HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-07-2012 ac baraschLeff Street Propertie s
1697 Sydney Stree t
San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 1
anuary 24, 2012
Hand Delivere d
,Members of the San Luis Obispo City Counci l
c/o San LutS Obispo City Hal l
990 Palm Stree t
San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 1
RE : Prolonged Hazardous condition at 1100 Leff Street Adjacent to our Property Located at 1130 A ,
B, & C Leff Street (Near Santa Rosa Street) in Downtown San Luis Obispo, C A
Dear City Council Members :
Attached please find a copy of our January 16,2012 letter which was hand delivered to several City o f
San Luis Obispo senior staff members including the City Attorney as well as the subsequent lette r
dated January 24, 2012 from Stacy Korsgaden, a senior local master agent from our property casualty
insurer, Farmers' Insurance Company of America .
After approximately 10 months of repeated phone calls from Leff Street Properties, the propert y
manager of 1130 A, B, & C Leff Street, no noticeable progress has been made to eliminate thi s
extremely hazardous condition affecting the personal safety of nearby residents, their guests, and thei r
vehicles adjacent to a large open and unreinforced drainage tributary of San Luis Creek . Additionally,
the existing open and virtually unprotected drainage way which includes a five foot wide concrete bo x
,culvert has now become blocked due to collapsing bank reinforcement and the resulting downstrea m
debris, which has resulted from the City's requested removal of a mature palm tree and its major roo t
system approximately 10 months ago .
It now appears that our existing property insurance renewal is in question as a result of this prolonge d
hazardous condition which is, of course, a condition of our mortgage loan requirements for Chas e
Home Loan Servicing Corporation .
In the event Leff Street Properties cannot renew its present property related insurance policies, our
lender will deem Leff Street Properties in default of its contractual loan obligations . Leff Street
Properties may also incur additional property related insurance premiums due to the continue d
exposure to additional safety related issues associated with this prolonged hazardous problem as wel l
as the possible higher limits of insurance that may be imposed on Leff Street Properties as a conditio n
.of the renewal of property & casualty related insurance for the 1130 A, B, & C Leff Street site ,
buildings and related on-site parking areas .
In the event that any of the above referenced actions occur, Leff Street Properties will hold the City o f
San Luis Obispo directly responsible for any additional costs and/or personal injury relate d
occurrences as Leff Street Properties has done everything possible to notify several city department s
of this prolonged, unsafe and hazardous problem .
I am sure members of the City Council would agree that this "lax" response to a private propert y
owner's repeated requests is not consistent with the general city goals and superior managemen t
strategies currently touted by the city administration. Additionally several CAL-OSHA and Californi a
Flood Management Standards are clearly not being followed, which further exposes the City of San
Luis Obispo to future State of California sanctions .
Leff Street Properties looks forward to a prompt resolution to this unfortunate and prolonged majo r
safety and drainage "mess" and can only hope that similar problems pointed out by local propert y
owners and/or citizens are better addressed by city staff in the future in a much shorter time frame than
has been the, case along Leff Street in downtown San Luis Obispo .
Please contact Leff Street Properties in writing to advise us as to the City of San Luis Obispo's course .
of action in this matter.
.Sincerely,.
Stephen B . Barasch, on behalf of th e
Barasch Family Revocable Trust and Leff Street Propertie s
Cc Katie Lichtig, City Manage r
Christine Dietrick, City Attorne y
Stacy Korsgaden, Farmers Insurance Co .of Americ a
Kirby Gordon, Esq ., Attorney-at-Law