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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE_55CMitre- Ramirez, Norma From: Huizar, Maria Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 11:44 AM To: Mitre - Ramirez, Norma Cc: Orozco, Norma; Trujillo, Rose Ann Subject: FW: Statement from the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition Attachments: Santa Ana Press Release 05062014.pdf Please add letter to agenda packet. Thank you From: Magallon, Becky Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 11:28 AM To: Pulido, Miguel; Sarmiento, Vince Cc: Benavides, David; Galvez, William E.; Huizar, Maria Subject: FW: Statement from the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition From: Christina Rush [mailto: bristolstreetcoalition Calgmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 10:55 AM To: Pulido, Miguel; Sarmiento, Vince; Martinez, Michele; Amezcua, Angelica; Benavides, David; Tinajero, Sal; Council; Reyna, Roman Subject: Statement from the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition Dear Mayor and City Council, Please find attached a statement from the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition about tonight's vote on the Bristol Street Widening Project. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Regards, Christina Rush 714 -541 -3216 Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition CCM 5/6/2014 55C BRISTOL STREET BUSINESS OWNERS COALITION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: May 6, 2014 Christina Rush, 714 -541 -3216 bristolstreetcoalitionna gmail.com Coalition Urges City to Abandon Full -Take Acquisitions on Bristol Street Santa Ana, CA — Today, the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition released the following statement: On Tuesday, May 6, Santa Ana's City Council should vote `No' on the Department of Public Works' plan for phase 3B of the Bristol Street Widening Project, now called Bristol Street Improvements. If approved, the resolution would authorize the condemnation of eight businesses between 17`h Street and Washington Street for a few feet of unneeded greenery. At the directive of Santa Ana's City Council, the Coalition has tried to work with city staff for months to achieve a solution that allows for the widening of North Bristol Street while simultaneously protecting the Coalition's businesses. City staff claims that the Coalition is "not united," which is false. A majority of the threatened businesses continue to participate in the Coalition and remain steadfast in their desire to maintain their current location. These business owners are committed to following City Council's direction to work with staff on a solution that would allow their businesses to remain on North Bristol Street in between Washington Avenue and 17`h Street. They are committed to serving the Santa Ana community as they have done for many decades. City staff has also stated that a number of residents and neighbors oppose the Coalition's plan. It is a glaring omission to disregard the Artesia Pilar Neighborhood Association, Institute for Justice, League of United Latin American Citizens of Santa Ana, National Federation of Independent Business /California, Arturo J. Lomeli D.D.S, California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights, Property Rights Alliance, Sam Romero, Santa Ana Collaborative for Responsible Development and Americans for Prosperity - California, who have all publicly supported the Coalition's efforts since March 2014. We urge City Council to insist upon real alternatives that threaten no businesses The Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition is a group of small business owners in Santa Ana working to minimize the impact of the Bristol Street Widening Project on their businesses. They have collectively served the community of Santa Ana for 235 years. For more information, please contact the Bristol Street Business Owners Coalition at bristolstreetcoalition@gmail.com. Mitre - Ramirez, Norma From: Huizar, Maria Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 6:29 PM To: Mitre - Ramirez, Norma Cc: Trujillo, Rose Ann; Orozco, Norma Subject: Fwd: Bristol Widening Project Attachments: PDF Copy Letter to Council, Mayor, Staff, Planning.pdf; ATT00001.htm Letter to be entered into the record. Thank you Begin forwarded message: From: "Magallon, Becky" <BMa allonksanta- ana.org> Date: May 5, 2014 at 2:55:04 PM PDT To: "Huizar, Maria" <MHuizar ,santa- ana.org> Subject: FW: Bristol Widening Project Maria, I'm forwarding an email related to an item on tomorrow's Council agenda. Becky From: Tony Michalski [ mailto :tony.michalski(cbhotmail.com] Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 2:14 PM To: Pulido, Miguel; Sarmiento, Vince; Martinez, Michele; Benavides, David; Amezcua, Angelica; Reyna, Roman; Tmajero, Sal Subject: Bristol Widening Project Dear Mayor and City Council Members, 1 understand that there is an opportunity at tonight's City Council Meeting for you to take action and vote on the addendum to the EIR for the Bristol Widening Project. Regretfully, I have other commitments this evening and will not be able to attend tonight's meeting to show my support for the position that my Washington Square neighbors and I share with respect to the project. In lieu of my being able to attend tonight's meeting, I am sending this email message to you today along with a letter that the Washington Square Ad Hoc Committee on Bristol Street Widening composed and shared with you in the past to express our concerns and support. Although I can't attend in person, please know that I stand with my fellow neighbors who will be in attendance at tonight's meeting. Regards, Tony Michalski Washington Square Resident Attachment: Ad Hoc Committee Letter re Bristol Widening CCM 5/6/2014 55C Re: Bristol Street Widening Project Our Historic Washington Square Neighborhood has waited for a long time for the widening of Bristol along our western border. The amendment to the EIR that has been twice postponed for a voted does not adequately address the scope of the needs of the public in general and residents of Washington Square in particular. 1. Proposed "Visibility Wall" is not high enough. 2. Bristol/Washington Intersection needs reconfiguration to accommodate traffic flow and mitigate serious safety issues. 3. "Full Take" plan should NOT be modified to insure Vehicular and Pedestrian Safety on the east side of Bristol from Washington Ave. to 17th 4. Blighted Vacant lot (City- Owned) at NE Corner Washington and Bristol needs remediation sooner rather than later. Here are our concerns and recommendations regarding these points POINT 1: We believe the proposal is for an 8 foot wall. An 8 foot wall is 2 feet too short to protect Louise Street residents behind it from the noise and pollution increase resulting from the addition of 2 more lanes of traffic on Bristol. Looking forward, If you build an 8 foot wall there, then those of us who live on Louise between Washington and Civic Center will have to put up with an 8 foot wall when that section of Bristol is widened. Current residents and homeowners behind the Chevron Station and In `N Out Burger live with the continuing problem of noise and people throwing trash or jumping over the existing wall into their yards . An 8 foot wall is too easy to scale and pretty easy to throw stuff over. We believe a 9 foot wall would be a reasonable compromise that most of us could reluctantly support. POINT 2: The intersection of Bristol and Washington is a huge problem and this will be our only opportunity to correct it. This intersection is the main entry and egress from our neighborhood. As it is, it is dangerous and inadequate to handle traffic flow. We need a Left Turn Arrow to allow vehicles southbound on Bristol to turn east onto Washington. Routinely, northbound Bristol cars run the light, putting left - tumers, who are in middle of the intersection, in danger. There have been numerous accidents as a result, some resulting in fatalities. We need a Right Turn Lane for vehicles Westbound on Washington who need to go North onto Bristol which would allow them to turn right on the red light. As it is, vehicles continuing west on Washington block those needing to turn right until the light changes. That green light is very short. Vehicles are backed up for 1 to 3 blocks in mornings and afternoons with traffic going to and from Wilson School and in the early morning and late afternoons when people are going to and coming from work. The City owns the vacant lot on the northeast comer of Washington and Bristol. This space could be used as a designated right turn lane which would alleviate the problem. (In the meantime, if the green light were longer, it would help) Even more important is the issue of safety in the event of emergency. People will not be able to get out of the neighborhood and emergency vehicles will have trouble getting in and out if this problem is not fixed! Widening Bristol provides the opportunity to do so and it should not be missed! POINT 3: In terms of modifying the plan in a way that would allow the Bristol Street Coalition people to stay on their property, we think this is very unwise and urge you not to reduce the width of the Bristol as planned. Leaving the buildings is bad planning, increases risks to vehicles and pedestrians alike and may leave the City open to liability when accidents occur. No matter how you figure it, it would put these businesses too close to the street and would create a safety hazard for vehicles coming and going from their properties. In addition, there is a lot of foot traffic along Bristol. Not doing a "full- take" would put pedestrians on a too narrow sidewalk, too close to the street, without any room for a buffer. From an aesthetic point of view, the plan to remove the buildings would allow future development that looks coherent with the newer development done by Santa Ana College across Bristol and the corners of 17th and Bristol. There is nothing architecturally or historically distinctive about the businesses' buildings that would dictate their preservation. Leaving them in place would leave no room for landscaping along the stretch of Bristol either. We want that part of the street to finally look attractive and we think the City should want that too! Ideally we would like the edge of our neighborhood to look like the beautifully landscaped and lighted area on South Bristol, but we know that won't happen. Still, we should at least leave room for some trees and plants along the street. We are sympathetic to the owners of these businesses. They have provided professional services and community services to the City of Santa Ana for many years and we applaud them for it. We hope that the City will provide them generous assistance in relocation, preferable within the City of Santa Ana. POINT 4: We have waited patiently for years while toxic soil abatement has been conducted because it was once a gas station. The City is continuously spending a lot of money to maintain the chain -link fencing and green wrapping around the lot. It is regularly breached, torn, graffitied. We have been told that it will be remediated when the widening occurs. It looks like that is going to be another few years. This is fiscally unwise for the City and really unfair to us! It is a major entrance to our neighborhood and it looks terrible! It negatively affects our property values. The City should take down the fencing and clean up the lot. A clean open space, with plants would be a great improvement and would solve the problem of people jumping the fence and doing as they please, shielded from view by the wrapped fencing. Please reply to this e -letter to let us know you have read it. You will have overwhelming support from Washington Square people to implement these actions and changes. Please send your response to these issues and your ideas of how we can work together to solve these problems Sincerely, Washington Square Ad Hoc Committee on Bristol Street Widening Mitre - Ramirez, Norma From: Huizar, Maria Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 5:31 PM To: Pulido, Miguel; Martinez, Michele; Martinez, Michele; Sarmiento, Vince; Tinajero, Sal; Benavides, David; Reyna, Roman; Amezcua, Angelica Cc: Cavazos, David; Galvez, William E.; Sandoval, Jose; Carvalho, Sonia R. Subject: Fwd: To Council Members Attachments: 05 -06 -2014 04;52;02PM.pdf; ATT00001.htm Letter attached for your review and consideration; made part of the record. Begin forwarded message: From: "LuterLutz n aol.com" <LuterLutz@aol.com> To: "Huizar, Maria" <MHuizar n,santa- ana.org >, "Huizar, Maria" <MHuizar@santa- ana.org> Subject: To Council Members Hi Maria can you distribute the attached letter to the council for tonight's meeting. Thank you, Tom Lutz Pres. WSNA CCM 05/06/2014 55C Re: Bristol Street Widening Project Our Historic Washington Square Neighborhood has waited for a long time for the widening of Bristol along our western border. The amendment to the EIR that has been twice postponed for a voted does not adequately address the scope of the needs of the public in general and residents of Washington Square in particular. 1. Proposed "Visibility Wall" is not high enough. 2. Bristol/Washington Intersection needs reconfiguration to accommodate traffic flow and mitigate serious safety issues. 3. "Full Take" plan should NOT be modified to insure Vehicular and Pedestrian Safety on the east side of Bristol from Washington Ave. to 17th 4. Blighted Vacant lot (City- Owned) at NE Corner Washington and Bristol needs remediation sooner rather than later. Here are our concerns and recommendations regarding these points POINT 1: We believe the proposal is for an 8 foot wall. An 8 foot wall is 2 feet too short to protect Louise Street residents behind it from the noise and pollution increase resulting from the addition of 2 more lanes of traffic on Bristol. Looking forward, If you build an 8 foot wall there, then those of us who live on Louise between Washington and Civic Center will have to put up with an 8 foot wall when that section of Bristol is widened. Current residents and homeowners behind the Chevron Station and In `N Out Burger live with the continuing problem of noise and people throwing trash or jumping over the existing wall into their yards. An 8 foot wall is too easy to scale and pretty easy to throw stuff over. We believe a 9 foot wall would be a reasonable compromise that most of us could reluctantly support. POINT 2: The intersection of Bristol and Washington is a huge problem and this will be our only opportunity to correct it. This intersection is the main entry and egress from our neighborhood. As it is, it is dangerous and inadequate to handle traffic flow. We need a Left Turn Arrow to allow vehicles southbound on Bristol to turn east onto Washington. Routinely, northbound Bristol cars run the light, putting left - tumers, who are in middle of the intersection, in danger. There have been numerous accidents as a result, some resulting in fatalities. We need a Right Tarn Lane for vehicles Westbound on Washington who need to go North onto Bristol which would allow them to turn right on the red light. As it is, vehicles continuing west on Washington block those needing to turn right until the light changes. That green light is very short. Vehicles are backed up for 1 to 3 blocks in mornings and afternoons with traffic going to and from Wilson School and in the early morning and late afternoons when people are going to and coming from work. The City owns the vacant lot on the northeast comer of Washington and Bristol. This space could be used as a designated right turn lane which would alleviate the problem. (In the meantime, if the green light were longer, it would help) Even more important is the issue of safety in the event of emergency. People will not be able to get out of the neighborhood and emergency vehicles will have trouble getting in and out if this problem is not fixed! Widening Bristol provides the opportunity to do so and it should not be missed! POINT 3: In terms of modifying the plan in a way that would allow the Bristol Street Coalition people to stay on their property, we think this is very unwise and urge you not to reduce the width of the Bristol as planned. Leaving the buildings is bad planning, increases risks to vehicles and pedestrians alike and may leave the City open to liability when accidents occur. No matter how you figure it, it would put these businesses too close to the street and would create a safety hazard for vehicles coming and going from their properties. In addition, there is a lot of foot traffic along Bristol. Not doing a "full- take" would put pedestrians on a too narrow sidewalk, too close to the street, without any room for a buffer. From an aesthetic point of view, the plan to remove the buildings would allow future development that looks coherent with the newer development done by Santa Ana College across Bristol and the corners of 17th and Bristol. There is nothing architecturally or historically distinctive about the businesses' buildings that would dictate their preservation. Leaving them in place would leave no room for landscaping along the stretch of Bristol either. We want that part of the street to finally look attractive and we think the City should want that too! Ideally we would like the edge of our neighborhood to look like the beautifully landscaped and lighted area on South Bristol, but we know that won't happen. Still, we should at least leave room for some trees and plants along the street. We are sympathetic to the owners of these businesses. They have provided professional services and community services to the City of Santa Ana for many years and we applaud them for it. We hope that the City will provide them generous assistance in relocation, preferable within the City of Santa Ana. POINT 4: We have waited patiently for years while toxic soil abatement has been conducted because it was once a gas station. The City is continuously spending a lot of money to maintain the chain link fencing and green wrapping around the lot. It is regularly breached, tom, graffitied. We have been told that it will be remediated when the widening occurs. It looks like that is going to be another few years. This is fiscally unwise for the City and really unfair to us! It is a major entrance to our neighborhood and it looks terrible! It negatively affects our property values. The City should take down the fencing and clean up the lot. A clean open space, with plants would be a great improvement and would solve the problem of people jumping the fence and doing as they please, shielded from view by the wrapped fencing. Please reply to this e- letter to let us know you have read it. You will have overwhelming support from Washington Square people to implement these actions and changes. Please send your response to these issues and your ideas of how we can work together to solve these problems Sincerely, Washington Square Ad Hoc Committee on Bristol Street Widening