HomeMy WebLinkAbout06_28-29_2017 PC Correspondence - Avila Ranch (Waldsmith)
From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 12:40 PM
To: Davidson, Doug; Advisory Bodies
Subject: Dangers of proceeding with the Avila Ranch project
ddavidson @slocityor
Advisorybodies@slocity.org
Good day Mr. Davidson and Members of the Planning Commission,
RECEIVED
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
JUN 2 8 2017
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
I am writing to document my objection to any further proceeding of the Avila Ranch Project.
While I appreciate the design of the site, and certainly recognize the need for affordable housing in
the community, I see several areas of concern that to date I have not seen addressed in a
reasonable way;
1— Traffic;
Buckley road is already dangerous as it is.
There are three significant blind spots for traffic traveling on Buckley road, in that (at present
speeds of 50+ MPH) there is not an opportunity to properly see traffic entering from the south side
of Buckley road from Jesperson, Davenport Creek road, Mello Ln, Hidden Springs road and Thread
lane in time to respond.
The entry is even more hazardous for trucks and trailers, as they take a minimum of 10-12 seconds
to safely enter the road, and even longer if they are required to slow down due to livestock in the
trailers.
These same blind spots place a very significant risk to bicyclists and pedestrians on the road as well.
There is also no proper provision for the traffic of agricultural vehicles traveling on Buckley road.
When I moved here people would even ride their horses down the side of Buckley road, but to
attempt that now with the current traffic level would be impossible.
These current issues will be further compounded by the traffic associated with the Avila Ranch
project which is estimated to more than double to over 9000 cars per day once the project is
complete, and the extension of Buckley Road to Higuera Street is complete.
If you want visual evidence of the problem as it currently exists, just go to the corner of Buckley
road and Hwy 227 at 5 PM on a weekday.
The mitigations I have seen described regarding traffic for this project are only a minor widening of
Buckley road in the area of the Avila Ranch property itself. It seams unreasonable to me that one
could think widening one part of Buckley road, but not the entire road, can solve the increased
traffic and in fact it could make it worse by creating congestion points.
Even if the entirety of Buckley road were to be widened you would still be ruining the agricultural
character of the area, as anyone with a rural or agricultural pursuit would be discouraged because
of the traffic dangers and congestion.
To summarize;
• The current situation is bad, and creates significant risks to the agricultural traffic and those
of us entering Buckley road from its south side as it is.
• To add the traffic from the Avila Ranch project compounds those problems substantially.
• The rural boundary Buckley road offers the city would be destroyed.
2 — The southern boarder of the property is in a significant flood zone. No amount cleaning out
creek beds, etc. will mitigate the water levels that accumulate to over 2 feet in depth over
Buckley/Vachel roads during winter storms — making the roads impassable. The problem is
downstream on the opposite side of the road and cannot be mitigated completely by any efforts on
the Avila property by itself.
3 — The changes to the character of the area will have a direct and negative effect of those of us
living and working on the southern aspect of Buckley road.
As the owner of a veterinary facility which employs over forty tax paying individuals, I see a clear
threat to my business in that the animal owners of the community, especially those that own large
animals, will be discouraged from using our veterinary services as a consequence of the
inconvenience and dangers associated with travel on Buckley road.
Hopefully you can see this puts local jobs in danger, in addition to changing the rural character of
the green belt buffer area those of living to the south of Buckley road provide to the SLO
community.
I request that this email be added to all appropriate files and records regarding the Avila Ranch
project, and also that it is individually provided to the members of the San Luis Obispo Planning
Commission.
Please confirm receipt of this email, and your ability to comply.
Sincerely,
J.K.Waldsmith, DVM
The Equine Center
4850 Davenport Creek Road
San Luis Obispo, CA. 93401
USA
805-541-6367, Fax 1-805-549-9237
www.theequinecenter.com