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Home My WebLink About5 - PUBLIC COMMENT_ADLERGood Afternoon, The following communication pertaining to the Planning Commission meeting, has been received for your review and consideration. Kind Regards, Dora Flores|Support Staff Clerk of the Council Office | 20 Civic Center Plaza | Santa Ana, CA 92701 714-647-5278 | dflores5@santa-ana.org <mailto:dflores5@santa-ana.org> <https://www.santa-ana.org/150> <https://www.santa-ana.org/2020Census> www.santa-ana.org <http://www.santa-ana.org/> This e-mail (and attachments, if any) may be subject to the California Public Records Act, and as such, may, therefore, be subject to public disclosure unless otherwise exempt under the Act. From: Park Santiago [mailto:parksantiagoinfo@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2020 1:22 PM To: eComment <ecomment@santa-ana.org> Subject: Planning Commission Item on One Broadway Plaza. PLEASE READ ALOUD DURING PUBLIC HEARING PLEASE READ ALOUD DURING PUBLIC HEARING. Planning Commissioners: My name is Steven Adler and I am a resident of Santa Ana and have lived here for the last 10+ years. I Oppose the requested changes for the One Broadway Project. The reasons I Oppose the requested changes are as follows: 1. The Project was approved by voters to be a commercial building and Not a high density residential and commercial mixed use building. This project should have to be newly Approved by the Santa Ana voters to allow for such a substantial change to this voter approved project. This project ONLY has entitlements to be a Commercial building...NOT for a mixed use building providing for high density apartments. Providing some affordable housing is desirable for the area, but Not at the cost of allowing a 37 story tower at that location. 2. The 37 story size of the proposed project is simply far too large for that location. The city's street infrastructure can NOT be improved enough to adequately handle the additional traffic generated. The proposed approx $1.8 million in street improvements is woefully inadequate. A project of this size and traffic impact should have $8-$10 million in road improvements, to get future workers and residents from our nearby freeway exits ALL THE WAY to this location efficiently. A mid-rise ( perhaps 8-10 stories) of mixed use would be a Far More appropriate choice for this location. It is NOT a good idea to build an immense 37 story High Rise building that is a new type offering in downtown Santa Ana, with completely unproven demand, as a mixed use product in that area. It would be far better to begin with a mixed-use Mid-Rise development and build additional Mid-Rise mixed use buildings, When and IF there is adequate demand. A 37 story High Rise should ONLY be developed AFTER several, if not many, mid-rise mixed-use developments have been PROVEN successful in downtown Santa Ana, this is basic Urban Planning 101. 3. Downtown Santa Ana does NOT have a Sports venue, like the Staples Center in downtown LA, with its upcoming LA Live mixed use developments, to make a 37 story mixed use tower in downtown Santa Ana successful. 4. Downtown Santa Ana does NOT have a Sports venues, like the Honda Center and Angels Stadium, with Anaheim's proposed Anaheim Live mixed use developments, to make a 37 story Santa Ana mixed use tower successful. You can not compare the LA Live developments and the Anaheim Live developments to downtown Santa Ana. There simply is not enough in common for an intelligent, informed comparison. 5. For the Last 15 years, this project has failed to achieve the required 50% Pre-Leased to Private or Public companies to allow it to proceed, beyond some very basic foundation work. It is very likely that today, the project still does NOT met the 50% office pre-leased requirement for actual, above ground, construction to begin. This is because there is simply NOT adequate demand for companies to move to downtown Santa Ana. The reasons for low office space demand are many, including economic, residential, public infrastructure and socio-demographic reasons. You can Not put your "heads in the sand" ignoring this long term fact, and simply allow an unproven 37 story high rise concept to be built and HOPE it works... You have a fiduciary duty to Not gamble with the City's financial resources and with the city's general plan and zoning guidelines. 6. This long term Absence of Commercial Interest in Santa Ana should not be ignored for this project, and it should Not be "covered up" by simply allowing it to provide a large number of high density apartments. Orange County is about to enter into a Covid-19 caused recession, one that could be very substantial. This is the absolute wrong time to allow for a 37 story building to be approved in the heart of the city. 7. The commercial office building spaces in this proposed project will very likely fail to attract quality long term tenants, and as a result, a future request to convert almost the entire 37 stories to apartments will likely be made. Having almost 37 stories of high density apartments is not in the best interest of the City and its residents. With the Covid-19 outbreak, having high density residential, like in New York, has proven to be a very dangerous and deadly development type for cities. Lenders will always be available to lend for projects in Santa Ana, and there is not a "small window" of time to get this or other projects like it approved. Lending will be around for many, many years, for sound projects, so rushing planning commission decisions based by some stated deadline is completely inappropriate. In closing, Santa Ana DOES need some new mixed-use developments to attract people and revive downtown. However, approving a high rise mixed-use tower with absolutely no proven track record in Santa Ana is simply a recipe for financial disaster for the city. Please vote to Oppose these project changes and encourage a mid-rise mixed use development at this location. A new mixed-use mid-rise (8-10 stories) will be far better for Santa Ana and its residents. Thank you. A558