HomeMy WebLinkAboutCDP 97-58A; Carlsbad Park Estates; Coastal Development Permit (CDP) (25)Sandra and Gordon Prentice 3955 Monroe Street Carlsbad, California 92008
July 21, 1999
(760) 729-3729
City of Carlsbad Engineering: Lloyd Hubbs, Ken Quon,
City Planners : Joe Mc Mahan,-e Bob Wojcik, Clide Williams,
Garry Goodman, Dick Cook City Council Members: Matt Hall, Ramona Finnila, Julie Nygaard, Ann Kulchin City Attorney: Ron Bull
Mayor: Bud Lewis
This is to bring the problems concerning the development on Park Drive and Monroe Street to your attention and put you on notice that something must be done to persevere the integrity of the neighborhood as well as protect my property located at 3955 Monroe Street adjacent to said project.
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’Despite numerous meetings of City Planning and City Council s.essions it was never disclosed to us that the property would be filled up to ten feet above Park Drive and six feet above our adjacent property. This appears to have been deliberately concealed from all of the property owners. We were shown the houses and their locations but never explained that the elevation (fill) takes the corner house ten feet (over one story) higher than Park Drive. That appears to be one way to get around the City‘s limit of two stories ie. 35 foot height restriction. In effect this raised the house to a height of over three stories without creating a third story. If you allow 10 feet for the fill, ten feet per story and 8 feet for the roof you have 38 feet. It gives a great ocean view to all the houses on Monroe but
destroys the views and integrity of the entire neighborhood.
Since everything involved with Carlsbad Park Estates conforms with City requirements and has been approved by the City engineers and others I am requesting a written guarantee from City Planing, City Council and City Engineering that the project will not negatively effect my property‘s drainage and that in the event it does cause serious water damage to my home the City of Carlsbad will bear all the expenses that may be incurred.
‘Engineers have told me that the plan could be designed differently. In fact Mr. Hall at the Appeals Hearing requested that the City Council take an additional two weeks to consider other possibilities for the project and he voted against the zone change approval at that
time. Unfortunately the City Council saw fit to grant the zone change and allow the developer to continue with the project.
The Council stated that the traffic hazard would be immediately addressed. So far the only thing that has been done was to erect an
arteria, stop sign where Alder runs &nto Monroe/Sunnyhill. This has not corrected the problem of cars careening around the blind corner where Sunnyhill converts to Monroe. The children are still walking too and from school in the street and there has been no notice given to the home owners as to the installation of sidewalks, curbs and gutters. council's recommendations regarding this hazardous blind curve. We have a video tape of the appeals meeting and the city
When the developers held their last meeting (sometime in March?) with the home owners at 3965 Monroe Street the residents requested an elevation/grading site map and were told that the developer had forgotten to bring it. He promised to see to it that the home owners would be shown an elevation/grading map and that there would be a trailer/sales office on the site where all this information would be available to the surrounding home owners prior to the grading of the property. completed. Just today the developer stated that they were still in the process of finalizing their elev ti ns. That does seem to be contradictory to their getting the ta&& plan to the residents. There were about 20 people present who were concerned with the elevations. Floor plans were not shown, just of the exteriors.
This has yet to be done and the grading is almost
I beseech the City Council and the Mayor to come to the site and stop this project before it is too late. We all pay taxes. We, too, should have some say so as to how they are spent. We would appreciate the City taking responsibility for its error in allowing this project to totally wreck the entire community and spend whatever it takes to rectify the situation the same as they are doing by rerouting an existing road in the Rancho Santa Fe Road area at a cost of over $20,000,000 of the tax payers money. Even City engineers say this is absurd.
I believe the sign in the council chambers saying "What is popular for Carlsbad is not always right. What is right for Carlsbad is not always popular." is arrogant and insulting and indicates a total disregard of the citizens desires for their own communities. Sometimes those who live every day in an area do know best what should be done. All the residents were in agreement that there 'should have been less lots facing Monroe Street. Now we are all objecting to the elevations of these lots. It is our money that pays the City employees' salaries. The City Council and Planning Commission are not right 100% of the time and in this case they apparently have no idea of what is good for this area.
Again, we beg you to reconsider the elevations of the lots facing on Monroe Street. Both the ten foot elevation at the corner of Monroe and Park and the six foot elevation above the property adjacent to the project should be corrected and a more compatible elevation plan designed in keeping with the integrity of the neighborhood.
Yours truly,
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon R. Prentice