HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/21/2018 Item 17, Seitz
Christian, Kevin
From:Mike&Sharon <seitzclan@aol.com>
Sent:Monday, August
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Please do not vote our town out of being one of the most wonderful places to live!
Dear City Council,
As a long time resident I am asking City Council to vote cautiously tomorrow night on the "density and bike increase and
heights of buildings etc".
1. Raising the height limitation maximum from 45 ft to 75 ft - developers from out of the area are wanting to raise the
heights of buildings which are obstructing the view of our beautiful mountains and hills in our city. One example is that we
let Parker and Firestone build a larger and taller hotel on Monterey street (1865 monterey street) and now everyone wants
to follow suit. We do not need any further high rises which removes the views from businesses and those who live
downtown. The multi use buildings have not proven that they can be filled, there are so many vacant buildings downtown
because no one can afford to have a business here unless you are a "box store" or "chain store" who can afford to rent at
over $8 per square foot downtown, while local businesses go under (Gallery at the Network, Pluto's restaurant, Which
Wich, Thomas Hill etc. Traffic is also increasing to horrible levels, (like Foothill and Chorro, it will be crazy when Cal Poly
starts school with the new High rise on that corner). Building another complex across the street on Foothill/Chorro is crazy
with minimized parking that will make commutes horrible, The traffic should be reviewed 7:30-9 when school is in session
to see the real traffic congestion for those who live on that side of town.
2. Parking- The council has already reduced parking all over the city with the new multi-use buildings going in and taking
parking away. "Visitors" and "locals" are having a hard time parking and allowing those new buildings to reduce parking
even further is not "friendly". At least one of our parking structures is older and therefore, handicapped and young families
with strollers cannot park there because there is no elevator (corner of Palm across from the Palm Theatre). So, that
leaves the parking structure on Palm next to the library and the one on Marsh, both of which are usually crowded during
peak usage times. I do believe some people can "bicycle" if desired or able to, but young families with children need car
seats and it may not be feasible to bike everywhere for groceries, childcare etc and with the large number of "retirees" in
this area, they too may not be able to walk and bike everywhere. So, not everyone can "walk and bike instead of drive". If
we ever get our "desired rain", that would also eliminate the bicycle riders from traveling through town and we have no
parking.
While we need tourists, we also need to provide them a place to park and we still need to be able to attract our local
residents and enable them to continue to to enjoy our lovely quaint town and restaurants, or we will soon become the next
San Diego or Los Angeles.
Please keep our wonderful city a "desirable place to live".
Regards,
Sharon Seitz
(resident of San Luis Obispo for 43 years!)
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