CORRESPONDENCE - 75A - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

PALMIERI HENNESSEY LEIFER, LLP Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers of the City of Santa Ana October 20, 2020 Page 5 experience does Santa Ana have with fire fighting a 16-story residential/hotel building surrounded by smaller historic structures? What analysis is in the documentation? None. Similarly, there has been no analysis of the deviation from the maximum 85% massing standard. No analysis has been conducted to support the claims of the added views from the "recessing" of the "building mass at the fourth and fifth levels." In fact, the massing proposed at the fourth and fifth levels is at or nearly at the maximum allowable massing of 85%. It is not like the third story deviates the maximum but the fourth and fifth levels try to compensate for that by have a massing less than the maximum. The deviation from the floor area ratio standards contributes to the height and massing impacts of the proposed project. As discussed elsewhere herein, there is no analysis of the impacts from construction of this massive Wilshire Blvd. -type of development just steps away from a 100-plus year old building. What steps will be undertaken to make sure that the demolition, earth movement and construction required for this massive project development will not impact the historic Spurgeon Building or the surrounding historic Downtown area? The proposed Project also deviates from the parking standards and requirements. The proposed Project eliminates an existing 400-plus space public parking structure that currently serves the downtown Santa Ana properties and businesses. The proposed Project seeks to demolish that existing 400-plus space parking structure and the attendant improvements such as the bridge structures from the parking structure to the nearby buildings, including the Spurgeon Building. The Staff Report asserts that the Project proposes to replace the existing 400-plus space public parking with 220 public parking spots. The Staff Report fails to recognize that such parking spots will be utilized by the retail/commercial oriented uses being proposed as part of the mixed -use development Project. There is no analysis as to the current parking usage of the existing 400-plus parking structure nor any analysis as to whether the proposed 220 parking spots will be sufficient for use of the downtown Santa Ana properties and businesses that currently utilize and rely upon the 400-plus spaces in the existing parking structure. There is no analysis of the impact to the parking situation during construction. How long will it take for construction of the development? How long between demolition of 400-plus spaces to having public use of 220 spaces? The City's wholesale failure to analyze the very real impacts to historic site such as the Spurgeon Building requires a denial at this time. In fact, there will be significant impacts to the Spurgeon Building from these deviations.