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Home My WebLink About4/4/2023 Item 6a, Michaels Julie Michaels < To:Stewart, Erica A; Marx, Jan; Francis, Emily; Pease, Andy; Shoresman, Michelle Cc:E-mail Council Website Subject:City Council Meeting 04.04.2023; item 6.a Attachments:Letter to City Council from Julie Michaels.pdf; The Michaels Family Home_Design.pdf This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Dear Mayor Stewart and Council Members, My name is Julie Michaels, and I am the owner of 841 Patricia Drive. I wanted to send you all some materials for the purposes of your deliberations, in case there is limited time to discuss them at the forthcoming Tuesday meeting. I believe you will find them interesting and helpful. Attached are the following materials related to the Council Meeting on April 4, 2023, Agenda item 6.a.: 1) letter to the City Council 2) house design process slides The link to the short 55 second video referenced and linked in the letter can also be found here. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Julie Michaels Julie Michaels juliemichaels@gmail.com +44 7511 818708 1 1 of 3 31 March 2023 Dear Mayor Stewart and Council Members, via email My name is Julie Michaels. I am contacting you in advance of the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 4, agenda item 6.a. Before appearing before you to discuss my proposed home at 841 Patricia Drive, I would like to take this opportunity to give some personal background to my desire to build my family home in San Luis Obispo and more specifically at this location. I don’t anticipate there will be time to do so at the meeting itself. Although I was born in Bakersfield, like many people from the San Joaquin Valley, I began spending weekends and holidays in SLO county in my childhood. My parents loved the area so much that they moved permanently to Morro Bay in 1989, a few weeks after I left for college. From that time, SLO has been my home. After their move, my mother worked at the SLO County Health Department as a public health nurse while my father was a juvenile public defender. I studied Russian language in college and have lived most of my adult life in Moscow, working as an elementary school teacher. I met Eric, who is originally from Australia, in Moscow and together we built a temporary life there. I always knew that when I did leave Moscow, it would be for the only place I have ever truly considered home – San Luis Obispo. All three of our children were born in San Luis Obispo, and for many years when my parents were still alive, the children and I would spend extended periods of time here. They participated in summer camps at Monart and Performance Athletics, and they learned to swim in the Cuesta College pool. They played miniball with the YMCA and attended preschool at Nativity – just down the road from our lot on Patricia. During each visit home, I looked for property to build our ‘forever home’ in SLO. We considered locations in all areas of SLO – from the Avila hills to Edna Valley to Mainini Ranch. But nothing was exactly what we envisioned. In January 2020, this changed when I walked onto 841 Patricia Drive. I knew immediately that this is where I wanted to build my family home. Given we were overseas, we hired the best local consultants we could find to help us (there is no way we could have done any of this ourselves). We started the design process with RRM and the permit process with Oasis. My children were enrolled in the American Department of State school in Moscow, and we planned to wait at least until my son’s high school graduation in 2023 to return to SLO. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, changed everything for us. The war was more than a news event for us – it was personal. The American school closed, my employment as a teacher was terminated, and I was mandatorily evacuated from Russia with 24 hours’ notice and two suitcases of belongings. Shortly thereafter, Eric’s company announced the closure of its Moscow operations. In our own way, we too became war refugees. 2 of 3 We needed to find a place to settle, and fast. Clayton and Abby were not in school. Having sold my parents’ house to finance our Patricia home, we no longer had anywhere to stay in SLO. Through my international education connections, I was able to enroll the children in schools in London, however we had to wait for Eric’s UK work visa to be processed and issued. During this time, we spent three weeks at the Ukrainian border in Poland and used our Russian language skills to help translate for the vast numbers of Ukrainians crossing into Poland in March 2022. While Clayton and Abby can study in London, due to visa restrictions, I cannot work in the UK. In 11 months, Eric’s work visa will expire and he has been told that his employer will not sponsor an extension. After that, he will no longer be able to work in the UK either. He is currently working as a lawyer helping US and European companies and US governmental organizations leave the Russian market. Our life in London is only temporary; we do not live here by choice, but by necessity. Although I have a roof over my head, I am in a sense, homeless. London is not home. My college-aged son cannot visit for long periods of time as we do not physically have room for him in our small apartment. We need a permanent family home. I tell you all of this to give some context as to why we are so desperate to have the City Council find in favor of our appeal of the Planning Commission decision denying our proposed house. When we applied for the creek setback exception, we understood that this was the only issue that City staff (and then the Planning Commission) would need to decide on. Although I was disappointed that the Commission denied our creek setback request, I thought that I could still move forward with my home and come back to the crossing separately, as the City never expressed any concerns with my proposed family home. However, our planner explained to me that after working with the City for over two years, and meeting all their requirements and responding to all of their requests, our entire project had been denied, not just the creek crossing. I was, and continue to be, in complete shock. As I really need to start building my home, the quickest way forward was to bring the matter to the Council and hope that you will see us not as disinterested outsiders trying to ruin something beautiful, but as locals trying to return home. We feel we are a diverse, open family that will only add to the wonderful city of San Luis Obispo. We firmly believe in the City’s seven core values, especially those of sustainability, diversity, and inclusivity. All Eric and I want to do at 841 Patricia Drive is what our neighbors have already done – build our forever home and begin making memories with our family. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to visit 841 Patricia Drive, and as a reminder for those of you who did, I have prepared a 55-second video of my property to help give visual representation to the descriptions available in documents previously submitted to the Planning Commission. You can view the video here. 3 of 3 My architect, Ediberto Herrera, has also prepared some 3D renderings of both the proposed home and creek crossing and related basis of design exhibits, which I have attached to this email. The slides also show that even though it is a large lot, very little of it is buildable. I am flying to San Luis Obispo on Monday so that I can attend the City Council meeting in person. I look forward to meeting you Tuesday night and answering any questions or concerns you may have. Please help us write the next chapter of our family’s story so that we can live, learn, work, and play in beautiful San Luis Obispo. Sincerely, Julie Michaels Attachment – Basis of Design Exhibits The Michaels Family HomeDESIGN OVERVIEW NORTHTHE MICHAELS FAMILY HOME MEETS ALL DEVELOPMENT REGULATION STANDARDS NORTH•CITY DEVELOPMENT CODE ALLOWS 40% MAX. LOT COVERAGE•ALLOWABLE LOT COVERAGE REDUCED TO 34%.A 6% REDUCTION CAUSED BY RIPARIAN HABITAT &RIPARIAN SETBACKS•66% OF THE TOTAL LOT AREA REMAINS OPEN SPACE34%Total available bldg. envelopeavailable bldg. envelopeavailable bldg. envelope NORTH•54% OF THE TOTAL LOT IS THE RIPARIAN HABITAT•(E) FLAG LOT ACCESS DRIVEWAY AREA REDUCES BLDG. ENVELOPE FROM 34% TO 25%•(E) “MANMADE” 2:1 FILL SLOPE INCREASES GRADING SENSITIVITY ALONG THE RIPARIAN•(E) RIPARIAN & EASEMENT SETBACKS FURTHER REDUCE BLDG. ENVELOPE AREA.constrained bldg. envelope constrained bldg. envelope constrainedfeasible bldg. envelopefeasible bldg. envelope25%remaining feasible bldg. envelope NORTH•ONLY 10%OF THE SITE COVERED BY BLDG. FOOTPRINT•BLDG. FOOTPRINT PLACED ON THE MOST FEASIBLE SITE LOCATION BASED ON OVERALL SITE CONSTRAINTS•2-STORY MASSING CENTRALIZED FURTHEST AWAY FROM THE PROPERTY LINES•OVER HALF OF THE PROPOSED BLDG. FOOTPRINT IS 1-STORY10% of the total lot area10%total bldg. footprint NORTH•54% OF THE TOTAL LOT AREA IS CONSTRAINED BY THE RIPARIAN•PEDESTRIAN & SMALL VEHICLE CROSSING: 8 FT (W) x 70 FT (L); 560 SQ.FT.•CLEAR SPAN USING STEEL BEAMS WITH WOOD DECKING SURFACE FINISHES•MINIMAL IMPACT TO THE RIPARIAN & ABOVE THE 100 YEAR FLOOD ELEVATION•PROVIDES ACCESS RIGHTS TO BOTH SIDES OF THE RIPARIAN FOR PROPERTY MAINTENANCE•SHALL COMPLY WITH CA. FISH & WILDLIFE, WATER BOARD, & ARMY CORPS PRIOR TO BLDG. PERMIT ISSUANCE2% of the total riparian area and less than 1% of total lot area54%total lot area constrained by riparian We Request City Council APPROVAL of The Michaels Family Home ProjectTHANK YOU