HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/8/2024 Item 5b, Schneider
Melissa Tahan Schneider <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Letter for Planning Commission Meeting 5/8/2024, Agenda Item 5B
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This concerns project number GENP-0175-2024, the proposed Welcome Home Village project on Johnson & Bishop.
We are homeowners who live within close walking distance of the proposed site for this project. We ask that the
Planning Commission move to take a closer look at this proposal and deem it unreasonable to move forward for multiple
reasons.
As of writing this, approximately two weeks prior to a vote before the board of supervisors, no meaningful community
outreach or environmental review has occurred. Parking will be adversely impacted, and possibly storm water runoff.
The planning has occurred in secret; though the project was only publicized in late April 2024, multiple city and county
agencies have already been involved, presumably for months.
As described in the documents available with resolution 5b of the planning commission: “The project has been reviewed
by various City departments including Community Development, Public Works, Police, and Fire”. Subsequent to the non-
public review, the environmental review requirement for the project is proposed to be waived on May 8th, on the basis
that the project “is not subject to CEQA because the recommended action before the City’s Planning
Commission is only a policy review of whether development of the land is consistent with the City’s General Plan”.
However, the “Welcome Home” project is inconsistent with the General Plan because it failed to solicit meaningful
community input, fails to promote the use of social services near Prado Road, fails to mitigate against spill-over parking,
and fails to protect the density, character and safety of the neighborhood."
This project is being pressured and pushed through by Dignity Moves, an organization backed by outside investors, who
want to see this project move quickly and under the radar so as not to miss state funding deadlines. Per the attached
research on this project, the county and Dignity Moves explored multiple locations away from this zone before choosing
this site...and now, because of failures in their process, they have landed at Johnson and Bishop, surrounded by homes
and schoools. Dignity Moves, per their own website, has never built a site of this size in a residential
location. Additionally, they build and then hand ongoing management over to another party. When asked at a
community forum they couldn't answer the simple question of 'What are success metrics for this program.'
There are myriad other reasons why this is the wrong solution for our neighborhoods and for our community members
suffering from homelessness, mental illness and addiction that this project seeks to impact.
We ask that you please consider these as you make decisions on behalf of your community members at the May 8th
meeting.
Signed,
Melissa & Christopher Schneider
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