HomeMy WebLinkAboutComment Received 06-08-2017 - San Luis Ranch (General) (Lakeman)7 June 2017
SLO Planning Commissioners
RE: San Luis Ranch @ Dalidio
Dear Chair Stevenson and Commissioners:
Your two sessions last week on 24 and 25 May were very
informational and technical, however, images and site plans were
not explained or on the screen long enough to truly see and
understand the layout of San Luis Ranch. And I did not hear the
word “Trees” or the “Birds” of the site discussed. Only that the Park
allotment was cut from 5 to 2.8 acres. Since then I have been able
to see the Site Plan for the San Luis Ranch and am disheartened
to see that all the trees along Madonna Road are going to be
demolished as well as other groups of trees within the property.
Also, that the trees will be replaced with an alley to the single auto
garages that will face onto Madonna to provide an ugly sight in
place of our lovely eucalyptus trees.
For 35 years I have lived and owned homes in the Laguna Lake
area and so I often drive past the beautiful forested Dalidio area on
Madonna Road. In the early evening, I see the flocks of large birds
circling the grand forest before they roost for the night. Some
people have mentioned that they are Blue Herons and others that
they are Turkey Vultures, and then there are the Monarchs that
need tall trees to roost in.
I would like to know if the Developer and his designers have tried
to maintain as much as possible of this Urban Forest since it
seems there are enough treeless areas within the site to place the
buildings. In a visit to 71 Palomar, I spoke with a gardener there
who told me that down south he attends to a similar housing
project where the designers were able to place the new homes all
within the tree covered site and it has made a lovely housing area.
He is hoping for the same solution at 71 Palomar and Dalideo.
At your May 25th meeting there was discussion about whether to
have only a 5-acre park allotment or to reduce it to just 2.8 acres
and it seemed the Commissioners had determined that the lesser
amount would be fine and the remainder would be placed in lieu?
How do you do that? I do not understand that way of thinking at
all. As it stands the Dalideo property is already a Grand Park and
should be kept as much that way as possible. Being directly across
the road from Laguna Lake Park it defines a beautiful area in our
town.
In today’s’ Tribune, developer Gary Grossman is quoted as saying
that the San Luis Ranch “allows for a walkable, bike-friendly,
recreation-oriented community that seamlessly integrates into the
existing environment”. In order to attain this, I encourage Grossman
to plan his project around the existing natural beauties of the site,
the many trees. With the specter of Climate Change we need to be
aware of our trees, as they are exceptional in providing us with
oxygen. At the Nitrofill online site these facts jumped off the screen:
“An average sized tree produces enough ozygen in one year to
keep a family of four breathing for a year.” And in “The Hidden Life
of Trees”, “Every day in summer, trees release about 29 tons of
oxygen into the air per square mile of forest. A person breathes in
nearly 2 pounds of oxygen a day, so that’s the daily requirement
for about ten thousand people. Every walk in the forest is like
taking a shower in oxygen.”
With the water crisis in California, and the USA’s withdrawal from
the Paris Accord, we cannot expect our trees to grow to the size of
the trees at Dalidio or 71 Palamar and therefore we should be
intelligent about planning to keep them alive and working for all of
us, the birds and wildlife, as well. Additionally,
“20 Million trees provide 260 Million tons of oxygen. Those same 20
Million trees will remove 10 Million tons of CO2 from our air.”
Simply put: “Trees make people feel good.
Trees relax us.
Trees reduce our stress.”
And, trees are part of what
makes our town special and livable.
Please have the Developer prepare a new site plan where the
project is designed around the existing mature trees saving as many
trees as are possible. There is a lovely group of trees, perfect for a
park area towards the Post Office with space for the Commercial.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra Davis Lakeman, Architect
Emeritus Professor of Architecture, San Luis Obispo, California