HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/6/2019 Item 4, Cooper
Purrington, Teresa
From:Allan Cooper <saveourdowntownslo@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, May 2, 2019 1:30 PM
To:Advisory Bodies; Scott, Shawna
Subject:Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
Save Our Downtown
______________________________________________________________________________
Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic
success of downtown San Luis Obispo.
To: Architectural Review Commission & Shawna Scott
From: Allan Cooper, Secretary Save Our Downtown
Re: Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
Date: May 2, 2019
Honorable Chair and Commissioners -
Architectural design and urban design within our downtown core and throughout the city is
monitored through the use of unenforceable policies, conceptual plans and guidelines.
These are summarily ignored time and time again because of a prevailing culture which
promotes laissez faire, market-based planning. We have examples of this in the form of
460 Marsh Street (former ARC Chair Jim Duffy’s project), 1135 Santa Rosa Street (Dennis
Kucinich’s project) and now 1185 Monterey Street (George Garcia’s project) which have
either been approved or are in the process of being approved with the understanding,
promoted by both the Chamber and the City Council, that our downtown and City needs
more examples of trendy, contemporary style buildings. This translates to more black,
more boxy, more over-scaled projects that “could be anywhere” - projects that are,
certainly within the context of our Downtown core, both jarring and singularly unfriendly.
This is compounded by the fact that we are now confronted with State-imposed mandates
which further hamstring our ability to enforce these design guidelines at the local level.
Is there a solution? What we need are a set of enforceable, objective, clear design
standards that our city, the developers and their architects cannot ignore - design
standards that will preserve the best qualities of our city. What we need is a clearer vision,
not to be found in our Downtown Concept Plan or Community Design Guidelines,
describing in unambiguous terms the community's future physical form. If this can only be
achieved through the development of “form-based codes” or by way of an urban design
ordinance, then let’s do it.
In the meantime, I beg the ARC to adhere more closely than it has done in the past to our
Guidelines when reviewing these proposed modifications made to 1185 Monterey Street .
Please consult the guidelines regarding adhering to a color palette consistent with the
immediate context, please consult the guidelines discouraging the introduction of large
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expanses of blank wall and please consult the guidelines and the Downtown Concept Plan
where both encourage setbacks above the third floor. Thank you!
Allan Cooper, Secretary - Save Our Downtown, San Luis Obispo, CA
Website: www.SaveOurDowntownSLO.com
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