Santa Ana City Council Meeting - April 21, 5:45 PM, One Broadway Plaza Office Tower
Jeff Dickman
Good evening Everyone;
I sent out an email a short while ago regarding the 2525 N. Main Street apartment project, and my hope that the City Council will repeal its recent approval of this development. The project adjoins the Park Santiago Neighborhood, and will have a number of negative impacts on nearby residents. A second project I want to bring to the community's attention is the One Broadway Plaza office tower. One Broadway Plaza is planned at the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street, and is situated between six neighborhoods, including French Court, Willard, Logan, Lacy, the Downtown, and French Park. The Developer estimates the project will create over 3,000 vehicle trips per day.
This Tuesday evening, April 21, the Santa Ana City Council will consider the Planning Commission's recommendation to allow the developer to convert 50% of the 37-story One Broadway Plaza office tower to 402 market-rate apartments. One Broadway Plaza is Item 75A on the April 21 agenda at https://santaana.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=8257
Below are concerns raised by the community at the March 30, and April 2, Planning Commission meetings where One Broadway Plaza was discussed. If you intend to email or address City Council Tuesday night (see Council members emails below), via the web and/or by telephone, feel free to refer to one or more of these points in your comments. SEE CITY CLERK”S COMMENTS BELOW HOW TO PARTICIPATE VIA EMAIL AND TELEPHONE.
* Community wanted One Broadway Plaza to include Affordable Housing
The PC agreed to allow the developer to pay a fee instead of building the required affordable apartment units. Apartment units, which would have been available to those in need, will now become market-rate apartments. The burden to construct OBP's affordable apartments will now become the responsibility of the City. The PC's action insures that affordable-rate apartment units, and the people who would have lived in those units, are segregated from the OBP project.
Recommend to City Council that One Broadway Plaza construct its affordable apartment units on-site, to insure the project is not income-segregated.
NOTE: The Developer's request is to convert 19 floors of office space to 19 floors of apartments is necessary for One Broadway Plaza to remain viable (so says the Developer.) City Council is not required to approve the conversion to apartments.
* Community wanted One Broadway Plaza to prepare a new Development Agreement (DA)
The PC did not recommend the project prepare a new DA. The original project included a DA. A DA protects agreeing parties, specifically regarding duties, performance and timing. DA's may include project-contributed community benefits, like insuring a developer construct on-site affordable housing, provides park land, or expands traffic mitigations.
To insure community needs are addressed, request the City Council work with the Developer to prepare a new DA, to include, but not be limited to, community benefits, roles and responsibilities to fund, design and/or implement those benefits, including performance timing, remedies, and fines if either party does not meet specific goals and or deadlines. If the City Council fails to enter into a DA with the Developer, it is possible that these much-needed community benefits may disappear later in the development process, and/or become substantially delayed.
* Community wants One Broadway Plaza to prepare a new Environmental Impact Report (an EIR), and to conduct additional Traffic Studies.
The PC did not recommend OBP prepare a new EIR, or prepare new traffic studies. Instead the PC was satisfied that traffic assumptions in the 2003 EIR were sufficient. Because the 2003 EIR fails to address traffic impacts from over a dozen approved or anticipated apartment projects near OBP, this all but insures Main Street, Broadway, Washington, Civic Center, Seventeenth, and streets in at least six adjoining neighborhoods, will be negatively impacted for decades into the future.
Request City Council work with the Developer to prepare a new Environmental Impact Report, to address traffic impacts from other recently approved, and anticipated development projects, which surround One Broadway Plaza.
* Community sought Additional Traffic Protections for the Logan, Lacy, Downtown, and Willard Neighborhoods
The PC recommended only the Logan neighborhood receive new traffic protections, leaving Lacy, Downtown, and Willard neighborhoods without these benefits.
Request City Council add Lacy, Downtown, and Willard to the list of neighborhoods to receive traffic mitigation protections as part of the OBP project.
* Community requested an Increase in Traffic Mitigation Fees for neighborhoods previously identified to receive these benefits as described in the expired 2003 Development Agreement.
The PC agreed with staff's recommendation to increase the original traffic mitigation fee (approved in 2003) from $200,000 per neighborhood to $300,000 per neighborhood. Although the increase appears substantial, the extra $100,000 may not even account for inflation, and would not significantly contribute to the design or construction of much-needed neighborhood traffic mitigations. The PC also failed to address a timeline to plan, design and construct these improvements.
Request the City Council work with the Developer to:
* Increase individual neighborhood traffic mitigation fees from $200,000 to at least $500,000
* Create a timeline when the Developer will plan, design and build these improvements.
* Include Traffic Mitigation Fees as part of the new Development Agreement
* Developer and City will work directly with each of the impacted neighborhoods separately, and together, to prepare an inter-related Traffic Mitigation Plan
* Community asked that Park Development Fees for OBP remain within the impacted neighborhoods.
The PC agreed, and recommended that park development fees be available for use in the impacted neighborhoods. Unfortunately the PC did not address where and how these dollars will be spent.
Ask the City Council to include a requirement in the requested Development Agreement, to insure the builder pays the required park fees, and also that the City work with the affected neighborhoods to identify important community-sought park projects.
While listening to the April 2, 2020 Planning Commission meeting, I heard several of its members, including Commissioner Ken Nguyen, offer enthusiastic support for One Broadway Plaza. Except for Commissioner Norma Garcia, I did not notice any of the other Commissioners express substantive concern about the 3,000 plus vehicles trips entering the adjoining neighborhoods to use already over-crowded city streets. Perhaps Commissioner Nguyen should walk through the impacted neighborhoods he serves, to remind him that these are places where working-class families already live, and already suffer from excessive traffic. Quite differently Commissioner Garcia was thoughtful in her persistent effort to discuss the pressures of traffic on the community, despite staff's lax presentation, and their downplaying of OBP's impacts. Mr. Nguyen's assertion that the City's need for OBP is not true. Mr. Nguyen and the Commission's enthusiasm for increased traffic impacts on working class neighborhoods, where traffic is worsening, and where public's health and safety is at risk, reflect the vast disconnect between the Planning Commission, the Santa Ana City Council, staff, and the community.
City Council's lack of care for its downtown-adjacent residents is also evident by its recent approval of 2525 N. Main Street apartment project. Although Councilpersons Sarmiento and Penaloza have since stated they now oppose 2525 N. Main (for which your constituents are grateful), the PC, and City Council continue to assert that the City of Santa Ana cannot exist, let alone thrive, without an iconic project. The PC and City Council continue to replay this tired excuse about the City's downtrodden self-image as a way to justify its actions. This beggarly image was manufactured and vigorously sold by past Councils, and is perpetuated by several Council members, including the Mayor. Their argument is that we must remake the City, often at the expense of neighborhoods, to remain viable. This is thoughtless and insensitive, and reflects some of the antiquated reasoning for decision-making by our elected leaders, especially Mayor Pulido, and Council-members Jose Solorio and Cecilia Iglesias.
The PC and Council City want the community to believe that Santa Ana has no other means to improve itself, except to rely on out-of-scale projects which often result in permanent negative impacts, and few if any benefits. Out-of-scale projects invite undue outside influence, and the often aggressive tactics used by these developers, and which undermine and destroy our beloved neighborhoods.
As November approaches, consider whether your neighborhood is safer and quieter with these poorly located projects. If your neighborhood is not safer, or quieter, then find candidates who will commit to protect our neighborhoods as part of a more thoughtful, and considerate growth.
Thank you,
Jeff Dickman, French Park
CITY CLERK's DIRECTIONS TO PARTICIPATE
TO WATCH THE MEETING: LIVE STREAM AT SANTA-ANA.ORG/CITY-MEETINGS AND YOUTUBE; CABLE CHANNEL 3 (SPECTRUM) OR CHANNEL 99 (AT&T U-verse).
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TO PROVIDE A COMMENT AT THE TIME THE ITEM IS BEING DISCUSSED ON PUBLIC HEARING AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS, CALL: (669) 900-9128, MEETING ID: 315 965 149#.
Miguel A. Pulido Mayor MPu...@santa-ana.org
Vicente Sarmiento Councilmember - Ward 1 VSarm...@santa-ana.org
David Penaloza Councilmember - Ward 2 DPen...@santa-ana.org
Jose Solorio Councilmember - Ward 3 JSol...@santa-ana.org
Phil Bacerra Councilmember - Ward 4 PBac...@santa-ana.org
Juan Villegas Mayor Pro Tem - Ward 5 JVil...@santa-ana.org
Cecilia Iglesias Councilmember - Ward 6 CIgl...@santa-ana.org