HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-10-2018 Item 4 - Okimoto
Purrington, Teresa
From:Davidson, Doug
Sent:Tuesday, January 09, 2018 9:22 AM
To:Purrington, Teresa
Subject:FW: Ordinance 1130
PC correspondence. Thanks
From: Kevin Okimoto \[ ]
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 8:42 AM
To: Davidson, Doug <ddavidson@slocity.org>
Cc:
Subject: Ordinance 1130
Dear Planning Commission,
First, I would like to thank you for your willingness to hear our suggested edits on Ordinance 1130. As one of a few
neighbors who live directly behind the new Monterey Hotel development, we are experiencing firsthand the impact of a
loosely interpreted set of guidelines originally designed to protect the interests of residents in the San Luis Drive
neighborhood. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel the direct impact of the noise and massive scale of the project
looming over our family, our children playing in the backyard, and our neighbors.
While we went through the range of emotions after the approval of the Monterey Hotel project (shock, disappointment,
anger, frustration), we now feel just one emotion when looking at the project – sadness. I suspect that many of you feel
the same as you walk / drive past the project. It’s hard not to, even for those who have no “vested interest” in the
neighborhood. The building does not fit in with the surrounding area…at all. It is visible blocks away from the location
and casts an ominous shadow over historic buildings such as the Monday Club and the surrounding homes in the
area. Knowing that our city council was given the hotel specifications, it’s hard not to wonder if the approval was solely
financially motivated by the tax income generated for the city as compared to the best interest your local residents.
While we could go on and on about our frustration with the outcome, a due process was followed and we need to
accept the outcome. The best we can do at this point is turn our attention to the future. We trust in, and are comforted
by, the genuineness of your desire for our input on this issue. Tightening up areas of ambiguity in the ordinance will be
critical to respecting the collective intent of both City Council Members and local residents of the past who had the
foresight to anticipate the challenges associated with balancing the needs / rights of residents and the desire for future
development.
While we are forced to live with the outcome of your interpretation of the ordinance every day going forward (i.e.
looking at the hotel from our backyard and seeing people stare into our home), I hope that others don’t need to suffer
that same outcome. We’re writing to express our support of the language changes proposed by the San Luis Drive
neighborhood as summarized by Bob Lucas and rest of our community members. Our neighborhood has gone through
countless hours of meetings, emails, and drafts to come up with a consolidated solution that we feel best addresses our
concerns. While these concerns may at times come across in an emotionally fueled manner, we hope you can recognize
the spirit is pure and that it comes from a place that should make every City Council Member proud. We love this
neighborhood and we love this community.
To conclude, I’m reminded of the saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I hope that the same
principle can be applied to this situation and that any ambiguity in the ordinance can be rectified to our collective
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agreement before the next controversial issue should arise. Thank you in advance for soliciting our input and taking our
suggestions seriously.
With concerns and appreciation,
Kevin and Mary Okimoto
1872 San Luis Drive
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