HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/5/2017 Item 12, Flickinger
Christian, Kevin
From:Sarah Flickinger <sarah@flickimc.com>
Sent:Wednesday, July
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:Harmon, Heidi
Subject:RE: San Luis Ranch Development Agenda Item 07052017
Attachments:FEIR Council Statement_Los Verdes Parks 1 and 2.docx
Good afternoon,
Please find the attached letter from the Los Verdes Parks 1 & 2 neighborhoods with regard to a San Luis Ranch
mitigation measure that includes restriping of lanes on Los Osos Valley Road between our neighborhoods, within the
roadway segment addressed by a mutual settlement agreement.
I will CC: Mayor Harmon directly, as I understand this will be unlikely to make the circulation prior to tonight’s meeting.
Sincerely,
Special Board Member
Los Verdes Park 1
Sarah Flickinger
1
Los Verdes Park 1 Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
Los Verdes Park 2 Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
attn: Sarah Flickinger, Los Verdes Park 1 Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
c/o: Farrell Smyth
21 Santa Rosa Street, Ste. 250
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
July 5, 2017
re: City Council Review, San Luis Ranch Development
To the Mayor and City Councilmembers of San Luis Obispo:
The Los Verdes Parks 1 & 2 neighborhoods do not support certification of the current FEIR for San Luis
Ranch, as we believe it to be inconsistent with CEQA requirements relating to traffic impacts, as well as
noise and air quality impacts. Furthermore, the FEIR shows unacceptable cumulative impacts in the
absence of a full interchange at Prado Road.
While we recognize that Staff is hopeful with regard to a Prado Road overpass and interchange, the FEIR
clearly states that it has a long path to go and that any development in its absence will require
overriding considerations. There is a potential that it may not happen, in which case cumulative impacts
from the development would be too severe in this area to justify overriding considerations Staff is asking
you to make today. We respectfully request that Council continue this item—including declining
certification of the FEIR—until such time that a full interchange of Prado Road is approved and funded.
For years the City has accepted developments based on traffic studies that assumed full connectivity of
a Prado interchange linking Madonna Road and Broad Street / 227 in the cumulative, and even in the
near‐term scenarios. When the San Luis Marketplace project never ended up happening, those traffic
forecasts (Froom Ranch, Irish Hills and countless others—rough summary spreadsheet available upon
request), became invalid. This is a situation our neighborhoods deal with daily, as LOVR and S. Higuera
traffic continues to grow inside our neighborhoods in the absence of full connectivity at Prado Road.
During the LOVR Interchange Project, the issue came up again, and Staff said that Prado will solve the
traffic loads on LOVR. However, since LOVR has been developed based on assumptions of Prado’s
circulation benefits (which do not exist at this point), Staff is now saying changes to lane striping with
this project and—in another project coming before you soon, capacities—are necessary at the
intersection of LOVR and S. Higuera with or without Prado. The LOVR off ramps will also require
changes, because that project, too, assumed Prado as built in the cumulative scenario.
The traffic we have is here to stay based on the existing state of development already accepted without
major infrastructure additions. This project needs to be inherently and expressly tied to Prado’s
completion prior to certifying the FEIR. Any advancement at this time allows this project to go forward
independent of Prado Road.
Any funds collected for restriping as a mitigation between the Los Verdes Parks 1 and 2 neighborhoods
should be redirected to funding for the LOVR Bypass. Staff has not yet shown which eastbound lanes will
be giving up capacity to account for the extension of the righthand turn lane (100’ to 180’), thereby we
have to assume that this will allow additional capacity at the intersection of Los Osos Valley Road and S.
Higuera Street, which is unacceptable to our neighborhoods in light of noise, safety and air quality
concerns. No change to the striping of LOVR between our neighborhoods should be completed or
accepted outside the terms of our neighborhood’s settlement agreement with the City. Should you
choose to move forward with the project at this time, we respectfully request that this mitigation be
removed by Council, that Council initiates/advances the LOVR Bypass to begin funding, and that funds
from this proposed mitigation be redirected to the LOVR Bypass in lieu of allowing this mitigation
measure. This change can come in the form of a Council direction to Staff for the development
agreement. Concerns over air quality, public safety and other impacts to an established neighborhood
can be the overriding consideration for the adjustment.
Sincerely,
Los Verdes Park 1 Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
Special Board Member
Sarah Flickinger
and
Los Verdes Park 2 Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
Special Board Member
Darrell Goo