HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/10/2018 Item 2, Holzhauer
Christian, Kevin
From:Robert Holzhauer <rjholzhauer@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, April 10,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:ADUs on lots not owner occupied
To: SLO City Council and Community Planning Department
Re: Zoning Regulation Study Session
From: Robert Holzhauer
Date: April 10, 2018
Honorable Mayor, City Council Members and Community Planning Director:
I am Bob Holzhauer. I moved to SLO in 1978, left to re-connect with family in NYS in 1992 and returned to the place I
grew to love in 2011.
Many of the things that brought me back to SLO were as I remembered them. But I was surprised at how large Cal Poly
had grown and how that had impacted housing.
My wife and I purchased a frankly run-down home on what was a quiet cul-de-sac off of Patricia Drive. We renovated
the home to be the place we where would live for the rest of our days.
When the man who lived on 803 Patricia Drive, died, the owner leased the home to Cal Poly students. Although there
are only 5 unrelated persons on the lease, their next door neighbors believe there are 6 or 7 students living in the home.
At 10:30PM on Sunday night the house was quiet, but there were 3 vehicles in the driveway and 4 on adjacent portions
of Patricia Drive.
On street parking may not be a problem on a Sunday night, but it is during weekends when that same stretch of road is
filled with the cars of hikers that have come to enjoy Bishop Peak. Even having 7 vehicles around 803 Patricia Drive may
not be a huge problem, but the same landlord has now applied for a permit to build an Accessory Dwelling Unit (an ADU)
on his lot.
An ADU used to be called a granny-unit or in-laws quarters, a dwelling for extended family members or caretakers of the
owner-occupants. SLO had an ordinance that requires ADUs only to be built on lots which such owners occupy as their
home. That ordinance was briefly overturned by a California law that took effect on 1/1/17 until SLO was able to
reinstate the owner-occupied rule on 7/1/17. In that window of time 77 owners applied for ADUs. One of those
applications was for 803 Patricia Drive and another was for 815 Pasatiempo, a second home in Tract 460, our
neighborhood. Neither are owner-occupied; both are owned by the same landlord.
I understand that the City government sees ADUs as a way to in-fill SLO rather than allow it to sprawl. I do not have a
problem with that. My problem is with a home with 5+ students plus an ADU with 5+ students becoming, in essence, an
unsupervised dormitory. Although the current student tenants have not been disruptive, the same may not be true
when there are 10+ students on the property. If that happens, several of our neighbors have told us that they will move.
And their homes will be most attractive to an owner who wants to be a landlord to students. Others will move and the
neighborhood will transform in a way that none of us who bought homes in what was a quiet residential neighborhood
could have anticipated.
I understand that the SLO City Council seeks to encourage affordable housing. And I understand that SLO has to
somehow accommodate the growth of Cal Poly. My request to the City Council is that you enforce the owner occupancy
1
ordinance to ALL applicants for ADUs so that the neighborhoods that have made SLO such a wonderful place to live are
not destroyed.
I thank you, Mayor, City Council Members and Director Codron, for your attention to this matter of great concern to me
and my neighbors.
Very truly yours,
Robert J. Holzhauer
2