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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-07-2018 - Item 2 - Aryal1 Tonikian, Victoria From: on behalf of Odile Ayral < Sent:Saturday, May 05, 2018 11:37 AM To:Advisory Bodies Subject:ARC communication To: Architectural Review Commission Subject: 790 Foothill Date: 5 May 2018 Dear Commissioners, I would like to point out a glaring omission in your report on the 790 Foothill project. On page 37, section 1, you state without providing any evidence to back your comment: "the project will not be detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of persons living or working at the site or in the vicinity." Wishful thinking is not truth, and if you lived around the Foothill neighborhood, or if you drove on Foothill and Chorro on a regular basis, you definitely would know that your statement is not correct. This intersection was rated D long before the construction of 22 Chorro, and will worsen when this building is occupied because of the increase in cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The area around this intersection was declared a high crash location also before the addition of 22 Chorro, and therefore will also get worse. Finally, the angle of the intersection makes it difficult to keep track of the lights because you can see the lights directing the Foothill traffic when you drive up on Chorro, and accidents (and numerous near accidents) have happened because of it. Consequently, many people avoid this intersection by shortcutting through residential neighborhood streets, especially Ferrini Road--where I live--when they go to Cal Poly, Cuesta or CMC because they fear this intersection. This, of course, stretches the lack of safety problem into our R1 neighborhoods. The City has been negligent when dealing with Foothill Boulevard. They have spent much time and money on a Broad Boulevard bicycle project that is, at the very least, very questionable, and have neglected Foothill that sees a great deal more cyclists riding every day. It makes no sense to install separate bike lanes in an old narrow neighborhood street like Broad while leaving cyclists wide open to accidents on a busy arterial like Foothill. Not surprisingly, a cyclist was recently killed at the intersection of Foothill with Ferrini. Considering the existing difficult conditions, I strongly believe that a project like 790 Foothill will considerably add to the lack of safety in this area, especially in view of the large number of people who will live in this building, added to those who come to shop for groceries or other items at University Square and Foothill Plaza. 790 Foothill is much too big to be placed at the corner of a dangerous intersection, and it provides only half of the necessary parking in an already heavily impacted area. The combination of 22 Chorro and 790 Foothill at the same intersection will turn an already difficult traffic into something unmanageable, and threaten the safety, welfare and the health of the surrounding residents, as well as those residing in the building. I also would like to remind you that 22 Chorro was presented to the public as "workforce housing," and "affordable housing" before it was approved. Once it was approved and building started, it was advertised as "The Academy: student apartments" renting for $1,300 per bed, that is $5,200 a month for a two bedroom apartment. Whether this deception comes from a dishonest developer or from the City is of no importance because the City is ultimately responsible for the result. We can expect the same outcome with 790 Foothill because the layout of the bedrooms is similar to 22 Chorro, and similar to the Taft student apartment building done by the same developer. The bedrooms have been, more than once, illegally divided at the Taft building, 2 and there is no doubt that they will also be divided at 22 Chorro and 790 Foothill. Thus we can expect even more tenants and more cars than anticipated. The obvious thing to do in this case would be to ensure that the floor plan of the bedrooms makes division impossible. I therefore urge you to postpone the approval of this project until 22 Chorro is up and running, and a new thorough safety study can be made of the area. Sincerely, Odile Ayral 300 Ferrini Rd. San Luis Obispo