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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPA2017-228 Comment 154b_05062019_HirsonFrom: Izzy Hirson <izhirson@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 06, 2019 9:16 PM To: Zdeba, Benjamin Subject: Re: Apartments at the corner of MacArthur and Bonita Canyon Dear Mr Zdeba Thank you for your response. I would like to share just a couple of comments about the concerns the neighborhood has and the effect it will take during voting time. Here is a copy of what the discussion is. Please scroll down past my email to the bold items: On May 6, 2019, at 3:52 PM, Zdeba, Benjamin <bzdeba@newportbeachca.gov> wrote: Hi Izzy, Thank you for taking the time to write and I appreciate your patience in letting me get back to you, as I was away from the office Friday and have been working to catch up on emails. I am confirming reception. I will keep your email as part of the public record and will attach it to the Planning Commission staff report as correspondence received when this project goes for public hearing at a future date to be determined. There was a Planning Commission study session held Thursday, April 18, to introduce the project to the Commissioners and the public. No action was taken at this meeting. The agenda packet and a video recording are available here. There has also been an environmental document prepared for the project. It is available here for review. The public comment period on this document closes today; however, comments may still be submitted after the deadline. I will also pass your comments along to the City’s environmental consultant for review and response. Please note this is not a City project. If the applicant chooses to move forward, there will be: 1. A public hearing with the Planning Commission wherein action will be taken on the project; 2. A public hearing with the John Wayne Airport Land Use Commission because this is a legislative action that would change land use within the airport planning area; and 3. A public hearing with the City Council where a final action will be rendered. On that note, I will add your email address to the interest list, so I can keep you informed as to when any upcoming hearings are going to occur. If you are interested, the City also has an online “eNotifications” system, which you can sign up for here. Be sure to opt in for “Planning Commission” and “City Council Public Hearings.” Thanks again and please contact me if you have questions. All my best, Ben Z. BENJAMIN M. ZDEBA, AICP Community Development Department Associate Planner bzdeba@newportbeachca.gov 949-644-3253 -----Original Message----- From: Izzy Hirson <izhirson@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, May 06, 2019 1:24 AM To: Zdeba, Benjamin <bzdeba@newportbeachca.gov> Subject: Apartments at the corner of MacArthur and Bonita Canyon Dear Mr Zbeda I have just been informed about the proposed building of apartments near the sports complex. I am not sure who makes these kinds of decisions when Orange County does not have the right infrastructure to accommodate the number of people and cars that are being added into our county. The traffic on our Freeways has become horrendously unbearable for those of us who have to move from one place to another. As it is with 2 schools on the way from the proposed corner on Bonita Canyon to Irvine has already increased the traffic significantly and the addition of these apartments will surely cause gridlocks. Would it not make more sense to build some high end homes that will produce a higher income in taxes and keep the area as a high ended opportunity for those that would like to move up from their present homes? We already have a ton of rental apartments called the Bluffs and also the ones at the corner of Bonita Canyon and the 73 Freeway. It is also a well known fact the Breaking and Entering crimes have increased significantly and the perpetrators are usually from low income families so WHY that corner? Build more condos in Irvine where the schools can handle the overflow but not in Newport Beach. We have the advantage of 2 private schools and our next generation will be leaders from this area. As it is the roads do not have enough cut-offs to do U- Turns when there is construction going on and I have been stuck in these traffic jams for hours. Imagine what it will be like when hundreds of more cars will be on these roads. I shudder to think!! Please see the sense in what I am proposing not forgetting that more and more cars on the Freeway will make traveling impossible. Should the Newport Beach City Council not be looking at how the residents feel? It also seems we are losing the fight for JWA’s increase in the noise level. This is all becoming a torture. Had I known I would not have purchased 2 properties, one in Belcourt and the other in Bonita Canyon. I am getting hit from both sides. As it is when we want to better our homes with upgrades the City officials give us a tough time approving anything by delaying responses and making changes that make no sense at all. Other neighboring cities welcome the fact that the owners want to make their homes looking better which will also give them more funding from the increase of taxes. I look forward to your response. Mrs Izzy Hirson Safety Alert at Bonita Canyon Sports Park ( w soccer, tennis and pickleball courts) The deadline for public comment on the safety hazard issues for the proposed Newport House development (Apt/Condo project) at 4302 Ford Road is midnight, Monday May 6th,. The city’s report currently claims that the project is not a hazard. We disagree. If the initial study report is approved “as is”, the project will be underway, and the residents will be left to deal with the hazardous impact to our children’s safety, and impaired use and enjoyment of the park permanently! Please email Ben in city planning with your safety concerns! bzdeba@newportbeachca.gov (949) 644-3253. Right at the entrance to the park is the project’s hazardous design. The exit/entrance has cars exiting from the underground parking garage, up a ramp with extremely limited visibility. The plan is dangerous to pedestrians, bikers and children accessing the bike lanes or sidewalk at that particular entrance at the end of the ramp. The building is within a couple feet of the sidewalk and the 3-stories will tower over the park where our kids are playing. This is a primary pedestrian sidewalk and bicycle route for the kids going to and from CDM/OLQA. The city park will surely be used by the over 25+ parking places that the project lacks. Going from the city park lot though the pool area will cut the distance in half to the elevators compared to even the closet street parking making option too tempting for tenants and moving vans that will not fit on the property. Delivery trucks (which already have limited visibility) must exit backwards, while going uphill, in an almost 90-degree turn, and over the sidewalk and bike path! Once on Ford Road, trucks will be facing in the wrong direction, and then will have to maneuver perhaps up to 4 times to reach a 180-degree direction. This is even harder to do as the radius to the park entrance is greatly reduced when cars are parked on the Ford Road. This will be dangerous to children accessing the park via the sidewalk and unsuspecting bikes on the bike path. The application to the city of Newport Beach includes a zoning change to 21 Multi-Units with 63 bedrooms. At the end of the 2-year construction period is when we will find out its future zoning and is the then current owner will be offering as apartments, for sale condos, or “rent only” condos. If you are concerned about the safety risk to our children and the major impairment of our ability to use and enjoy the park, you must email by midnight May 6th! Contact the city planner (reference “4302 Ford Road Project”) Ben Zdeba, bzdeba@newportbeachca.gov (949) 644-3253. New 13h ago · 43 neighborhoods in Crime & Safety Thank Reply 4 3 See one previous reply Dianne Stegmann , Port Streets·11h ago New Thank you Jerry for keeping us in formed. This is truly not the place to put a complex which is planned. It is very irresponsible! We should hold the city officials responsible and actively work against them to be reelected if they allow this development to go through. Dianne 1 Thank Jerry Schmitt , Port Streets·8h ago New This is Not Senior living. I have received several emails on this. I think the confusion comes because the newspaper wrote about this project in the same article as the Vivante Assisted Senior Living proposed in Fashion Island area and its one of the ways the developer is marketing. This project is Not Senior Friendly. 21 units/63 bedrooms rooms and vistors have to fight for only 3 handicaped parking. Reserved parking is cramped so you can’t open your car door the whole way making it a challenge to get into your car whether you are young or old. And if you are lucky to get 2 reserve parking spots to your unit, one car is trapped in the tandem parking. Seniors have also pointed out they do not want to spend their retirment years listening to loud traffic, pounding of tennis and pickleballs all day, or looking the the utility building.