August 19th, 2005
Honorable Mayor Vaus and Honorable Council Members and Staff, My name is Scott Jirik. I live on Sage View Road in South Poway. ~c.~ 0 ,r: k_.
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I am here today to address the issue of the proposed development on the 10 acre portion of land adjacent to the Van Dam Peak Cornerstone, known as 0 Dorathea Terrace.
We realize that this is not officially an item before the council yet, but it is on its way and we would like to start the discussion. As you may know, there is an organization that would like to build on this very complicated piece of land.
The slope of the land appears to be far too steep for building on, especially multiple buildings. There are species of both plants and animals that need to be protected. There are concerns from the neighborhood located directly below regarding storm water runnoff, which has been a continuing problem in that area for quite some time.
We have concerns about the level of traffic that would be frequenting this development, especially during special events, pouring through a residential neighborhood with only one egress -ingress coming down off the steep slope.
There is great concern in the neighborhood for increased risk for wildfire response due to the proposed steep and narrow road.
Additionally, this development would be built on the Ridgeline. It is essential that a proper Ridgeline review be performed from the vantage point of Southwest Poway Road.
Rather than this mountainside and mountain top being developed, this parcel could provide the final portion of land necessary for preserving as much as possible of the Van Dam Peak Cornerstone. As stewards of this land, we would be able to say that we did our part to preserve this important endangered chaparral habitat.
We commend the city for recent purchases of other parcels in the area for the purpose of preservation. We asked the city to consider spending some of the money in the mitigation fund account to purchase this land. We realize that it needs to be purchased at the valuation of open space land. We encourage the owner of this parcel to approach the City with an offer to sell this final important piece of the habitat to the City of Poway.
Thank you.
Scott Jirik