HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/27/2018 Item 1, Pyburn
Susan Pyburn
1061 Grove Street
San Luis Obispo, CA. 93401
susanimai@yahoo.com
805 594 1625
June 26, 2018
Honorable Members of the SLO Planning Commission
Re: Upper Monterey Overlay Zone
I live at 1061 Grove Street, just feet away from Monterey and Grove. My neighbors and I are to
be impacted by the recently approved re-build of a four story hotel (The Los Padres Inn) at 1055
Monterey, which is in my back yard. I am concerned about expedited plans to pave the way for a
greatly enhanced corridor only yards away from this single story neighborhood. At present, the
tallest building in this entire area is the Quality Suites which sits down and back from the
Monterey Street.
To simply extending the Downtown height limit to this area will have premature and adverse
consequences on the small scale of the area. I support the recommendations of Save Our
Downtown to lower the Downtown C-D zone height limit, which has thus far been ignored. Now,
staff has proposed extending height increases within a potential and unstudied Upper Monterey
area, which is also proposed for an “Area Plan.” This idea is premature and unstudied in the
Initial Study.
The current height limit is 45 feet, which enables four-story buildings. There is no known short-
term (five years) need to go taller in this area. Doing so could very well attract proposals for
seven-story hotels and dorm housing similar to that which was proposed earlier on the Shell
station site.
This proposal will pre-determine the outcome of the pending Upper Monterey Area Plan. Does
staff know what and who might benefit from this early allowance?
Please deny this proposal, especially in light of the negative impacts of tall buildings versus low-
rise ones, which are clearly outlined in SLO Community Design Guidelines and which were
ignored when the Architectural Review Commission considered the Los Padres Inn on June 4.
I oppose this change unless and until the height limit in the Downtown Historic District is
lowered below the current 50 feet, to 35 feet or three story buildings. If your commission wishes
to implement that change, an increase in the C-R zone to 50 feet, with a bonus to only 60 feet
would be acceptable. No extension of downtown zoning would be necessary.
If you elect to proceed with the proposal, please direct that the Initial Study include a digital
model of the current 45-foot limit compared to the proposed 50 – 60 – 75 foot limits in downtown
– as proposed by Keith Gurnee. The model should be shown to the public and your commission
before you make your recommendation to the City Council on the proposal and the Initial Study.
It should also utilize visualization software to show the resulting loss of scenic views