San Luis Ranch report fails to examine project alternatives
On July 5 at 6 p.m., the SLO City Council will vote on the massive San Luis Ranch annexation project on Madonna Road (near the Post Office). The huge project includes 580 residential units and commercial uses. It has various “Class 1” impacts (severe, unmitigated impacts that will continue indefinitely long into the future), affecting air quality (smog), transportation (traffic jams), cultural resources, and certain city land-use policies.
The four alternatives selected for the final EIR were all infeasible, and therefore useless. I had suggested a feasible alternative (shown in the final EIR), which slightly reduced the housing units (from 580 to 530), as a method to achieve major project objectives yet providing better mitigation for traffic and air pollution. My alternative would also have provided some extra on-site open space useful for housing residents and would offer better protection of natural habitat along Prefumo Creek and at the existing eucalyptus grove. My suggested alternative was rejected by the EIR consultant and by the Planning Commission without adequate explanation. This, I believe, was inconsistent with California Environmental Quality Act. The city has wrongfully refused to consider at least one feasible alternative that could lessen these Class 1 impacts. Speak out on July 5!
Michael Sullivan, San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published July 1, 2017 at 7:45 PM with the headline "San Luis Ranch report fails to examine project alternatives."