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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPA2017-228 Comment 101_04292019_LeaFrom: Christy.Lea <Christy.Lea@knobbe.com> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2019 4:58 PM To: Zdeba, Benjamin Subject: 4302 Ford Road Proposal Attachments: PortSt+FordRd+Project+Concerns.pdf Ben, I am a Port Street resident, and I share many of the concerns raised in the attached letter and hope the City will require a full Environmental Assessment. Best, Christy Christy Lea Partner Christy.Lea@knobbe.com 949-721-7642 Direct Knobbe Martens 2040 Main St., 14th Fl. Irvine, CA 92614 www.knobbe.com/christy-lea NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. General Observations and Concerns of the 4302 Ford Rd Proposed Project 4/29/2019 1 pm Last Updated Here are some observations and major concerns on the proposed 4302 Ford Road Apartments or Condo Project near the Port Streets and Bonita Canyon Sports Park with the tennis & pickleball courts as discussed at the April 18, 2019 Newport Beach Planning Commission meeting. Executive Summary: • This is the significant man-made risk to public safety that will most certainly result in injuries and possibility death. The project will create a major hazard at the entrance with cars accelerating up a ramp with their view mainly blinded from the small children and bikes at the top of the ramp. Trucks will have to backup, going uphill, on a blind curve, while avoiding car going up/down on the ramp at the same entry point. • The unnecessary liability to the city will be enormous as they will surely be sued for every injury and liable for approving this hazardous design at the Park entrance. • The community’s enjoyment and use of the park will be greatly impeded. • The project fills no need existing need for housing as there is a surplus of supply in the immediate area. Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration: I disagree with the following conclusions of the IS/MND that these do in fact exist: Hazard: This proposed project does indeed create substantial hazard and danger to community safety, and liability to the city especially due the design of the entrance. Light Pollution: The project is design will result in car headlights shinning directly into the second story bedroom windows of people living at the end of Port Sheffield and Port Abbey. Car lights will also shine directly at the tenant’s windows as cars heading towards the ocean on MacArthur Blvd and take left onto Bonita Canyon Road. Lights from the Park lot and restrooms may pollute the tenants at night. Noise Pollution: 1. Tests need to be done to do a simulation analysis as the noise impact of the building location may deflect the picketball and other notices back on to park users increasing the noise level after the project is built. 2. There also may be an issue with picketball and other noises creating an echo and amplifying the noise impacting the tenants due to the V-shaped design. 3. Park users may also be subject to load music (some not appropriate for children) from the pool use by tenants and pool parties. A full EIR is required. The prior Phase 1 Environmental Assessment documents prepared in 2015 indicated that there are clear reasons to perform a full EIR. Observations and Concerns: The project has several serious design safety flaws that endangers our kids and anyone trying to use the park or bike trail, putting the city at risk of liability, and will have a major impact on our ability to use and enjoy the Park. The marketing of this project by the developer (Hines) has been deceitful. For example, they never mention Apartments (only condos) in their proposal and press. Yet Hines was very clear at the meeting the condo decision has not been made and won’t be announce until sometime after city approval! The city was also clear that once approved for multi-unit zoning, the developer can build either apartments or condos, and can change their decision any time in the future. The illustrations the developer submitted with the application also deceive the public. For example, they don’t show the entrance or delivery area in one illustration and although they indicated they will have to cut down all the trees as the building will physically occupy the space, yet their “after” photos show them still standing and covering up most of the building, or if you look at the plans where they placed them in the “after” photos they would be 40+ foot trees would be growing through the pool and/or through 3 stories of the building and through the roof. The project entrance flawed design is very dangerous to children, adults, bikers, and other vehicles (see photos below). To leave the project, cars will have to emerge underground with no visibility of potential kids in their path……they will have to over accelerate to get up the ramp on a curve….at the top of the ramp the cars will have a tendency to surge onto the sidewalk until the driver can adjust the speed which may be too late as kid or bike appears with limited visibility and not enough time to react. Delivery trucks also use this entrance/exit. Trucks Must Back Up to get out…while going uphill….on a 90 degree curve road with blind spots…looking out for cars going up or down the ramp…..over the side walk and main bike path (the students use this to go to and from CDM HS) …… looking out for oncoming traffic Ford Rd…while watching for outgoing traffic from the Park!!! The city would be reckless to expose the city to the liability of negligently approving a hazardous design at the Park entrance with a high probably of injury or death. The turnaround on Ford Road at the entrance to Park may look to have amble space, but with cars parked on the street the radius is greatly reduced. Recently I was a trunk who could not make the turn and had the stop and back up twice to make it around. See below photo. Bicyclist are probably at higher risks considering the speeds of the bike and car speed making reaction time after the blind spots a split second to avoid a collision. All it takes is for the bike to quickly swerve causing them to lose balance, or catch a wheel, or apply too much pressure to the wrong brake and crash to the pavement. The bike trail passing the project entrance is a main thoroughfare through the area and is used by the kids who walk and bike to CDM HS. Bikers from outside the area passing through that may not know of the hidden death trap may be at even higher risk. The project can only accommodate one small-medium delivery vehicle at a time. What will the other trucks do while waiting for the truck to get done and back out? It is 150 feet just to get to the elevators and garbage cans from the single truck parking area therefore no delivery or pick up will happen quickly. With 21 units, delivery vehicles such as Amazon, UPS, US Mail, FedEx, garbage, moving, Uber, Pick-Up-Stix, pet groomers, water, pizza, etc will be constant. What will happen when someone is moving in or out and the moving van is using the only parking spot blocking deliveries for 3-5 hours? The typical larger moving van will not fit anywhere on the project….do they unload at the closest street parking (if its open at the time) which is over 310 feet from the elevator, or the logical place for them to park and unload is in the Park through the pool area which is half that distance to the elevator than the nearest street parking spot? The underground parking is grossly limited leaving the Park as the logical place for tenants and guests to park. There are 3 spaces for handicapped, 13 for guests/visitors /housekeepers/nannies /repair/service personal /rental or sales office workers/property maintenance, etc. That leaves 39 for the people living there…..not even 2 per unit!! Of the 39 spots, 26 are Tandem Stalls so they have to be used by the same unit, or used by 13 units……that leaves 8 units fighting over the last 13 spots. But it will be much worse……..The (21) 2-4 bedroom units have a total of 63 bedrooms. Assuming an average of 1-person per bedroom (probably more for apartments or rental condos) will be short 25 parking spots and the cars will likely flow onto Ford Rd, the Park, and the Port Streets…..and that is not considering events such as pool parties or other gatherings! Residents and guests will surely use the convenient Park parking lot causing Park users to park on the street putting more kids and adults safety in danger as car and trucks backing out of the project. Most of the south side of Ford Rd is marked No Parking therefore most cars will have to park on the north side and run past the project entrance to get to their soccer games. The tenants being there the night before will have already taken all the good parking spots. Most tenants and guests will feel entitled to park in Public Parking. Light pollution. Cars living the project will shine their lights directly into the second story bedrooms of the homes on Port Sheffield and Port Abbey. Additional City Complaints. Even if the tenants knew of the pickleball and tennis courts when they moved in, there is a high likelihood they will try to get the city to restrict the use and noise. They may also complaint about the restroom and Park lights. And the rest of the city will complain that the tenants are taking spots reserved for the Park. Due to the position and shape of the project, there is a high likelihood the building will cause the noise from the pickleball courts to echo and amplify. Or the sound may bounce back at the people trying to enjoy the park. Pool liability. Being the Park parking lot is the closest for tenants who don’t have reserved parking in the project, and most logical way for to guests to enter for pool parties, the gate will likely be propped open many times. If a kid wondered in and drown, the city would be one of the parties held liability. Cell Tower. Moving the cell tower from the current location (mostly hidden in the AT&T parking lot) to the open space that everyone will see on the other side of the AT&T building is a prerequisite or should be running concurrent with this application. Traffic will increase at the main exist to the community which is already completely gridlock at rush hour times. Construction Plan. The city should require a detailed plan of how the 2+ year (?) construction process and impact would look like this tiny 1.06 area would probably require all equipment and trailers to be off the property to be able to work on it. The best use for this 1.06 acre of land is to expand the current Park for additional soccer fields, pickleball courts, or other activities. The city tried to buy it from AT&T several years ago, but AT&T wanted way over market value for it so the city passed at that time. AT&T must be more realistic now as when Hines development recently approached them as they were able to work out a deal contingent on the city letting them build apartments or condos. If this goes though, the city will never have the opportunity to add to this Park! Suggestion….I see no need fulfilled by this project as there are 6 apartments/condos all with for sale signs and vacancies within a ¼ mile of the Port Streets. However, if the city for some reason feels this project is needed, have Hines built on the other side of the AT&T building away from the park on city land with the above safety design changes….the city does a land swap and gets to expand the park….and AT&T gets their money without having to relocate the cell tower….a Win-Win-Win! It is a breach of public safety and liability to the city to allow trucks to try to back out of this driveway across children walking, bikers and traffic at the Park. And the trucks need to back up going uphill, around a 90-degree curve, with blind spots, and over the sidewalk and main bike trail. The cars you see in the above picture are parked at the AT&T building, NOT the apartments/condos. The above developers photo is very fraudulently misleading as they practically hide the main car entrance ramp (we marked in red) and doesn’t even show the delivery truck area. It is also misleading as the AT&T parking lot is depicted about double of what it will actually be and leads most people to get the wrong impression that the AT&T parking is for the apartments/condos. Where will the mailman, UPS FedEx, Amazon, etc park on a typical weekend if a small moving truck is in the only delivery spot (typical larger moving vans will not fit), and the Park lot is full as will as the street????? Above photo taken 4/20/2019 The developer is also marketing this as saving the community from looking at the “unattractive” and “unsightly” AT&T building. However, you will see more of the AT&T building after they cut down all these trees marked in red. A cell tower that is currently hard to see will also be put out in the open on the other side of the AT&T building as well. Note: If you look at the developer before and after pictures they are also fraudulent as they state in their application they are cutting them all down, yet they show them all as they are today in the “after” photos only moved back 50-75 feet. Deadline to comment on the impact study is Monday May 6th. This also really the good deadline to have your and your fellow voters voices heard on this project. If you think it’s a bad idea to endanger the safety of kids & bikers, expose the city to the liability, and a major infringement on the use and enjoyment of the Park, you must email your input and concerns to the City Planner ASAP. The contact (reference “4302 Ford Road Proposal”) is Ben Zdeba BZdeba@newportbeachca.gov 949 644-3253. Thanks for helping protect the safety of our children & community and ability to fully utilize and enjoy our parks! Jerry Schmitt Jerry.Schmitt@cox.net Area Coordinator for Port Street Neighborhood Watch Founding member of Port Street Safety and Surveillance Committee To get a complete detail of the project as proposed by the developer, click on http://newportbeach.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=ff724d61-4b5b-4c21-86a0-4ed3178310ee.pdf To link to the impact study: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/pln/CEQA_DOCS.asp?path=/Ford%20Road%20Residential%20(PA2017-228) To link to the April 18, 2019 Planning Commission meeting video to study the project is on the web site. Start at 1:52. https://www.newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/52908/613