Good evening Mayor and City Council. This is Mark Naftal speaking. Most of you all will remember me as a planning commissioner for our beautiful city a few years ago.
Tonight I am speaking to you in my capacity as President of the Las Ventanas Del Mar HOA. We are a 68 home community at the top of Highland Drive. We have a lovely view of Price Canyon and Longview Avenue and the pacific ocean. We also have, at the bottom of our community, the Price house…and just beyond that – the Amtrak line! In October 2021, the pacific surfliner changed its daily schedule, now leaving the SLO station 44 minutes earlier at 6AM. It crosses the Price House crossing between 620 and 630 AM where the conductor blasts his horn at least 4 times.
This crossing is in a field, gated on both sides, with no public access and bare minimum usage.
Yet everyday these horn blasts shatter the quiet peacefulness without any benefit to safety.
According to Lossan Railway, which manages the Pacific surfliner, this crossing is owned by Union Pacific and the only way to relieve the conductor from this requirement is for the City to apply for Quiet Zone designation.
I’m sure our neighborhood is not alone in noticing this change in noise pollution as I’m sure these blasts are heard along Longview and into downtown as well – I respectively ask the City Council and staff to look into this for us? We’d also like to thank and congratulate the city for the bello street project which will provide a very convenient pedestrian and bike path into the city and price canyon Rd. Thank you for your time this evening -