Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/3/2023 Public Comment, Hee From:Robin Mitchell Hee < To:E-mail Council Website; Stewart, Erica A; Marx, Jan; Francis, Emily; Pease, Andy; Shoresman, Michelle Subject:Re: Righetti Ranch Hill Mudslide Mitigation and Lack of Completion Attachments:IMG_1543.jpg; IMG_1557.jpg; IMG_1562.jpg; IMG_3556.jpg; Resized_20230112_ 123843.JPG This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Re: Righetti Ranch Hill Mudslide Mitigation and Lack of Completion Dear Council Members, We are reaching out to you for your help in resolving this eyesore in our community. On January 2, 2023, a resident noticed the beginning of a mudslide on the City-owned Righetti Hill. The resident immediately contacted Ambient Development. Ambient in turn rd contacted the City. On January 3, representatives from the City and Ambient met at the site. A plan was developed to mitigate the slide. With a huge storm due any day, Ambient took immediate action and implemented the plan. The plan was not fully completed because of the atmospheric river of rain that was predicted in the coming weeks. But enough mitigation was done to stop the mudslide. And we were assured it was safe and we had nothing to worry about. A final bit of rock was needed for completion and it was delivered at the base of Righetti Hill by the new Enclave development. The plan was to complete the mitigation once the rain stopped and the ground dried to allow the big equipment on the hill. We were all very grateful for the swift action by all especially Ambient who went to work on this immediately. Fast forward to today. The rain has stopped. The ground has dried. The boulders continue to sit over by the Enclave development. The tarps have become torn and no longer cover all the area of the slide. Righetti Ranch residents have waited and waited for the job to be completed. Nothing has happened. We have reached out to Ambient and the City on several occasions throughout the year and have not received any answers or seen any action. We have spoken with Bob Hill, SLO City Natural Resource Manager for Righetti Development. What we have left now is an eyesore to our community and to the City. You may have seen this eyesore as you have driven in the Tank Farm Road area. Or you may have even seen it if you went shopping over at Trader Joes at Tank Farm Rd and Higuera intersection. It is visible for miles. It causes questions and perceived concerns. Even 1 though we have been told we have nothing to worry about, looking at it does cause concern especially with the predicted heavy rains of El Nino this winter. From what we can surmise, there appears to be a stalemate between the City and Ambient to completing the work. And we are caught in the middle with the effects of this stalemate. Righetti Hill is owned by the City of San Luis Obispo. We are requesting the City Council to take our request seriously and to take immediate action as soon as possible prior to the next rain season. Help us return our beautiful, new community to what we deserve and envision. Attached you will find photos of the mudslide and mitigation. Timeline below. rd We will be attending the October 3 Council Meeting and will be speaking during Open Discussion if you have any questions. Thank you for time and consideration. Robin Mitchell Hee, Cathy Bezek, and other Righetti Ranch Residents Timeline: 1/2/23 A homeowner on Hillside Drive, noticed the beginning of what looked to be a mudslide on the hillside around 3-4 pm. She notified Ambient Development and sent pictures. Ambient said they would contact the necessary people and be out in the morning. 1/3/23 Four people were at the area around 9am - two from Ambient, and two from City of SLO. They were there for about 45 minutes and walked the slide area and the hillside itself. Took pictures. 1/4/23 About 1:00 PM the homeowner noticed three people from Ambient up on the slope. Slide appeared to have moved. Ambient ordered an excavator and other heavy equipment from Santa Maria and Paso Robles locations to be positioned over by the Enclave development where they would be available for use very quickly. The crew would be on call. In the meantime overnight, Ambient would come by every couple of hours and check the status of the mudslide. If it looked like it was moving they would call in the crew and they would start working on it immediately. Otherwise they would wait until the next day to begin work. 1/5 7:00 a.m. The slide did not appear to have moved much forward but it did have an additional little break off at the top and seemed bigger at the top. It rained really hard the previous night and it was very windy. Crew showed up about 8:00 a.m. and the equipment was moved in to start the clean up. Loose soil would be removed and then would talk with their soils engineer about next step. Boulders will probably be used to allow water through but hold the soil. 1/12 2 Soil had been removed. Boulders were placed on the bottom and anchored tarps and hay bales on back and sides. More boulders were delivered over by the Enclave Development which would be used after the rains had stopped and the ground had dried to allow the equipment necessary to move these additional boulders into place and complete the mitigation. 3 ..,� M�.ti �e. �1 ! i ,y •' �3 f,",i;. ! v= 15.SPFIIIi�+ 111 it y.. /ii Ww NO Al /- t I �+-ta.:' ,. \ f � tip .•( `.� f - t ■ �- �. 1• C � 1 J I` '`.. i 1 to .. Y; — - - � - t • •� I i 1-,�_v`r s- 1 \ r '� ,��;i n �• � Ec'� i � .i i � y '. - � �s,. '1 �� �',.vM1rtrnm I f �: •'f��� � ya. '�fN- � t..�11 _ �e t A 1 - •�'�� v. ft fi Jt�£Y+a�Y iwa. '�+• s t'„ air - . R i F fi � I � - %r �� �S 7�Jr '. � ` e'S�+cF � 3,w 1��i �^ _ _ ,F• '�4 .. t J OW5ltk F �,:: - , � �z r� ,,, ,� t, -,� _ 4>