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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013/03/19 Item 14 Additional Information~Iditi ona~ Ih~vrmation I-K,wl ~ i ~ Donna Norris From: Patricia Aguilar Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 9:01 AM To: Jeff Steichen; Donna Norris; Cheryl Cox Subject: Fwd: Please Deny the Lake Pointe Project Hi Jeff, donna, Cheryl - i am forwarding this per request of the sender. Best, pat Chula Vista City Councilmember Pat Aguilar Via iPad Begin forwarded message: From: Jennifer LaFond <iennifer.lafondna ~mail.com> Date: March 19, 2013, 5:00: ] 2 AM EDT To: "rramirez(a~ci.chula-vista.ca.us" <rramirez(a~ci.chula- vista.ca.us>, "PAcuilar(a~chulavistaca.trov" <pA~uilarna~chulavistaca.sov>, "pbensoussan(a~chulavistaca.sov" <~bensoussan c(~chulavistaca.gov> Cc: Jennifer LaFond <jennifer.lafond(a~gmail.com> Subject: Please Deny the Lake Pointe Project Dear Councilmembers, To start, please forward this email to the City Clerk, Mayor and project manager, Jeff Steichen. It is late and I am a bit frustrated that email addresses for the City Clerk and Mayor are not readily available on the City's website. People like to communicate by email for obvious reasons and hiding the email addresses of public officials that maintain the public record and make decisions on behalf of the City indicates that the City has little interest in hearing from its citizens. l live in the City of Chula Vista, on Agate Creek Way near its intersection with Olympic Vista. The purpose of this email is to respectfully request that you deny the proposed Lake Pointe project scheduled for hearing before the City Council on March 19, 2013, or substantially reduce the project's density. I suspect that you will be hear a lot of opposition to the project, so_I will try to be concise in relaying myconcems/requests for your consideration: • Increase Commercial Components, Reduce Density. It is disappointing that the City abandoned the "commercial" General Plan designation for the project site. The General Plan was intended to be a long range planning tool that took a 20+ year look at the City and its future growth and development. 1 think. it was short-sighted to give up on the commercial designation simply because there was a lack of interest in commercial development at a time when commercial development was not happening anywhere in the state. When the economy turns around, the site will once again be amactive for commercial development, particularly given its proximity to the Olympic Training Center and the scenic Otay Lakes. In order to preserve that prospect, the City should require much greater commercial intensity at the project site. 15,000 square feet on an 11.2 acre site hardly qualifies as "mixed use." It would be more appropriate to approve a development that is predominately ground-floor retail with residential flats above. • Frontload Commercial Development. Even if the City does not increase the commercial development requirements, it should ensure that commercial development will actually occur. As such, I urge you to impose a condition of approval requiring that the 15,000 SF of commercial development be constructed before any certificates of occupancy issue for residential use. Parkin. There proposed project simply will not provide adequate parking onsite for 221 units. This is demonstrated by the fact that the project will be required to provide 28 parking spaces off-site, at Mountain Hawk Park. While the project may comply with the City's parking regulations, the City knows full well that it will not satisfy the project's actual parking demands. The project relies heavily on 2-car garages to satisfy parking requirements. That will only work, however, if there are only 2 vehicles associated with each unit and the occupants of each unit actually park their vehicles in their garage. As the project will have 3 and 4-bedroom units, it is probable that there will be at least 2 and quite likely 3 or more vehicles associated with each unit. To further exacerbate things, we all know that people will not park 2 cars in a garage. Instead, the garage gets used for storage (despite the fact that there will be a bit of overhead storage provided). That is especially foreseeable here, where storage space will be at a minimum given the lack of yard area. As a result, you will have 221 owners regularly using the 101 guest parking spaces as permanent parking, leaving inadequate parking for guests. You have already received tons of testimony explaining that the surrounding area suffers from a severe shortage of street parking due to the many townhome projects (that are~afflicted with these very same parking issues). Things will only get worse with the Olympic Pointe project's 386 units across the street come online. Unless the number of units proposed for the project is reduced substantially, or additional parking isprovided-- perhaps by subterranean garage, the project will cause unacceptable adverse parking impacts. The consequent "trolling" for parking spaces will also create significant adverse traffic impacts and increase the likelihood of pedestrian bike accidents. Regulate and Enforce Parking Restrictions. If the City decides to approve the project as proposed, serious measures should be imposed to ensure that the parking works as the City has represented that it will. To this end, the City should require that it have the express right to enforce the CC&Rs parking requirements. If the HOA is not willing orable to compel residents to park 2 cars in their garage, the citizens of Chula Vista should have the ability to ask the City to step in and enforce those rights. Experience illustrates that complaining to an HOA will not solve parking problems. The City should .also impose a condition of approval requiring the HOA to develop a parking control plan that is implemented and enforced by a neutral third party. The parking control plan should require residents to maintain garages such that they can house 2 cars (fewer if the resident demonstrates it has fewer than 2 cars associated with its units) and require regular garage inspections--no less than monthly--to ensure that garages are being so maintained. Fines and penalties should be imposed for residents that fail to meet this standard. Measures should also be developed, implemented and enforced to ensure that guest parking is not used by residents as additional resident parking because in order to function properly, the project needs adequate guest parking. Don't Use Mountain Hawk Park for Project Parkin. The plan to install additional parking for the project at Mountain Hawk park is a horrible idea! The project should be designed/density reduced so that it can adequately meet the project's parking demands on site. It makes no sense to increase demand on the park by bring 221 new families into the community and at the same time, reduce the size of the park and access to the park by encouraging residents to use the park for daily parking. The result will be that the park becomes less accessible to the community. No Encroachment Into Ol n~npic Parkway Setback. The proposed reduction in setbacks along Olympic Parkway from 75-feet to as little as 33-feet violates the intent of the Eastlake III PC District Regulations and should not be permitted. This really sounds like the City is approving a variance, without making necessary variance findings. The result of the proposed "encroachment" is that the setback is reduced by more than 50%, and the reason is simply to facilitate a greater intensity of development than the site can really accommodate. Rather than granting such a special accommodation to the project, the City should require the project to be reduced in size so thafit can maintain the setback along Olympic Parkway that City regulations require. Placing the development so close to a very busy Olympic Parkway also presents safety concerns. The current design brings pedestrians walking to their homes within the project, or kids riding bikes around the project dangerously close to a street that has a speed limit of 45 or 50 mph. • CEQA. The City cannot rely on an Addendum for its CEQA compliance with this project. The underlying CEQA document the City relies upon is 13 years old, and was approved in 2001. Certainly, there are changed circumstances since then, including that the project site was not proposed for mixed use development in 2001. The 2001 EIR also does not have a greenhouse gas emissions analysis, and given the significant consequences of climate change, the City should not approve the project without understanding what its impact in that regard might be. As noted above, the project will ` have parking and traffic impacts that were not analyzed in the prior CEQA documents. Even if residential development generates fewer trips than commercial development, the time at which those residential trips occurs is very different, will have different impacts, and should be analyzed. There has also been no description of where the 28-parking spaces at Mountain Hawk Park will be located and what the environmental impacts of that development will be. Foi example, will the addition of parking spaces result in inadequate park lands? Will the parking spaces be placed in an environmentally sensitive area or could it impact wildlife in the area? How will the increased impervious surface impact drainage and stormwater quality? The prior environmental documents also fail to adequately consider the cumulative impacts of residential development at the project site, particularly given the existence of substantial high density development already existing in the area. I am not opposed to development at the project site, but I urge you to approve a responsible development that will not adversely impact the community. That needs to be a project with far fewer than 221 units; that provides adequate parking onsite, and with greater emphasis on development commercial retail opportunities. This project does not do any of that. Please deny the project. Sincerely, Jen Chavez C[TY COUNCIL HEARING ITEM # 14 COMMENTS BASED UPON PROJECT REVIEW BY CHAIR OF DESIGN REVIEW BOARD AND RESPONSES Comment Comment Response Number Provide a material board showing roof tiles, Provided. DRB chair was satisfied with 1. cultured stone, stuccos colors, trim and wood the material board. for trellis for better understanding of exterior finishes. The middle volume facing Olympic Parkway The applicanC has added a trellis feature 2. (where the Pooch Care sign is) needs more on the second floor. DRB chair is texture (maybe cultured stone, a trellis on the satisfied with this enhancement. second floor 3. Is the building exterior facing Olympic Applicant indicated the building would be Parkway going to be illuminated? Please illuminated but has not yet prepared plans provide a narrative of the method. as to how this would occur. Illumination plans will take into account all applicable code requirements as well as take into consideration the proximity of the commercial building to the trail and Olympic Parkway. General concern over encroachment of two- The applicant reviewed a number of 4. story commercial building into the scenic scenarios with staff regarding the best corridor. location of the 2-story commercial building. The SPA plan allows encroachment into Che scenic corridor in an effort to break up the linear appearance created by buildings being lined up at the setback tine. It is because of this that staff and applicant agreed that the proposed location adjacent to Olympic Parkway would add visual interest to the site, provide enhanced architectural treatment, and break-up the linear appearance of _ residential buildings on the site. In addition it would provide better vehicular and pedestrian accessibility. Provide Site Landscape Plan and an enlarged Provided. DRB chair has no additional ~. Landscape Plan showing the main entry to the comments. development . Provide updated elevations or renderings of the Provided. DRB chair has no additional 6. residential units facing Olympic Parkway (west comments. of main entrance). Is the dirt trail south of the project along There will be no modification to the 7. Olympic Parkway being modified? This dirt greenbelt trail trail is part of a miles long loop used by a lot of area residents. It is a great feature to the community and would like to keep it uninterrupted