HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/28/2024 Item 4a, Grayson
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Kellye Grayson <kellyegrayson@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, October 22, 2024 1:33 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Support for Waterman Village
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Cultural Heritage Committee
999 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, 93401
advisorybodies@slocity.org
Re: 466 Dana St. The Waterman Village
Dear Chair Crotzer and Members Gray, Tischler, Arrona, Simon, Bernard, and Ashbaugh,
I write in support of and respectfully request the CHC to recommend that the Planning Commission approve the
proposed Waterman Village,located at 466 Dana Street in San Luis Obispo. Affordable housing is a critical issue on the
Central Coast of California. Young families, singles, and independent seniors can no longer afford to live in San Luis
Obispo comfortably. Waterman Village is part of the solution. It offers a beautiful, centrally located home for San Luis
Obispo residents of limited means, particularly the City’s 1 in 3 single-person households, to live among a community and
have the option for car-free living with services nearby.
Developed by San Luis Obispo non-profit Smart Share Housing Solutions, the Waterman Village includes 20
permanent below-market-rate cottage homes, built on foundations, compatible and complementary to the historic Rosa
Butron de Canet Adobe. The preservation of historical landmarks in San Luis Obispo is integral to the City’s sense of
identity, cohesion, and cultural education. As one of the few surviving adobes in the City, the Rosa Butron de Canet
Adobe shall be rehabilitated as an essential community recreational component of the Waterman Village. Rehabilitation
will meet the City’s Historic Preservation Guidelines and be consistent with the Secretary of Interior standards, per
conditions of approval, as presented in your staff report.
The adobe, generously granted to the City by Mary Gail Black in 1989, came with 3 conditions, and ensuring
consistency with the requests of Black’s donation has been a primary foundation for development of the Waterman
Village concept from the start. As required, the adobe and the two adjoining wings of the residence will be adaptively
rehabilitated by Smart Share Housing Solutions using historically reflective building materials, and available for public
access when completed. Maintenance of the adobe will be monitored for historical consistency into the future. This access
will provide the community with insights into late 19th-and early 20th-century residential development, historical
activism, and architectural legacy in San Luis Obispo that Ms. Black anticipated with her generous donation.
To maintain the historic character of the property, development of homes will maintain the adobe’s prominent
setback from Dana Street, reflecting the broad open space that defines the initial perspective towards the house. This open
space, dotted with mature trees, will serve the public as a serene neighborhood park. The bucolic atmosphere of the site
will be preserved to retain the adobe’s integrity of setting. In addition to a cultural heritage center, the development will
provide our community with a model of sustainable living practices, encourage community interaction and active
lifestyles through safe pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and a shaded park.
Waterman Village will provide a centrally located, accessible housing option for lower-income community
members, including single elder adults on fixed incomes, working residents who chose to live modestly, or a working
parent and their small child. While some may fear the idea of affordable homes and the stigma they carry in their
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neighborhood and the people that occupy such homes, this project will bring enhanced neighborhood security. Smart
Share Housing Solutions’ on-site management and offices alongside cottages will bring life back to a currently unsecured
lot and bring human life back into a boarded up historic resource, which has been occupied by rodents, garbage and old
mattresses for years. Residents will be screened and background checked.
As housing prices soar across California, San Luis Obispo residents deserve more opportunities to stay, connect
with our community, and have access to personal space and mobility, while maintaining a reasonable budget to meet all
their needs. The development of Waterman Village, centered around the rehabilitation and opening up of the adobe for
use, provides an opportunity to community members to access a historic resource which has been sitting empty and
boarded up for more than 30 years.
Thank you for your support of this innovative project that meets so many City goals.
Sincerely,
Kellye Grayson
San Luis Obispo
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