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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/11/2024 Item 4a, CooleyPublic Comment Regarding Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday December 11, 2024 Item Number 4.a, 466 Dana Street Waterman Village Development Hello, My name is Jim Cooley, I am the owner of the eight apartment units two doors away from the proposed Waterman Village Project. I graduated from Cal Poly and started a construction business in 1986 in San Luis Obispo. I have lived in this area for over 40 years, and am by no means a wealthy Landlord. I obtained this property through working for the Nungary family, who had owned and lived at this humble apartment building since the 1940’s. They, later, proposed for me to buy the property with their help. I purchased the property in 2020 and have been a steward of the property and the many long-term tenants for the last 4 years. In fact 2 of our tenants have been in our property for over 20 years. We maintain most of the rents at this property at or below Low income Rents as defined by the county of San Luis Obispo. This property is my livelihood and my retirement and many of the tenants are my friends. I am currently adding two units to my property. In our efforts to expand the property to the allotted Units available per zoning, we were NOT able to build to our allotted number of UNITS due to the municipal code parking requirements of "(no less than 1 space per dwelling unit), plus 1 guest parking space per 5 units.” This significantly reduced the long-term value of my property and my retirement plans. In all cases we adhered to all municipal codes and were granted no exceptions. Our issue with the proposed Waterman Village low income housing project is that they are asking the City to approve a development where only FOUR of the REQUIRED 29 on-site parking spaces are being proposed. In previous meetings there has been misleading information regarding the availability of on- street parking permits, stating that the development would be entitled to Two street parking permits, when in fact each dwelling UNIT would be entitled to Two street parking permits if the City puts this address into the Dana Street parking district. That would be potentially 40 cars on the street. I have section 8 tenants and several very low income tenants in single bedroom apartments, they all have at least one car, and the couples have two cars. These are not wealthy people. Cars are a reality for most people to be able to make a living and it is the rare exception that anyone can live without a vehicle in San Luis Obispo. The proposal before you tonight is asking for an exception of 25 required parking spaces per municipal code. If added to the parking district this will undoubtedly put 30-40 additional cars on this residential street, impacting all of the current residents and not in line with the intent of the “proposed project”. Therefore, I would like to ask on behalf of my tenants and our neighbors that the City, if you do approve the proposed project, please do not allow, or significantly limit, the number of street parking permits available for this development. This would be directly in line with the intention of the project and the previous presentations regarding Waterman Village, stating that this development is targeted to residents whom do not have cars. I am not anti-development, but I am opposed to major concessions that would significantly impact an established residential community in such a negative way, when this issue can be resolved by declining on-street parking for this development, which is exactly in line with the Developers proposals. Additionally, the City just recently added a large apartment complex to the Dana Street Parking district since the inception of the Waterman Village proposal, further impacting available street parking. This neighborhood cannot support 20-30 more cars parked on the street. Thank you for Consideration of my concerns.