HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/1/2025 Item 8a, Smith, C.
carolyn smith <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:City Council Meeting - April 1, 2025 - 8a. Broadstone Village Project
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Mayor Stewart and Councilmembers:
I've lived in the Laguna Lake area off of LOVR for over 40 years. I've been involved in the process for
several large projects in the area and have become very concerned at the amount of growth that
continues to occur along the LOVR/Madonna corridors. I attended many meetings regarding the San
Luis Ranch project and as I recall when it was proposed, there was assurance from the developer
that the project would provide significant affordable housing for our workforce, reducing trips from
north and south county flooding the freeway. While there has been a limited number of housing units
sold under the workforce plan, the vast majority of the housing in San Luis Ranch is market rate and
unaffordable for most workers. Additionally, the developer recently requested and was approved to
remove the original mixed used commercial/low-income housing phase, that helped get this project
originally approved, and instead requested a second change to the phase which would remove the
mixed use and add 275+ apartment high density market-rate rental units with an area designated for
low-income housing which wasn't yet funded. Additionally, during the planning process of San Luis
Ranch, the then city council overrode significant unavoidable impacts delineated in the FEIR because
of the assurance that the project would provide lower-income housing which still hasn't occurred (8
years later) and has an uncertain future if funding isn't obtained. Furthermore, the San Luis Ranch
FEIR required that only one Phase of San Luis Ranch should be built without the Prado
Overpass. As we know, most of the phases have been built now without it.
Now, we have the Broadstone Village project that professes it will provide affordable housing for
seniors and others. One has to wonder if this isn't a ploy being used by developers as an incentive to
get their large projects approved, knowing they can indefinitely delay, modify, and/or eventually
remove the lower income portion--a sort of bait and switch scheme. This project is very dense and
while the city has been claiming for years that the more housing that's built the more affordable it will
become; it just hasn't happened, and most believe it never will--at least not here. What it has done,
however, is stretch our infrastructure to a near breaking point and made this city very congested with
high volume traffic on nearly every major arterial and intersection, in particular the
LOVR/Madonna/South Higuera corridors.
The Broadstone Village project should not be reviewed in a bubble but in the overall context with the
Froom Ranch project just up the road that has been working its way through the planning
process. The cumulative effect of these two projects will create a traffic catastrophe. Despite all the
assurances that traffic from this project will flow through a bypass road that will help alleviate
congestion, there is no guarantee it will be completed (even if it's a condition) and it doesn't even take
into account the increased traffic from the Froom Ranch Project Below is a description of the Froom
Ranch project .that I obtained from the city's website:
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"The Froom Ranch Specific Plan involves the development of a multi-family residential complex
with 130 units, a 70,000 sq. ft. hotel with 120 rooms, 30,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, the Life
Plan Community, a 2.9-acre trailhead park, and additional open space designations.
Additionally, without the Prado Road overpass, there will be no relief from the significant traffic
impacts from both the Broadstone Village and the Froom Ranch projects. It's my understanding from
the council's last meeting on this matter, there is still a great deal of uncertainty that sufficient funding
will ever be available to complete the Prado Road Exchange, so the can continues to be kicked down
the road while new projects are moving forward. I fear the real time (not modeling) traffic impacts from
the Froom Ranch project, coupled with the Broadstone Village project, will tip the scales into total
traffic gridlock. As I recall, the Froom Ranch project includes a stop light at Auto Park Way. If you
add another stop light that's included in this project, there will be at least 7 or 8 stop lights from the
Madonna Road/LOVR intersection to the South Higuera/LOVR intersection--approximately a mile or
less stretch that includes a freeway on and off ramp. The commercial stores bring people from all
over the county, so the traffic impact just from those businesses is extreme. Adding the additional
traffic from both the Froom Ranch and the Broadstone Village projects will create unimaginable
results and after it's built, there will be no going back.
Therefore, I suggest no further projects should be considered in this area without certainty that the
Prado Road Overpass will be built. Doing anything else will be short-sighted and have severe
consequences. While I realize this meeting is focused on preliminary matters, I also know from my
experience that once a project gets even initial approvals, it's too late to have significant input for
changes thereafter.
Thank you.
Carolyn Smith
San Luis Obispo
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