HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/02/2001, PUBLIC COMMENT - CANNON CORPORATE CENTER 4041 BROAD STREET, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA >' Son Luis Obispo Eye Assocliu.es or/► �} )
l ! A Medical Group.Inc
Medical and Surgical Care of the Eye /1 lU� Larry B.Baldwin,M.D.
V U lz'/ W.James Gealy,Jr.,M.D.
n Rena A.Stathacopoulos,M.D.
Frank M.Basich,M.D.
Charles LTribby,O.D.
August 9,2001
Planning and Zoning Department
City of San Luis Obispo C
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Re: Cannon Corporate Center � Q �-
4041 Broad Street, San Luis Obispo, CA
Planning and Zoning Staff:
We are the physician owners of San Luis Obispo Eye Associates, A Medical Group. The
purpose of this letter is to make an urgent request to have you permit San Luis Obispo
Eye Associates to establish clinical offices in the soon-to-be constructed Cannon
Corporate Center.
San Luis Obispo Eye Associates is a busy and growing medical practice. We currently
occupy approximately 3,075 square feet of space in a medical building on Ella Street,but
have an urgent need to expand to a space of approximately 5,000 square feet. We have
been seeking expansion space for over three years, but have been unable to find even one
properly zoned space available within the City to buy or lease.
Our requirements have been posed to both the City's Economic Development Manager as
well as to the Planning Department for any assistance the City might be able to provide.
Not even one availability could be identified. The suggestion of one of the Planners was
to wait until French Hospital expanded their office near the hospital. This was one year
ago. No plan for an additional building at French Hospital is yet in the plamring process.
The suggestion of the Economic Development Manager was to purchase a few older
downtown buildings,tear them down and construct a new larger facility in their place.
This assemblageldemolition/construction option is economically unfeasible for our
group.
While a number of San Luis Obispo medical practices are having a difficult time finding
office space, our situation is unique. Our patients are typically seniors with identified
vision problems. They come to us for ophthalmologic services from a broad geographic
area via automobile as well as public transportation. This makes our choice of an office
location critical; it is in fact a public safety issue. We specifically cannot require our
patients to navigate the downtown area due to the traffic, congestion, access and parking
issues. Two years ago the husband of one of our patients was killed in an auto accident at
Ella and Johnson after leaving our present office. Consequently,the safest possible
234 Heather Court-Templeton.CA 93465 1304 Ella Street-San Luis Obispo,CA 93401
(805)434-5970-fax 434-5973 (805)781-3937•fax 781-2577
Planning and Zoning Department August 9,2001
City of San Luis Obispo Page 2
ingress and egress via a signalized intersection is an extreme priority for our next
location.
We are aware that the City has established a zoning ordinance which mandates medical
offices locate in"Professional Office"zoned properties. The City has confined this
zoning to the downtown area and the properties immediately adjacent to the hospitals.
No properties that accommodate our space, parking and safety needs have been available
for several years within this designated zoning area. No such properties are presently
being developed for future offering.
Lack of suitable medical space in the City of San Luis Obispo will only exacerbate the
growing problem of access to medical care for seniors. San Luis Obispo Eye Associates
maintains a small second office location in Templeton to serve our patients who live in
North County,but by far the larger part of our patient population is in the South County.
The neighboring cities of Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach have just approved freeway
close,highly accessible and spacious new medical campuses to accommodate the demand
within those cities for medical office space,but we would prefer to remain in San Luis
Obispo.
We have been informed that the new"Business Park"zoning which will be applied to
Cannon Corporate Center is in the process of being crafted for application to San Luis
Obispo's growing business community. We urge you to permit a percentage of this
project and zoning to qualify for large medical practices such as ours. To do so will
enable us to expand our ophthalmology practice in this City within a reasonable amount
of time at a safely accessible location.
Respectfully,
San Luis Obi Eye Associates, A Medical Group
By.
B. atdwin, .
C\Ak -,0\ / -
By:
Vky J Geal M.D,.;1
Y
Rena A Stathacopoulos,M.D.
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