HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/28/2024 Item 4a, Holub1
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Patrick Holub <pholub@arroyogrande.org>
Sent:Tuesday, October 22, 2024 2:13 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Waterman Village Letter of Support
Attachments:PHolub_Waterman Village CHC Letter of Support.docx
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Please see the attached letter regarding support for the Waterman Village project.
Thank you,
Patrick Holub
Associate Planner
Community Development, City of Arroyo Grande
Tel: 805‐473‐5426 | www.arroyogrande.org
300 E. Branch St | Arroyo Grande | CA | 93420
City Hall Business Hours: M‐Th 8:00 am ‐ 5:00 pm; Fridays 8:00 am ‐ 12:00 pm
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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 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,
Patrick Holub, Grover Beach