Ron,
We here in Portola Hills are deeply concerned with the scope and impact of the project being proposed. I spoke with Cheryl in your office regarding the traffic implications and other issues of this at some length. She informed me that the traffic studies were not available and not finished and that it was the intent of the developer to submit the EIR without any traffic data and later submit this. This is part of the EIR and the EIR should have this crucial information in it to submit it correctly.
Since there seems to be some difficulty in Baldwin getting the traffic study done I would propose that we here in Portola Hills commission the study for them. I do have DOT Traffic counters of my own and would love to pull data and submit to you the traffic information done at the time necessary to give you the right information for the EIR.
Since the studies are not done we also would like to parallel our data gathering efforts with those of Baldwin so we both accurately track data. If called upon we would also love to coordinate with Baldwin to make sure that there is effective coverage of the concerns of the existing residents of Portola.
This especially is relevant in the proposal to place the entry of a private gated community less than 500 feet from a very busy and steep primary artery for both Portola Hills and the school. Given the needs for setbacks for crosswalks on both corners, setbacks for traffic intersections and the limited space the current design of the entry and egress is certainly ill designed. Further the setback proposals for the gating entry is certain to cause an uncontrollable traffic problem at peak times and should require the builder to put entry to the parcel on Saddleback Ranch where both the incline angle and traffic handling capabilities are much more conducive to such a plan. I understand that this will be much more costly to the builder but they have stated in meetings that they do not want to disrupt the pastoral lifestyles of those residents whom already reside in the community, but improve it. Yes such an entry would require that Baldwin rethink their street and lot plans but this is a significant issue and warrants further public and city review.
I would also implore you to return the EIR Initial study and checklist as there are significant errors there as well. I know these studies are costly to continue doing but even in a cursory review I found significant errors probably stemming from the “cookie cutter / boilerplate” approach most of these firms use. We and you of course would like the report to reflect accurate information. Statements within the report include:
“The proposed project does not contain a housing component. No impacts would occur and this issue will not be further addressed in the EIR”
Further the new proposed site plans viewed at the meetings expanded the building areas and again may warrant a complete and full re-commission of the studies already completed for the EIR as the borders of building are significantly different and now may be into flood plains and impacting other unknown factors
In viewing the forms being submitted I noticed that it was checked off that “The proposed project WILL NOT affect highways or other facilities under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Transportation.” Have the studies of impact been done and are they available (including data gathering times dates and locations) for public review?
In closing as you can see this proposed development seems to be far from ready to turn a shovel on and has many significant issues to be dealt with before such an event could occur.
We would like to be able to make a complete review of all of the aspects of this project seeing that there are many issues and certainly significant mistakes or misrepresentation even in the most brief review of the CHECKLIST for the EIR, and I have not even had a chance to review the report itself. Judging from the Checklist your office should certainly allow for significant further time for a reevaluation of the EIR if not a request for a restudy of the impact based on the new building proposal displayed at the meetings.
I would be happy to spend some time with your office in review of these many aspects of the project and EIR that though they may seem to be well thought out and correct, might prove to either be substantially in error or only make sense on paper but in practical practice have no foundation in reality.
I am looking forward to the meetings where we can discuss more in detail these issues, but in the mean time I would like to get started with the traffic engineering department working with them to commission our own study of various key points of traffic and submit the vital traffic numbers that Baldwin has indicated on several occasions that they have and would make available but that your office has indicated has not been made available to you. (we would like this to including the times, dates, durations, modeling, and raw data in a usable electronic form, so we might run our own modeling and stat analysis)
It was further indicated to me that these studies are as yet not completed and must be redone and I would ask that until these can be properly executed, the EIR reviewed or re-commissioned, and that the new plot of the building area completely researched (possibly warranting the re-commission of the EIR as a “new study”) that maybe it is time to take a breath until such time as all of these items are properly addressed.
