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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/15/2019 Item 9, McLean From:cc mc lean < AM To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Appeal, 790 Foothill Blvd. project, Jan. 14,2019 Item # 9 PLEASE FORWARD TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS & POST ON AGENDA CORRESPONDENCE. Mayor and City Council members: Please uphold the appeal by Odile Ayral and James Lopes and stop the predatory buildings that are degrading the North part of San Luis Obispo. You have the power to put the brakes on projects such as this one that are too massive and tall for San Luis Obispo and are taking away precious protected views, privacy, sunlight and are not compatible with the neighborhood with its already over-crowded and strained roads which threatens the safety, health and welfare of residents. You can require a better project at the 790 Foothill site. It will not be affordable workforce housing, just more "luxury" student housing. The parking reduction that is proposed will have severe negative impacts. The result is that the already over-parked area will not be able to accommodate an increase in parking needs and will end up parking in residential neighborhoods and shopping centers which are already crowded with the many customers,employees who do not have parking at their workplace and the students who park in the Foothill area to avoid Cal Poly's steep parking fees & lack of adequate parking. The already horrible traffic in this area will be worsened by the addition of the 790 Foothill project whose ONE driveway is in a very dangerous location at Broad and Foothill. It's presently one of two driveways that serves Black Horse and in the future will dump all 790 Foothill traffic directly into the intersection of Broad and Foothill which is already a mess. This project will be three times the size of 22 Chorro. The increased traffic will negatively impact the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles. This unacceptable risk needs to be addressed by you. It will also result in more gridlock with the dysfunctional traffic circulation in the area. Think about all of the vehicles idling and Climate Change. Please require that drawings be made to scale. The computer renderings of the project are misleading and give the appearance of plenty of space between the streets and the apartments and that is not the reality with the reduced setbacks and minimal parking. Take a look at another of the developer's projects at 22 Chorro and you'll see how intrusive these projects are in reality as well as the safety issues. It is evidently only 1/3 occupied. A project of this size, mass & scale needs to require the use of story poles (or 3D computer renderings illustrating before and after images) so that residents and City officials can 1 visualize the true size, mass, siting, density and impacts of a development project. Once again, 22 Chorro is a shock to most neighbors since the reality of the project does not match the computer renderings with amply planted mature street trees nor did the drawings show the dangerous juxtaposition of the 22 Chorro driveway and the Ferrini driveway across Chorro Street. Adding more traffic to this area is negligent. At Foothill & Broad the UPS/Chile Pepper's/SLOdoco driveway is hairy due to the elimination of a driveway during the remodeling and the proximity to the Broad/Foothill traffic signal. The Foothill/Chorro intersection is already very dangerous and will be more perilous due to the increased amount of traffic being generated. 790 Foothill is three times the size of 22 Chorro. A real, up to date traffic and circulation study needs to be used, not merely an extrapolation from out of date computer data. As a City Council member you have the power to not allow the finagling that happens before and after the building is finished and signed off. The oversized bedrooms will easily be partitioned resulting in two times the bedrooms permitted. Please do not be fooled by the term "privacy screen" that the planners used to bamboozle the ARC Commissioners; the new term for a wall is evidently a "privacy screen." The City turns a blind eye to such violations which preys on students and tremendously increases outrageous profits for the developer. It's time to stand up for our City, its residents and neighborhoods. San Luis Obispo residents deserve protection in terms of our safety, viewshed, health and welfare over a developer's profits. This will not provide the affordable, workforce housing that families need. So why give the developer all of the exemptions and exceptions? Please uphold the Appeal and make the developer come up with a better project. Thank you. Sincerely, Cheryl McLean Anholm 2