From: april reid <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2024 1:41 PM
To: Deborah Lopez <[email protected]>; Megan Garibaldi (external forward) <[email protected]>; Anne Wells <[email protected]>; Andy Newkirk <[email protected]>
Subject: Comment regarding agenda topic for 1/16/24 re: my Brown Act Violation Complaint 2023report.pdf
POemailtostate.pdf
2016EIRreport.pdf
KenwoodEIRBaker.pdf
Firedepartment.pdf
2023pictures.pdf
To: The City Council:
This is a comment/response to the agenda item for the January 16, 2023 City Council hearing on the denial of my Brown Act Violation Complaint and my Complaint for Ethics Violations. In the agenda, the City Council intends to reject my Complaint, conveniently determined by at least three City Councilmembers before any public meeting, because “no action for any project approvals at 7264 Calle Real, Goleta, Ca. (Kenwood Village) has been taken by the City Council…”. However, the property owner does have a project for 60 housing units that has been submitted to the City Council.
At the December 5, 2023 public meeting, the City Council indicated they decided that the property owner can build on the property. Further, it is my understanding that there is no requirement that a specific project be presented before a Brown Act Violation can occur, even though a project has been presented for Kenwood Village. The City Council has decided to increase the number of housing units in the project from 60 units to 190 units. It should be noted that there is no project for 190 housing units submitted that the public is aware of, though the public does not know what has been talked about privately by the City Council, and at least three members of the City Council already decided/agreed that there would be building on the property without specifying the exact number of housing units they already approved privately.
If it is for 190 units, then the City
Council did not even bother to wait for an updated project/public plans/public documentation or public CEQA review or at least an addendum before making their decision.
At least the City
Council is not denying there is an agreement between them to allow the property owner to build which they have not not revealed to the public.
I will consider my options.
One option is
to wait to see if the property owner decides to proceed with the 60 unit housing project or whether the property owner submits a new housing project for 190 units, or at least a number of units higher than 60 and then refile my Complaint.
Further, I am resubmitting several documents about the misstatements from the property owner and his friends, some of which live outside Goleta,
which I have submitted many times
before. I have written multiple comments and provided documentation regarding the issues listed below that the property owner and/or his friends have repeatedly misstated.
Unfortunately, the City Council has seen fit to ignore all my comments and documentation, so they have remained intentionally ignorant of the true facts about the Kenwood Village property. It is incomprehensible to me that the Goleta City Council could spend years on the Housing Element Plan and eight months dealing with rezoning/upzoning, some of that time in secret without revealing it to the public, and during the final vote, the City Council does not even know the TRUE FACTS about Kenwood Village and the surrounding area.
Apparently, the
City Council is alright with not bothering to find out the facts of Kenwood Village before agreeing to let the property owner build on the property.
I am not sure why it falls on me and
my neighbors to try to correct the misstatements of the property owner and this friends, some who live outside Goleta. The City Council and/or City staff should be investigating the issues listed below without the need for the community to have to do all their work for them.
Even worse, once the community does all the work, the City Council can not even bother to consider it/learn the true facts before ignoring the truth and recklessly agreeing to rezone/upzone the property, and thereby changing the character of the community forever, without even bothering to become familiar with the area.
The City Council has been dealing with the Housing Element Plan for years.
They have been
dealing with rezoning/upzoning certain properties for eight months, some of that time was done in secret without telling the public about their plan.
Despite all of my written and oral
comments, including documentation of the issues stated below, Councilmember James Kyriaco could not even be bothered to learn the true facts about the property before insisting on voting to rezone/upzone the property.
Councilmember Kyriaco stated at the December 5,
2023 meeting, “[T]here is distrust, there is advocacy for more, there's advocacy for less, there's a disagreement about the basic facts”. However, rather than bothering to clarify the actual facts before voting, he decided to ignore any disagreements and vote without knowing the actual facts surrounding any disagreements.
I am not sure if the City Council is even aware that one of the elements of determining whether property should be rezoned/upzoned is whether the housing units would fit in with the surrounding neighborhood.
This was mentioned in various newspaper articles, including by Councilmember Kyle Richards. Obviously, placing a high density housing project in the middle of quiet, peaceful single family housing units does NOT fit in with the design of the surrounding neighborhood. I would suggest that if the Goleta City Council can’t be bothered to learn the facts about a property before making a significant change to the neighborhood that can not be undone, then every member of the City Council should resign!!!
The following are issues the City Council should have resolved BEFORE voting to rezone/upzone the Kenwood Village property to high density housing:
1. The property owner’s friends, some of whom who do not even live in Goleta, write comments and make comments at the public meetings inaccurately claiming the property is high density housing on three sides.
In fact, page 3-13 of the 2016 EIR for Kenwood Village, which I had nothing to do with, expressly states Kenwood Village is surrounded on the North (Tuolumne Drive) and by the East (Baker Lane) by SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING.
Further, Figure
3.2-1, a map of the surrounding area of Kenwood Village shown in the EIR of 2016, which, again, I had nothing to do with, expressly shows the area at Tuolumne and Baker Lane and beyond in the opposite direction of Kenwood Village is all classified as SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING. Further, the condos on the third side of Kenwood Village on the other side of El Encanto Creek are classified as MODERATE FAMILY HOUSING.
The fourth side is a dangerous
road, Calle Real.
As I have stated repeatedly, THERE IS NO HIGH DENSITY HOUSING SURROUNDING ANY PART OF KENWOOD VILLAGE AS ESTABLISHED IN THE 2016 KENWOOD VILLAGE EIR. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of myself and my true neighbors, the City Council has not bothered to pay any attention to anything I have said, so they seem to be blindly accepting the property owner’s friends’ misstatements of the characterization of the surrounding area of Kenwood Village as fact, which it is not.
I am, once again, submitting
sections of the 2016 Kenwood Village EIR report, which I had nothing to do with preparing or investigating.
2. Further, page 1-1 of the 2016 Kenwood Village for the 2016 EIR expressly states ”the land use designations of the main project parcel” is SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING AND “AGRICULTURE”.
The 2016 Kenwood Village EIR also states on the same page, “[T]he project site is vacant and was previously used for AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.”
Further, Mr. Andy
Newark told me the property is zoned part agricultural, not commercial.
Kenwood Village is
NOT partly zoned commercial property, as the property owner continues to misstate. I am, again, submitting sections of the 2016 Kenwood Village EIR report, which I had nothing to do with preparing or investigating.
3. THE CITY COUNCIL MAY BE INTERESTED IN THIS ONE SINCE THE PROPERTY OWNER ACTUALLY MISSTATED THE CITY COUNCIL’S OWN STATEMENTS TO MR. PAUL MCDOUGALL OF THE HCD. The City Council on more than one occasion stated at various public meetings that the property owner of Kenwood Village would have a range of housing units up to 190 units to build.
However, in a private e-mail that the property owner did not want to be made pubic, the property owner misstated to Mr. McDougall the number of housing units the City Council would allow him to build.
The property owner stated to Paul McDougall of the HCD in an effort to get Mr. McDougall to contact the Goleta City Council to get rid of the 190 unit maximum cap on Kenwood Village, “[N]ow I’m stuck with 190 units (no more, no less, and no flexibility.)”
Since the City Council stated multiple times there was a range in the number of units allowed to be built on Kenwood Village and the property owner was in attendance in the audience when those statements were made, it is clear the property owner is misrepresenting the City Council’s ruling to the HCD. I am, once again, submitting the e-mail chain between Mr.
McDougall and the property owner, which I found on the Goleta City public comment website for the Housing Development Plan. I had nothing to do with the e-mail chain.
4. The Fire Marshall expressly stated that the property owner got a violation for not mowing the field in 2019, though an employee of the fire department claims the property owner did not get a violation.
Once again, I’m submitting a copy of the e-mail from the Fire Marshall stating the property owner received a violation in 2019.
Since the Fire Marshall is a
government official, I am sure the City Council and/or the City staff can contact him and talk to him yourselves, though I doubt anyone will bother to do any work whatsoever.
5. The property owner intentionally fails to mow the interior of the property, causing the weeds to grow taller than my 5 foot 7 inch fence.
In fact, unlike the previous property
owners, the current property owner intentionally failed/refused to mow the middle of the field to the point that the weeds are constantly taller than my 5” 7 “ fence.
I can not even see
the rooftops of the condos across Kenwood Village from my house, much less the entire building, as I can when the weeds are mowed.
He has only mowed the entire field on a few
occasions since he purchased the property over 16 years ago.
I am submitting new pictures of
the weeds on the property which, once again, show the weeds are taller than my fence.
I
have submitted many pictures throughout the years showing the tall weeds.
6. In 2013 and 2016, there were fires on the property. The first fire, which took place in 2013, spread .75 acres due to the weeds on the property. The fire fighter I spoke to on the day of the fire stated the fire started because someone smoked M.J and that kids hide in the tall weeds in the field to smoke.
Then, I was told by the fire fighter I needed to leave, contrary to the property owner’s inaccurate, arbitrary claim that I was not evacuated, which is a curious claim considering he was not even present at the scene of the fire. Even the fire fighter the property owner spoke to about the fire, Deputy Fire Marshall Fred Tan, indicated he never told the property owner that people were not evacuated, as the property owner falsely claims.
Further, Deputy Fire Marshall Tan said there was no indication the weeds were mowed at the time of the fire.
Finally, Deputy Fire Marshall Tan said he was not on the job in 2013 when the fire happened.
7. A few months ago, in 2023, I spoke to another fire fighter, Captain Dustin McKibben.
He
told me that someone in the neighborhood complained about the tall weeds on the property.
Captain McKibben stated that, based on the Complaint, he called the property owner to get him to mow the property. Chief Dustin McKibben’s report states, “[R]equest was made spring of 2023 of the parcel owner to clear 25' around perimeter adjacent to homes.”
So, the
property owner does not always mow the perimeter of the property, as he claims.
I am, once
again, submitting Chief McKibben’s report which I had nothing to do with preparing.
I am
submitting two new pictures of the current state of the property at Kenwood Village which clearly show the weeds are taller that my 5’ 7’ fence.
I have previously submitted pictures
throughout the years showing the weeds are almost constantly taller than my fence.
In fact,
the picture of the 2013 fire in the newspapers showed the weeds were taller than the fire fighters. I had nothing to do with the picture in the newspaper.
8. Further, after 16 years of neglecting the property and allowing the weeds to grow, the property owner has the arrogance to claim that the property he neglected and allowed “trespassers” to come on the property to smoke, start fires, cause fires by failing to mow the weeds, dump trash, etc. would be better once he is allowed to build housing on the property.
He is intentionally ignoring/neglecting the property and putting the lives of the people around Kenwood Village in jeopardy so he can pretend he is a hero by claiming he will clean up the property he neglected and come in to build on the property so the property will no longer look terrible and cause damage, completely ignoring that he caused the decay of the property in the first place.
There are also many other misstatements I could list, but I have a feeling it would be pointless since the City Council does not even bother to read/listen to/consider anything I say.
THE PROPERTY OWNER IS BEING REWARDED FOR HIS NEGLIGENCE AND MISSTATEMENTS
BECAUSE THE CITY COUNCIL CAN NOT BOTHER TO HAVE INVESTIGATED ANY OF THE ISSUES
STATED ABOVE TO DETERMINE THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PROPERTY AND THE PROPERTY
OWNER AND THEY COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO REVIEW THE DOCUMENTATION I PROVIDED!!!!
Finally, since I am writing this comment, I will state that I have been asking for a while for the name of the person who decided to only do an addendum, not a CEQA review, for the City of Goleta since the first CEQA review was done 17 years ago in September 2006. Is it the City Council?
Is it Kathy Allen?
Is it Anne Wells, the pro-development employee who told me the City Council would never vote to build on Kenwood Village and never mentioned the possibility of rezoning/upzoning Kenwood Village to me.
Is it someone else?
I am not sure
why it is such a secret as to who made that decision and how the decision was made.
April Reid
15 Baker Lane
Goleta, CA. 93117