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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.1 SB343 Schaefer Ranch GP Amend 11-17-15 SB 343 Senate Bill 343 mandates supplemental materials that have been received by the City Clerk's office that relate to an agenda item after the agenda packets have been distributed to the City Council be available to the public. The attached documents were received in the City Clerk's office after distribution of the November 17, 2015, City Council meeting agenda packet. Item 6.1 DUBLIN PLANNING COMMISSION City Council Chambers 100 Civic Plaza Dublin CA 94568 RE: Project PLPA 2012-00013-Schaefer Ranch November 17, 2015 Dear Planning Commission, Thank you for allowing us to express our opinion again in this matter. We have been Schaefer Ranch residents since 2012. We looked at over 50 homes in several Bay Area cities, including East Dublin, before selecting this community. We still oppose the proposed General Plan Amendment and Planned Development Zoning for several reasons: 1 Building high density housing on a street with a down gradient with hills surrounding it can pose a danger to its residents. 2 Building up to the 19 proposed homes in the planned area will increase the chance of damages and associated risks. Schaefer Ranch residents will end up indirectly paying for claims using GHAD reserve. 3 With more homes on the terrain, where there have historically been dozens of landslides,there is once again an increased risk of danger. Meteorologists have recently expressed great concern over this area of dangerous landslides in light of El Nino this year. 4 There is also concern about the overall increase in housing and no major plans to build more public schools to support the major influx of residents of school aged children. With the saturation of homes in this city, our children will ultimately suffer from overcrowded schools and a decreased quality of education. 5 The increase in housing does not seem to be balanced with commercial sites, including a "Downtown"area,to support the residents effectively.This forces residents to support other local businesses in neighboring cities. More and more homes will eventually diminish the appeal and quality of this small community and city. 6 Building more homes at Schaefer Ranch will heavily impact the flow of traffic and congestion in this area and ultimately the entire city, particularly on Dublin Boulevard, which is already very congested. Thank you for taking the time to present our letter again. Please keep the Schaefer Ranch Community safe and less congested. Best Regards, Jenny and Andy Jeff Baker From: Vikram Kalyanaraman Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2015 1:34 PM To: Jeff Baker Subject: Project: PLPA 2012-00013 Schaefer Ranch Project: PLPA 2012-00013 Schaefer Ranch Hi Jeff, I received this exact same notice for the second time with no differences in the proposal. My understanding was that the City rejected the builder's proposal. Either way, I would like record my opposition to the proposed General Plan Amendment and Planned Development Zoning. 1. Dublin City should have sizable number for new Estate Residential (0.01 - 0.8 units per acres) Units. This will help Dublin Residents with increased income find an upscale home within Dublin. It is necessary to have affordable housing unit in any city. Similarly, it is desirable to have upscale houses in which multi-millionaires and billionaires should be willing to move into. 2. The site is perfectly suited and plotted for Estate Residential houses. Building Single Family Homes defies logic. For Example, one such property is the complicated driveways that are being proposed in the new plan. One driveway connecting three houses. There are many such features in the new proposal which go against the nature of terrain. 3. Building high density housing on a street with down gradient with hills on both sides is dangerous. In case of street blockage Fire/Police/Ambulance will not be able to go in. Helicopters will also not be very useful because of higher elevation on both sides. 4. Schaefer Ranch home owners pay for the GHAD. By putting three times (6 to 19)the propose houses the probably of any damage and the associated risk goes up drastically. Schaefer Ranch home owners end up paying the claims. So, it is in the interest of Schaefer Ranch Home owners to minimize the risk. 5. It may not be out of place to mention that Schaefer Ranch has been built on a site that has reportedly had nearly 60 landslides. Some have alleged that the project's developer had to blast nearly 1.1M cubic yards of hard rock, move 9.4M cubic yards of dirt, and fill up to 150 feet of soil to build this new residential community. 6. Builders profits and city's taxes are short term gains. A neighborhood lasts several generations. Building good neighborhoods is an investment in making a great city. In Unit 2,there was a small commercial area initially planned which was converted to Single Family Homes. Also in Unit 2,proposed 16 (or 20) Estate Residential (0.01 - 0.8 units per acres)has been converted into 140 Single Family Homes (0.9 to 6 Units per acre). This has created houses with steep backyards which cannot be used for any purpose, houses surrounded on three sides by other houses which are very close too, etc. 7. Commercial area located within Schaefer Ranch development has been scrapped. Residents have to drive about 3 miles to get basic amenities. There is no community center with activities like indoor community gathering, indoor games, swimming pool, etc 8. Builder profit optimization seems to be only goal of this proposal. By restricting number of units to just one less less than 20,the builder has intelligently avoided Inclusionary Housing Requirements and Public Art Provision requirements. 9. The street in Schaefer Ranch Unit 3 will be a Private Street. The maintenance and management of the street will be by Home Owners Association. This cost will have to be shared by other home owners. The residents who are not on this street will still have to contribute for maintenance and management of this private street. 1