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Home My WebLink About05-07-2018 - Item 3 - Stireman1 Tonikian, Victoria From:Russ Stireman < Sent:Monday, May 07, 2018 2:32 PM To:Advisory Bodies Subject:Fernwood Drive 5-Plex To the Architectural Review Panel and any Other Appropriate Planning Bodies, At the time of the initial sale of the Moose Int’l property and lot split some of us voiced our opposition to the split because we knew it would bring a multiplex. Our intention was that, at the re‐addressing of the lot from an Orcutt Road address to a Fernwood Drive address, the property should be reconsidered for a zone change to R1. I was told by Bill Calloway some years ago that the planning commission required Moose Int’l to purchase the R1 lot to meet the department’s parking requirements at that time. The building has the same capacity, yet the recent commission allowed for less spaces. I also see that this lot was newly split in 2014. I’ll get to the truth, but either way, the Unity Church did not meet all of the requirements for the lot split; there is no outlet onto Orcutt Road and there is many times not enough parking when events and/or services are held at the church. We residents have no problem with the “occasional” overflow and support the church in the neighborhood. However, I was present at the meeting where those parking requirements were put forth. Was there some exclusion allowed after‐the‐fact that the church could not/did not meet those requirements? Anyhow, we were told that nothing could be enacted until an application was submitted. I came in on a monthly basis for the first year‐and‐a‐half, asking about applications. The agent at the desk knew clearly what the purpose/intention of my visits regarded because I stated it every time. I was told that it was not necessary for me to keep coming in and that we would be notified via a “green postcard” when an application had been submitted. This white card we all received recently is the first time any of us have been notified of any intention to build. From the looks of what has been submitted, a lot of work and expense has been put forth by Villas at Fernwood, LLC, and things may be way past the re‐addressing step. The concern at this point is that it is too late to have the lot rezoned. In addition, I am a bit confused and disappointed because when I went into the Planning Department office last Friday, I was told by the agent that he knew of no way to have a lot re‐zoned. This conflicts with my voiced intentions over the previous 15‐or‐so visits I mentioned earlier. This creates a serious confidence problem with our City staff. This absolutely cannot happen with a City government body and its citizens. Today is an “architectural review”, the purpose and guidelines (I believe) are to ensure the City’s physical environment. Not exactly sure what that means, but I would like to make it clear to them that 2 adding/allowing these additional 10 bedrooms is going to make far worse an already very impacted parking situation on that short block. We have five R1 houses on that block, each with their own driveway. Plus there is a driveway for the Unity Church, a driveway for this lot under consideration and a red‐striped zone for a fire hydrant. This leaves little room for on‐street parking and except for the two spaces up on one corner (at Fernwood and Briarwood), the street is full most nights. To add to the parking squeeze, Las Brisas no longer allows their employees to park in their lot, which forces them to park either on Orcutt Road (which they rarely do) or at that corner of Fernwood and Briarwood (which is customary). This impacts the neighborhood, which is in direct conflict with what was testified by Las Brisas when they applied for their building permits – that their existence would have no impact on the neighborhood, as the main driveway would be on the Orcutt Road side, which has never been utilized. Now we have not only parking taken up there, emergency vehicles come up through Fernwood and Briarwood and travel up the narrow winding drive. I have been told by neighbors and by Las Brisas staff that many times the fire trucks have to drive over the curb when coming up that driveway. Also, as there are several people shacking up in the mobile homes across the street, we have an over‐crowding situation there. Needless to say, those people are now parking on Fernwood Drive around the Unity Church at the corner of Fernwood Drive and Orcutt Road. Having this crowding of the roadway creates a more dangerous situation, with less viewable area and no driving cushion when coming up the street. And many drivers come off of Orcutt Road at a high rate of speed (speeding, sometimes more than 10 mph over the speed limit) and continue up Fernwood Drive at those high speeds. With decreased view, this creates a much more dangerous situation. We have families with children on our street! And to add the final straw, with the new Orcutt Area Specific Plan, over 200 homes will be going in. One of the ingress/egress points is a roundabout just a few yards east of the intersection of Fernwood Drive and Orcutt Road. Not only will this bring more traffic to the area (with the additional population), but the section of Orcutt Road near the roundabout will no longer provide parking. This will further impact the parking on that short block of Fernwood Drive. So to add 10 more bedrooms on that very short block will just add worse to an already difficult situation. We all know that, regardless of what the codes provide/require for off‐street parking in these multiplexes, that due to the high cost of housing, residents/students are going to shack up two to a room. Even if the City requires 10 parking spaces, there will still be 10 more that have to spill out onto the street, of which again, there are seven driveways minimizing on‐street parking curb space. There is just no more room!! This would just be a terrible decision to allow to happen. The City’s response (Planning Department personnel) is that they are only concerned with the lot specifics and not with the resultant on‐street effects. It’s like the street is the “dump all” for any misjudgments that come from the commission and the department. I told the gentleman who was assisting me last Friday that I liken it to a gardener who comes and does work at my neighbor’s house and then blows all of the weeds and leaves over to my house and onto the street. Not my neighbor’s problem anymore!! And lastly for this statement, those of us that have been here for many years, some more that 30, many more than 20, we bought into this neighborhood because of its charm. If you cut ten tall mature trees down and replace it with a 3‐story tall building, it will absolutely kill the openness and the views this neighborhood possesses. This has to be another very important consideration. Yes, the plans make it all look pretty, but 3 that won't be the reality. When coming onto Fernwood Drive, the view will be drastically changed. You’ll have a 3‐story wall with small windows where there used to be trees and blue sky. It’s already bad enough to put these monstrosities over on Foothill at Chorro and possibly at the old McDonald’s (Foothill) site, but not in an older R1 neighborhood with single story homes. You just can’t do that to our neighborhood. I would think that, as city planners, you would be the stewards of our neighborhoods, not the sit‐on‐your‐ hands “I can’t do anything about that. It’s not in our scope.” people. I realize there are state mandates, but there has to be better ways to meet those requirements without killing our old neighborhoods. And I realize that investors have a right to build and capitalize, but to allow this to occur at our expense is also wrong. Someone else’s profits (someone who doesn’t even live in the neighborhood (and the City)) at the long‐time residents’ expense. I will be getting in‐touch with the Police Chief and the Fire Chief to discuss the impacts of this potential new construction. I am not sure the Planning Department or any commissions have really gone on‐site to take a hard look at what could happen there. When I was growing up, we had this thing called “common sense” and “good judgment”. I hope that is still a thing today. Russ Stireman