HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-28-16 CHC Correspondence - Item 1 (Mortola)From: Advisory Bodies
To: Sheri Mortola
Subject: RE: 71 Palomar Drive MAR 2 4 2016
From: Sheri Mortola [
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 7:41 AM
To: Advisory Bodies
Subject: 71 Palomar Drive
Dear Mayor, City Council, Planning Commission, ARC & CHC,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding the proposed 41 unit apartment
project at 71 Palomar. Following the CHC on March 28th it will then proceed to
the ARC for final approval. I was unable to attend the meeting on March 15th,
but am very concerned about the impact that this project would have on our
neighborhood if it is allowed to proceed. My husband and I have owned our
home on Serrano Drive for the past 20 years and have seen how the
neighborhood has changed as some of the homes have been sold and then rented
to students. Increase in parked cars, traffic and speeding, noise all exponentially
have increased with this change. Valencia Apartments (a complex of 160
apartments), is already housed in our neighborhood. To add another 41 units is
not acceptable. If an increase in student housing is needed, it should be built on
campus at Cal Poly. As homeowners, permanent residents, and tax payers in San
Luis Obispo, our interests should be greatly considered. We love San Luis
Obispo, and have great interest in helping to continue for it to be a great place to
live!
The 71 Palomar project is bordered by a combination of narrow, steep, winding
streets (Serrano, Luneta, Ramona, Broad and Palomar) some with blind curves
and already unsafe due to traffic/circulation problems. The heavy mix of
bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders and vehicle traffic is a huge safety issue
already. Removing the barricade on Luneta, adjacent to the apartment
development will exacerbate the traffic/circulation problems in our
neighborhood. The addition of many car trips due to the addition of 41
apartments and hundreds of cars from adjacent and surrounding uphill streets
that formerly could not use Serrano (via Luneta) to exit to Broad St. without
using Ramona or Foothill will be a traffic and safety nightmare!
The 71 Palomar development is proposed for the present site of the Sandford
House which is on the city's Master List of Historic, Buildings and is slated to be
relocated on the site. Due to the topography, the site sits high above the
adjacent R-1 neighborhood and is quite prominent. The lovely old house is
likely to not survive the move and per the Secretary of the Interior's Standards
and Guidelines shouldn't be moved at all.
According to the General Plan the neighborhood, and those nearby, needs a long
promised park and this is the last possible suitable site in this area. A city park
could allow for the Sandford House to be utilized much like the Dallidet Adobe
or Jack House. The mature heritage trees should be allowed to remain and
continue to provide homes for the many owls, hawks and other birds whose
habitat would be destroyed under the developer's plan to remove them.
I am respectfully requesting that this project be routed through both the Planning
Commission and the City Council before it receives final approval. Both the
Planning Commission and the City Council are uniquely qualified to address the
adverse impacts this project will have on traffic, safety, on the natural
environment and on a historical resource. And finally, it is important that this
project receives further scrutiny, study and input from residents whose quality of
life will be negatively impacted by this project.
Thank you for your consideration,
Sheri Mortola
776 Serrano Drive
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