THE
5708 Hollister Avenue #234 www.thegoodlandcoalition.org Goleta, CA 93117 [email protected]
COALITION
January 16, 2024
Mayor Paula Perotte and City Council Members
City of Goleta
130 Cremona Drive, Suite B
Goleta, CA 93117
Subject: Mixed-Use Development Project at 6491 Calle Real - Public Safety Issue (Public Forum - January 16, 2024 Council Meeting)
Dear Mayor Perotte and Council Members,
The Goodland Coalition respectfully requests that you do the following:
• Take steps to withhold the issuance of building permits and Certificate of Occupancy for the project at 6491 Calle Real because this development both violates General Plan Transportation Element Standards' and exposes the City to potential liability by creating a public safety hazard • Direct staff to work with the developers and other parties to cure this violation by means that are readily available.
Goleta's Transportation Element 3.3 is clear in prohibiting the current design:
"TE 3.3 Major Arterials b. Access to Abutting Properties 3) New development abutting major and minor arterials shall accommodate safe ingress and egress without necessitating backing movements into the arterial."
And there is no question that Calle Real is a major arterial, as shown on Figure 7-2 of the General Plan Chapter 7 Transportation Element.
To elaborate on the currently proposed design, due to the proposed layout of the building and the parking lot for the property, larger vehicles such as construction and maintenance vehicles, moving and delivery vans, and trash and fire trucks cannot be turned around within the property. All these types of vehicles would have to be reversed back into Calle Real in order to exit. Backing movements into Calle Real at the proposed location would invariably create a significant risk of a vehicular traffic accident or injury to a passing bicyclist or pedestrian.
The City risks liability if the design defect is not remedied. The liability arises from the fact that there is only one point of ingress/egress to the property from Calle Real, and that point is immediately adjacent to the Los Carneros Road roundabout, a major intersection within the City. In other words, accidents and concomitant injuries and property damage are likely to result from large vehicles backing into Calle Real, a major arterial. This is exactly a result that TE 3.3 is in place to prevent.
Mixed-Use Development Project at 6491 Calle Real - Public Safety Issue
There are ready solutions that staff can pursue with the developers to cure this violation of our Transportation Element and eliminate potential City liability problems.
1. The first solution would be to redesign the layout of the building and the parking lot to provide a hammerhead turnaround for larger vehicles within the property. This has been done elsewhere, for example at the residential development at 7388 Calle Real.
2. The more elegant solution is to remove the wall designed to run along the south side property line at the parking lot drive aisle. This would allow vehicles to access the existing driveway on the adjacent Towbes Group property and the ingress/egress point at Los Carneros Road.
The Goodland Coalition believes that the second solution is preferable, but it would require the Towbes Group to grant an easement for this purpose, something that the Towbes Group has been refusing to do for this and other, earlier projects proposed for the 6491 Calle Real site.
If it continues to be the case that the developers are unable to obtain an easement from the Towbes Group, the City should choose the first solution and require the developers to reconfigure the project layout to provide a hammerhead turnaround. This would eliminate the potential liability that the City faces due to the public safety hazard that will otherwise be created if this project is completed as designed.
We urge you to take action to prevent this project from violating TE 3.3 provisions and creating a significant public safety hazard and liability issues for the City, before you issue building permits or a Certificate of Occupancy.
Sincerely,
Bab Wigant
Robert Wignot
Chair
W/attachments: Photos and Site Plan
1 TE 3.3 Major Arterials b. Access to Abutting Properties 3) New development abutting major and minor arterials shall accommodate safe ingress and egress without necessitating backing movements into the arterial. 4) Where feasible, sharing driveways with adjoining properties is encouraged, with provision of reciprocal access easements. Where street standards cannot be fully met and access from the arterial must be approved due to the absence of any other feasible and practicable alternative, development intensity may be reduced on the site to lessen or avoid potential traffic safety hazards and vehicular conflicts.
LOS CARNEROS,
SUBJECT
+/- 23,086 SF
CALLE REAL
6491 CALLE REAL
Single Ingress/Egress Point shown by Arrow
CALLE REAL INGRESS/EGRESS POINT
6491 CALLE REAL MIXED USE PROJECT
SITE PLAN
POSTED SOTN
slamici
of Santa BE
calle Real
Calle Real
Corporate Office
SCARI GizzMoVestiL
or GARMIN &
NILos carneros Rd
Captain Fatty's Brewer
Vater Systems
Calle Real
Green Star
coffee Roastery
Coffee store Life Sciences
Wine Co
Calle Real
The half-acre vacant lot at center is 6941 Calle Real / Credit: Google Maps Example of "Hammerhead" Turn Around for Larger Vehicles Diwood Si
Vrome Mate Gri
Elised Station Re
padre Sheept Center / Cruise it!
ATA (TE (ever)
Calle Real Deft MARle Real
Housing Development at 7388 Calle Real adjacent to the 7-Eleven and Ellwood Station Road
Arrow shows Location of "Hammerhead"