HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-07-2016 ARC Agenda Correspondence - Item 2 (Sierra Club)CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
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From: Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club [
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2016 1:01 PM
To: Carloni, Marcus
Subject: Sierra Club comments for 3/7/16 ARC meeting
Dear Mr. Carloni,
Please distribute these comments of the Sierra Club to the Commissioners per their discussion of
Agenda Item 2, the 40 Buena Vista Ave. project, at their March 7 meeting.
SIERRA
_CLUB
FOUNDED 1892
TO: SLO Architectural Review Commission
Santa Lucia Chapter
P.O. Box 15755
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
(805) 543-8717
www.sa ntal ucia.s ierracl ub.o r
RE: 3/7/16 meeting, Agenda Item 2, proposed project at 40 Buena Vista Ave.
Dear Commissioners,
In the course of reviewing this project, we hope you will take note of the language in the
Conservation and Open Space Element of the General Plan:
San Luis Obispo has been favored with a beautiful natural setting. Also, the community has
strived for attractive urban development. Protection of these assets enhances the community's
quality of life and economic vitality. Protection involves both the integrity of the resource being
viewed, and lines of sight to the resource.
Policies
9.1.1. Preserve natural and agricultural landscapes.
The City will implement the following policies and will encourage other agencies with
jurisdiction to do likewise:
Any development that is permitted in natural or agricultural landscapes shall be visually
subordinate to and compatible with the landscape features. Development includes, but is not
limited to buildings, signs (including billboard signs), roads, utility and telecommunication lines
and structures.
Such development shall:
1. Avoid visually prominent locations such as ridgelines, and slopes exceeding 20 percent.
2. Avoid unnecessary grading, vegetation removal, and site lighting.
3. Incorporate building forms, architectural materials, and landscaping, that respect the setting,
including the historical pattern of development in similar settings, and avoid stark contrasts with
its setting.
4. Preserve scenic or unique landforms, significant trees in terms of size, age, species or rarity,
and rock outcroppings.
When the COSE was in the process of being updated and consolidated in 2005-06, many
protective measures were proposed to be dropped from the open space provisions adopted by the
City in 1994. The issue of "blurred lines" was a chronic problem, via language that would have
relaxed and diluted the City's definitions of active and passive recreation, parks, open space, etc.
Over multiple drafts, most of the element's specific protections were deleted in favor of far fewer
and less specific goals that would have been much less protective of open space.
Over the course of two years, the Sierra Club, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods, and local
residents fought to keep the protections that were put in place in 1994 with the aid of an
Environmental Quality Task Force. The wording of many generally phrased policies was
strengthened -- a process that came to be known as "turning `shoulds' into `shalls"' -- and
ultimately the Planning Commission restored critical protections that otherwise would have been
lost in the consolidation process.
At the end of the update process, on April 4, 2006, the City Council promised "The proposed
Conservation and Open Space Element maintains and/or expands the City's important
conservation and environmental policies and programs." We told the City, "We will look to you
and future City Councils to interpret the general open space protections in this element in a way
which will keep the promise that's being made tonight."
We do not believe that promise can be kept if the City grants exceptions to satisfy applicants
with difficult lots at the cost of the visual gateway to San Luis Obispo, compliance with the
provisions in your General Plan, your Community Design Guidelines, and the intent of residents
and their elected officials when they crafted and approved these policies. Please deny the
exceptions sought for this project and maintain the necessary line between developed and
undeveloped lands.
Thank you for your attention to this issue,
;
Andrew Christie, Director
Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club
P.O. Box 15755
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
(805) 543-8717