HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/4/2023 Item 6a, Schroeter
Schroeter Family <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Public Comment for April 4th City Council Meeting, Agenda Item 6.
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
th
To San Luis Obispo City Council: re April 4 Agenda Item 6 - 841 Patricia Drive (APPL-0075-2023)
As atmospheric river after atmospheric river has pounded the West Coast, most of the residents of San Luis Obispo have
been glued to the news coverage or for the hardier, the creek crossings to watch the awesome power of water. As we
cross our fingers that the stream channels can keep up, it may be a great time to dig a little deeper into the value and
importance of creeks and the channels they flow through and to generalize, they do a massive amount of work.
The most obvious benefit of creeks is that they carry water from point A to B and while doing so, provide flood control
and protection to our communities. In areas where creek channels are sufficiently wide, the creek can overtop its bank
and spill into floodplains, with limited human and wildlife impact. Where we have confined our creeks and reduced the
channel and floodplain, flooding has occurred and the life-giving riparian forest has been devastated, as have many
homes, businesses, and human lives.
In addition to conveyance, creeks provide groundwater recharge, sediment, and nutrient movement (think sand on your
favorite beach), and provide habitat to freshwater species such as amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, and many species
of fish including lamprey, trout, and salmon. Terrestrial species also benefit from the riparian forests lining the streams,
including insects, reptiles, birds, mammals and of course the plants themselves.
The riparian forest serves another important function and that is to provide migration corridors for wildlife between
open spaces. These corridors are regularly used by many species with the most notable examples including amphibians,
deer and mountain lions. These corridors maintain healthy populations and prevent local extinctions in existing habitat
on either side of the corridor.
If we rewind to the summer of 2022, the riparian forests, and the streams within, were the saving grace for drought-
stricken populations of organisms. The surface and subsurface flows cool microhabitat and provide conditions that help
sustain life and biodiversity, especially in increasingly common drought years.
Given what we have learned about our creeks this winter and the mistakes we have made from prior development and
stream alterations, it is in the best interest of the citizens of San Luis Obispo and those tasked with protecting those
citizens to vehemently protect existing creek setbacks and avoid any exceptions to the rules. Our communities and the
wildlife within would be better served by expanding our stream protections in all areas of new development, because
once a structure is built, there is no going back.
Next week an appeal to a project that was unanimously denied by the city planning commission is being presented to
the city council \[Agenda Item 6 - 841 Patricia Drive (APPL-0075-2023)\]. In this appeal, they are asking for exceptions to
rules that protect water conveyance, habitat, species, and wildlife migration corridors. Given what we have seen this
year with the extreme weather conditions and what is projected to come as the climate shifts and storms and drought
become more intense, let us hope that the city managers, city council and all citizens of our great community, realize the
mistake that would be made by granting this exception. Please deny the appeal and uphold the Planning Commission’s
decision denying Architectural Review Application ARCH-0040-2021, regarding development of property at 841 Patricia
Drive (APPL-0075-2023). Thank you.
1
Sincerely, Robert Schroeter PhD - Conservation Ecology
2