HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/1/2025 Item 8a, Slem
Charles M. Slem <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Broadstone project considerations
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Dear Council Members:
I see in the Tribune today that new shiny objects that will be dangled before the city council
on the Broadstone Project.
I would like to remind you that our city council has been dazzled in the past by promises that
developers never fulfill.
I have two general issues I hope you consider carefully - “emergency services” and “promises
made but not kept.”
Emergency Services
Please consult with the emergency services folks to make sure this time that the traffic
studies incorporated the ability to maneuver large emergency vehicles and not interfere with
response times. In addition to incredible traffic congestion for that area, I am also concerned
with the ability of the LOVR to handle evacuations in case of larger scale problems -
urban/wildland fires, aircraft accidents, hazardous materials spill, etc.
Promises Made but Not Kept
Affordable housing
When it comes to promises, if there is some promise of more low income affordable housing
units as a payoff for increasing density, make them build those units first — not deferred to
some future date.
I was appalled to hear at a city council meeting considering the San Luis Ranch rezoning
application that the main “affordable housing” component to this development had not been
constructed yet. Really affordable low income/workforce housing is what the city needs —
period.
Shiny Objects
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The San Luis Ranch developer promised (with representative pictures and drawings in his
application package) of a visually pleasing agricultural view shed along 101 “framing the
arrival to the City of San Luis Obispo.”
Somehow the city gave away its rights to share in the control of the agricultural view shed
well after the original application was approved (with these original view shed
reassurances).
What We Got
In addition to the plastic covered eyesore as a the visually pleasing “southern gateway” to Slo,
the overuse of plastic coverings is just bad agricultural practice.
Cal Poly scientists have just published a study on the role of microplastic pollution that is
reflected in the plastic covering. This study of plastics included the Central Coast. This is what
we want to portray as reflecting the values of San Luis Obispo?
??Ekta Tiwari, Seeta Sistla, Agricultural plastic pollution reduces soil function even under
best management practices, PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 10, October 2024,
pgae433, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae433
???My point is that sophisticated developers have seemingly successfully made promises
about their developments that they didn’t keep.
Let’s make sure the city doesn’t get snookered once again with a project that may not deserve
the accommodations they are requesting.
Sincerely,
Chuck Slem
348 Lincoln Street
Slo
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