HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/18/2019 Item 1, Havlik
TO: City of San Luis Obispo Cultural Heritage Committee
FROM: Neil Havlik
SUBJECT: FROOM RANCH PROJECT PROPOSAL AGENDA ITEM, November 18, 2019
Dear Committee Members:
At your meeting of November 18, 2019, you are being asked to provide input into the Draft
located on Los Osos Valley Road and Calle Joaquin.
I am sorry that I will not be able to be present at your meeting, but I am currently out of the State
on a previously planned visit with family members.
Since the DEIR was only released to the public on November 8, 2019, and is hundreds of pages
long, I presume that you have not really had time to review and consider it in any detail.
However, I draw your attention to the two chapters (Cultural and Tribal Cultural Resources, and
Alternatives) dealing with matters most directly under your purview, especially to the
alternatives section, which outlines alternative ways to undertake the project.
Alternative #1 is the so-
permission for the project sponsors to undertake their planning. This alternative was specifically
required to detail how the project could be developed while main
important environmental policies, that of preservation of lands above the 150 foot elevation at
the base of the Irish Hills. This policy has been in effect for 25 years and has played an
important role in the creation and growth of the Irish Hills Natural Reserve. It significantly
reduces the negative impacts of the proposed project in many important regards, including
ecological impact, impact upon recreational uses of Irish Hills Natural Reserve, and upon the
cultural (historic and archeological) resources of the area.
A survey of the dairy farm complex identified four buildings which were recommended for
restoration or replication. You may recall that, at the time of the Notice of Preparation (NOP)
for the DEIR, it was not considered feasible to move the large barn building, and as a result the
proposed project includes the construction of a replica of this building. Also the barn needs to be
moved as it was found to sit on the trace of the potentially active Los Osos Fault. The other
buildings will be moved as well. The project sponsors propose to keep the buildings in the same
general area as they are today, and claim that certain measured distances between the buildings
would be retained and that this somehow preserves the historical character of the site.
It has been previously argued before your commission that the buildings should be moved to
much more appropriate setting (oriented to the Irish Hills Natural Reserve) for this historic
complex than being situated among a bunch of apartments and commercial buildings fronting on
a busy street. Though it would lie just above the 150 foot elevation, the public park and
trailhead, dairy complex. and Froom Creek restoration constitute a public amenity that can be
justified at that elevation, whereas typical private residential development cannot.
The DEIR supports this viewpoint. It states (see page 5-etaining the four
historic structures that contribute to the potential historic district within the trailhead park and in
a natural setting more reminiscent of their historic past than the Project (i.e., set atop a rise
against the natural hillside of the Irish Hills rather than set amongst multi-family housing units
The DEIR likewise states that Alternative #1 would reduce impacts upon archeological resources
by keeping urban development below the 150 foot elevation at the so-
sparing it from the significant grading disturbance associated with such development.
It is clear that Alternative #1 is much preferable to the project as proposed with regard to its
cultural impacts. It must be noted that those impacts are still considered significant and
unavoidable; however, that is due to the fact that the dairy site will be destroyed and a number of
its buildings demolished in any case, and also to the fact that some disturbance or damage may
still occur to archeological resources. The very existence of the proposed project leads to these
significant and unavoidable impacts being recognized. But reducing them significantly, and
locating the remaining buildings of the dairy farm into a still-rural setting is much better in the
long run for the community than what is proposed under the current Project.
Creating an historic and trailhead park at the storage area would have other community benefits.
Trail access to the Irish Hills Natural Reserve would be immediate: four major trails come off of
this spot, with fifth and sixth trails within another 1/3 to 1/2 mile. Also, Froom Creek in that
immediate vicinity offers a great opportunity for restoration, unlike the flood control channel-
like facility proposed further downstream. Thus the historic/trailhead park offers opportunities
for preservation of the historic buildings in a rural, more attractive setting, immediate access to a
comprehensive trail system, and the opportunity to have immediate access to an ecological
restoration effort right at the trailhead for our citizens and our environment.
I urge your Commission to recognize the values of this approach compared to the proposed
project, and recommend to the City Council that it select Alternative #1 as the project to consider
further for possible annexation and development.
Thank you.
Neil Havlik, PhD,
City of San Luis Obispo Natural Resources Manager (retired)
November 17, 2019