HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/25/2024 Item 4a, Stimson
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Linda Stimson <stimson.studios@gmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday, September 25, 2024 2:01 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Slack Street - 25 September Planning Commission meeting
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Public comment from the Stimson family, 2100 Slack Street, regarding:
Planning Commission Public Hearing
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 6:00 p.m.
FILE NUMBER: ANNX-0219-2024, STAB-0038-2024
Item 4a - Slack Street East of Grand
Greetings Commissioners, neighbors, and community members ~
Our family's property spans the city and county at the east end of Slack Street, adjoining Cal Poly's Vista
Meadows property eastern boundary. Slack Street provides access to our family home. After years of
rumors, plans, and proposals, we now have a front row seat to the emerging Vista Meadows project at
Cal Poly and follow its exciting progress every day. We look forward to being respectful and good
neighbors, and are gratified that Cal Poly has expressed this same intention of good neighborliness to the
surrounding community.
Note that Slack Street is currently only half the originally intended width ~ it is a single usable lane, not
two lanes as the "paper" street may appear on some documents, and it terminates in a dead end. The
frequency of lost drivers at the end of (the currently single-laned, dead-end) Slack Street is significant.
Lately this has only increased, as looky-loos, delivery drivers, wayward workers, and even an errant
porta-potty drop-off (!) find themselves at our doorsteps, trying to navigate a circumstance that only
accommodates a single car at a time, and doesn't support these confused drivers' efforts to right their
plight. This will only get worse once the project is completed and populated.
In trying to get turned around and back on their way, these lost souls already end up in our driveways and
yards, needing directions and/or help while trying to get turned around.
Sometimes they unintentionally cause damage to our and other end-of-the-street residents'
property.
Sometimes they get stranded to the point of requiring a tow truck, after failing to navigate the
conditions, causing additional damage and blocking access to our homes until resolved.
Over the years we have had to replace and repair damage at our own expense, after having our
mailboxes, fence posts, trees, paving, and more repeatedly damaged by inexperienced and
unsupported drivers entering our property, because the current street itself doesn't support
turning around.
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When we hear these drivers, we generally run out to help with guidance and directions, always with
kindness and a smile (and all too often in our PJs or with a half-eaten sandwich in hand!). We are helpful
and good neighbors... but accommodating an increasing number of lost drivers, on an increasingly
under-prepared roadway, is not a welcome addition to a situation that is already disruptive, time-
consuming, and costly to us. Please keep these realities of the real-life neighborhood situation in mind
as you consider the proposal at hand.
The proposed street abandonment and detachment will certainly bring welcome changes to (most of)
Slack Street, and we greatly appreciate that, BUT there is one important way in which it falls short of the
stated goal to be a "good neighbor." The street improvements are slated to stop short of the end of Slack
Street by several addresses. As a condition of approval, we implore you to ensure that the proposed
street improvements extend the entire length of Slack Street to the eastern end, block 29 Phillips
Addition A/MB/162, and not abandon the residents and neighbors at the end of the street.
All current residents are greatly impacted by the new project and deserve to be recognized as equal
neighbors.
ALL Slack Street neighbors are Vista Meadows' new neighbors and deserve Vista Meadows to be a
good neighbor in turn.
ALL Slack Street neighbors are affected by the extension of our neighborhood and will continue to
be so (as indeed we already are during the protracted construction period) in perpetuity.
ALL Slack Street neighbors access their homes from this same street and deserve equal
mitigation of the increased traffic effects.
END OF THE STREET Slack Street neighbors bear additional impacts due to increased turn-around
traffic caused by lost drivers, yet this current proposal leaves only half a city street to
accommodate an increased traffic problem.
Although the abandonment proposal text indicates that the new project will take care of improvements
to Slack Street (implication being that it is inclusive), the plans clearly show that the improvements end
before the street ends (exclusive of access to the final home addresses). If the abandonment is
approved, we ask that Cal Poly be good neighbors to all affected parties, and that approval must be with
the condition that the street improvements extend completely to the end of the street, not just to the
identified "Point of Beginning" derived from a historical survey document pre-dating the current realities
of the 2024 neighborhood configuration.
We are truly good neighbors here, and want to believe that Cal Poly truly wants to be a good neighbor too.
There is a clear pathway toward doing that more effectively, by including ALL of their new neighbors in
their plans.
IF THIS PROPOSAL IS NOT AMENDED TO INCLUDE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE END OF SLACK STREET
(seemingly an abandonment of responsibility to the current residents), how does the City of SLO intend
on handling this easternmost section of Slack Street and its resultant increased maintenance, exposure,
and liabilities? We really deserve a feasible answer. The last few homes on the street cannot be expected
to pay the higher life-price inflicted by the increased traffic and turn-around burden of this project, while
the rest of the Slack Street neighbors are fully considered. We certainly hope this is not the plan, and
hope the city can recognize and correct the oversight before it is too late! The prudent solution is to
prepare properly by improving the street as a condition of the project, before the problems are further
compounded by this potential oversight.
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Thank you for your time and consideration,
Your neighbors,
Don Stimson (45-year resident of Slack Street)
Linda Stimson (also independently a SLO city homeowner)
Susan Coward (also independently a SLO city homeowner)
The Stimson Family
2100 Slack Street
805 540-0032
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