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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-28-16 CHC Correspondence - Item 1 (P Mortola)From: Advisory Bodies To: Paul J. Mortola Subject: RE: 71 Palomar Drive MO From: Paul 1. Mortola [ Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 2:22 PM To: Advisory Bodies Subject: Re: 71 Palomar Drive Dear Mayor, City Council, Planning Commission, ARC & CHC, The concerns of local citizens should be considered before regretful decisions are made. 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. 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 L__. I J_ 11 L J 1 11 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 Paul J. Mortola - Homeowner 776 Serrano Drive slomortola@aol.com