HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/6/2019 Item 4, Anderson
Purrington, Teresa
From:Bob Anderson <banderso@rain.org>
Sent:Friday, May 3, 2019 7:49 AM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:ARC communication
May 3, 2019
Ladies and Gentlemen of the ARC,
As a 45-year resident of San Luis Obispo — including eight years in the ‘70s and ‘80s as, first, a reporter for the
Telegram-Tribune and then a public-information writer for the city — I have long admired and been grateful for the
work of the ARC and other city bodies and officials for their work in protecting, creating and enhancing the best features
of our wonderful town, and in particular, of our downtown.
Now, I’m concerned that things are going wrong. The downtown — it strikes me as well as quite a few others — has
rather suddenly begun losing its magic. The space-filling bulk of the two new hotels, in particular, is most unfortunate
and forebodes possibly worse to come. Those massive structures are squeezing out air and cutting off light. I regret the
city and developers didn’t follow the successes of Court Street and the Downtown Center with similarly open,
imaginative and appealing spaces among buildings of moderate size.
In my opinion, three additional aspects of development, given scant public attention, need immediate attention and
change as well: setbacks from sidewalks, features that make walking a pleasure, and style.
For me, setbacks are just as important as height, possibly more so. With deep step-backs on upper floors that shift
height to the middle of a structure or a block, height’s impact can be greatly softened. But long stretches of tall facades
— anything more than two stories — that loom straight up from narrow sidewalks, with only a few feet of recess here
and there, confine pedestrians between concrete and cars and make walking unpleasant instead of a pleasure. We’re
seeing more and more of this, and it’s depressing.
I’m not a designer. I don’t know all the ways that you know to fix these discouraging trends. But please do all you can to
keep downtown not simply "pedestrian-friendly," but an actual pleasure for pedestrians. The first thing I would ask you
is to require developers to move more parts of buildings back from the sidewalk. But then also give us usable space:
small patios with benches between the sidewalk and the building … larger spaces with fountains, perhaps … raised
planters along building fronts … wide, meandering, landscaped passages through the middle of blocks. Such things need
to be done with each individual project, or else the sum will be nothing at all to keep downtown San Luis Obispo from
becoming a series of solid walls — and much less of a pleasure for walkers.
Then there’s style: How many more tall facades with dark-framed, vertical windows placed on some version of dark-and-
white must we endure? The Palm Street side of the Hotel San Luis Obispo, to me, looks — I can’t come up with a better
word — awful. I mention this now because I see in the agenda for your meeting next week (May 6) that the revision to
the project at Monterey and Toro would do it again — repeat not just that style, but also give us another facade rising
four stories straight up from the sidewalk. This style was cheap and ugly from the start, has become a cliché even before
all the scaffolding has been removed from Hotel San Luis Obispo, and is appearing again on this revision. For this project,
please keep something like the softer look of the already-approved design. It does so much less harm. And please, no
more black and white.
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I can’t help but add, while we’re on it, that design problems seem to be extending outside the downtown as well. The
misnamed "brownstones" on Marsh are, to me, a poor imitation of Disneyland Main Street. I’d rather have honest
"bland" than such a mishmash. Please don’t let that kind of thing keep happening, either.
Yet the possible building I dread most is the large development proposed on the old Riley’s/Copeland’s/Sports Authority
corner at Chorro and Marsh. I fear that could be the worst disaster yet. I desperately hope things will change before that
is approved.
Incidentally, if our zoning and other regulations are part of the problem here (the general plan included), I urge you to
press the city council for changes that will keep us from turning San Luis Obispo into a depressingly generic California
city with a once-lovely downtown suffocating in concrete canyons.
On the hopeful side, I saw in a recent ARC agenda the modifications you required to the project on The Creamery’s
parking lot. While I hate to see another space filled up, it appears from the before-and-after renderings (if I’m seeing this
correctly) that you did an excellent job ensuring a development the city will be happy with.
Thank you for your service to the community.
Bob Anderson
San Luis Obispo
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