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Mrs. Ellen Koldewey Santa Ana CA 92706 714 785-8029/542-2122 Here is the additional information that has recently become available that may inform your vote. 1) At the December 3, 2019 City Council meeting, a two week continuance was granted to review the deficiencies of the Development Agreement pointed out by concerned neighbors. The resulting City Staff Report shows review/adoption of some of the recommended nonsubstantive changes. 2 Before the City agrees to be bound by the still flawed Development Agreement, urge you to allow City Staff and the City Attorney additional time to complete a thorough substantive review of the Development Agreement to reach a better bargain for your constituents. 2) Since the last Council Meeting on December 3, 2019, the local paper of record, the Orange County Register published an informative series of articles on our state's housing crisis and the adequacy of the response of local cities and towns to that crisis. These articles provide current comparative housing data showing that Santa Ana has consistently led Orange County in permitting the building of sufficient high density housing at all income levels throughout our City to satisfy statewide requirements for addressing the regional housing crisis. Based on the data in these articles, it is not clear tome that there is still a compelling justification for building any more high density luxury housing projects in this City that would warrant spot zoning or rezoning of this particular parcel of land. Rather, based on the collected data, the newspaper gives Santa Ana a high grade for fall compliance (A+) with statewide requirements for permitting of construction of new high density residential units at all income levels to address the statewide housing crisis and homelessness. s Before Council adopts the zoning amendment ordinance, request that you review available current housing data to determine if the statewide housing crisis provides a compelling justification for the construction of additional high density luxury housing units in Santa Ana, and specifically, for this high density residential complex at this particular location. 3) Also, please review carefully the information provided at and after the last Council Meeting that the 2525 North Main Street property has fallen into disrepair and reportedly has become an unsafe haven for homeless people, and that, therefore, the current agreement and zoning amendment should be approved. I do not believe that current reported neglect of the property, if any, provides a compelling justification for voting for this development agreement or zoning amendment. Rather, if true, such reports may demonstrate the continued need for our City to more vigorously enforce the provisions of the building and safety code against the current property owner. 4) Finally and respectfully, please investigate the apparent allegations regarding the integrity of the current public process made on the record by your colleagues at the last Council meeting before proceeding with the final vote. I agree with those Council members who cautioned their constituents on November 19, 2019 that the strongest arguments for a development are generally those made on the merits of the project and that no one, including the developer, should be penalized based on mere allegations. However, I do not think we can responsibly ignore the remarks made about this sensitive subject on the public record by members of the City Council on December 3, 2019. Therefore, while you still have the chance to make any needed corrections in the development process, I implore every member of the City Council to seek an impartial review by the City Attorney or other appropriate authority of the apparent allegations made on the public record by Mayor Pro Tem. Villegas and Councilmember Inglesias at the December 3, 2019 Council meeting. Please publicly confirm your satisfaction with the integrity of our City's public process for yourselves and your constituents before the final vote is taken. 4 Then, if, after considering all of this additional information, as City leaders, you still believe that not building this high density luxury apartment complex in this particular neighborhood would result in treating other neighborhoods unfairly, I again ask you to let all of the voters of Santa Ana decide. Send the zoning amendment ordinance to a City Wide referendum in a special election. Don't burden your constituents with the enormous responsibility of sending the ordinance to a City wide vote. if you still have doubts about what our community supports, take the initiative to let the voters all across the City decide this controversial issue. Let the majority of the voters of Santa Ana determine whether to build this project. Alternatively, I request that those of you who supported the project on November 19, 2019 and continued the matter on December 3, now reconsider and oppose rather than adopt these two ordinances. There is ample evidence in the present record to do so. If you carefully review the information presented at the City Council Meetings on November 19 and December 3, 2019 , I believe you must conclude that both ordinances rest on a deeply flawed and incomplete Environmental Impact Report ((EIR) No. 2018-01.) The Development Agreement you are again voting on becomes null and void if a court of competent jurisdiction finds that the Environmental Impact Report is invalid for any reason or it otherwise does not go into effect. (Section 5, para. 2, page 8 of 10, Ordinance NS-2979.) I believe that the Zoning Amendment requires unwarranted spot zoning with no compelling justification. Finally, both the proposed Development Agreement and the Zoning Amendment adversely affect and conflict with the City's General Plan, even as amended per Amendment No. 2018-06 and Amendment Application No. 2018-10.