HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/28/2024 Item 4a, Stewart1
From:Susan Stewart <
Sent:Tuesday, October 22, 2024 4:39 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:in support of 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
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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,
Susan Stewart
San Luis Obispo