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JASON NIEDLE Santiago Street Lofts Resident, Santa Ana, California 14 June 2014 City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, California Mayor Pulido; Councilmembers Sarmiento, Martinez, Amezcua, Benavides, Reyna and Tinajero; Manager Cavazos and Mr. Lawrence, Planning Exec. Dir. Haluza, and City Staff: First, thank you for your hard work for the City, and for caring about the residents and the future of our city. On June 17th, you will be asked to vote on an appeal to The Depot at Santiago. I and a large group of local residents are passionately opposed to it based on the Vision; and if it must go through, we strongly ask for your assistance in alleviating a number of issues with the project. VISION Let me state for the record that I and quite literally everyone that I have personally spoken with in the Santiago and Logan neighborhoods are opposed to this project from the VISION perspective. The Council has an opportunity to create an incredible transit zone around the train station, and this project does not live up to that potential by any stretch of the imagination. The Renaissance Plan that the city developed for this area was exciting, and one of the reasons that many have moved or stayed here. The Plan said: "Santiago Street receives moderately - scaled residential or mixed -use development along the frontage..." Based on this, many other representations, and our dreams for a better Santa Ana, the community was expecting for - purchase units with vibrant retail at The Depot; not the current lackluster corridor of dense units, with retail so weak that it is "mixed -use" in name only. We have made our opposition clear, over and over. And thus, we ask you to once again consider your vision for this area: It could become an amazing area like the Gaslamp District in San Diego — or it can feature a project like The Depot; perhaps a good project in many respects, but one which is simply in the wrong place to support this vision. Our opposition stated, we have been told by the hardworking city staffers that our opposition comes too late in the process. We unfortunately do not know the process like a well - vested developer, and so we ask for a continuance of the hearing on this property to a date no less than go days forward, so that the community may meet with each of you to discuss our mutual and shared visions for this area. Although this process has been ongoing for a long time in the eyes of the staff, in the eyes of the community we are just beginning to receive full information on the project.