,000 sq/ft hotel does not serve residents or nearby communities. The Healthy Communities Work Group recommends that the commercial/retail space is maximized to provide services to residents, build community, and thus support health. Thank you for this opportunity to provide comment. Sincerely, Stephanie Teaford Chair, Healthy Communities Work Group 1 The CA Office of Traffic Safety Report (2015) 2 Community Health Improvement Plan, Injuries, pg 43 3 SLOHealthCounts.org, Adults Who Walk Regularly, 2014 4 The Role of the Built Environment in Healthy Aging: Community Design, Physical Activity, and Health among Older Adults. Journal of Planning Literature, 43-60.