As part of its mission to reduce hazards associated with at-grade crossings, and in support of the national goal of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Commission’s policy is to reduce the number of at-grade crossings on freight or passenger railroad mainlines in California.
As noted above, the CPUC has jurisdiction over the safety of rail crossings. RCEB staff have been in discussions with the City and Metrolink regarding the expected impacts of the proposed Shadowbox development to the 13th Street crossing, and those concerns have been addressed by the City. Though RCEB staff understands your concern of additional traffic into your neighborhood, those concerns will need to be discussed with the City.
If you have any additional questions, please contact me at (213) 999-3403 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Chris Palas
Utilities Engineer
Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch
Safety and Enforcement Division
Copy: City of Santa Clarita
Metrolink
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Packet Pg. 189 Attachment: CPUC Letter (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109))
ADAMSKI MOROSKI MADDEN
CU M B E R L A N D & GR E E N LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Post Office Box 3835 San Luis Obispo, California 93403-3835 T 805-543-0990 F 805-543-0980 www.ammcglaw.com
Paso Robles Office: 1948 Spring Street Paso Robles, CA 93446-1620 T 805-238-2300 F 805-238-2322 July 11, 2023
Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
23920 Valencia Boulevard
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
[email protected]
Re: REQUEST FOR CONTINUANCE OF THE JULY 18, 2023 PLANNING
COMMISSION HEARING
In the Matter of Shadowbox Studios Project
City of Santa Clarita Master Case Number 21-109
Our Client- Placerita Canyon Property Owners Association (“PCPOA”) Dear Ms. Iverson:
Late in the afternoon on July 6th, we received over 2,000 pages of materials regarding the EIR for this project. We have not yet had the opportunity to review these voluminous materials in any detail. However, included in the materials were 12 pages incorrectly styled as “Errata and Clarifications to the Draft EIR”. An Errata is a list of errors in a printed work discovered after printing and shown with corrections. An Errata is used to clarify misspellings, omissions, and other typographical answers. Errata deals with mistakes not new information that the City should have included and circulated in the DEIR. The characterization of this new information as an Errata is inappropriate and misleading.
The Errata section of the “Final EIR” sets forth new information and substantive changes that were not contained in the DEIR. This “Final EIR” now contains significant new information added to the EIR after the time limit for public comment to the draft EIR expired.
Nevertheless, the Errata Section erroneously characterizes new information as nonsubstantiative changes. Examples of this charade include the inclusion of: new traffic improvements; railroad crossing widening; obtaining different air permits from AQMD; biological concerns regarding the Crotch Bumble Bee and Mountain Lions; the insistence the Applicant retain a qualified biologist who will be on site during construction; new conditions governing construction activities for the project; new energy and emission standards; changes to the public and utility services; substantial changes to the Wildfire Section of the EIR; and changes to the Transportation Assessment.
The new information now in the Errata Section of the “Final EIR” requires postponing the upcoming Planning Commission Hearing and the recirculation for public comment of the revised
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Packet Pg. 190 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
July 10, 2023
“Final EIR”. CEQA Guidelines mandate the requested postponement and recirculation of the “Final EIR”. The pertinent section of the applicable CEQA Regulation is reproduced below for your reference.
15088.5. RECIRCULATION OF AN EIR PRIOR TO CERTIFICATION “ (a) A lead agency is required to recirculate an EIR when significant new information is added to the EIR after public notice is given of the availability of the draft EIR for public review under Section 15087 but before certification. As used in this section, the term “information” can include changes in the project or environmental setting as well as additional data or other information.
New information added to an EIR is not “significant” unless the EIR is changed in a way that deprives the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment upon a substantial adverse environmental effect of the project or a feasible way to mitigate or avoid such an effect (including a feasible project alternative) that the project’s proponents have declined to implement. “Significant new information” requiring recirculation include, for example, a disclosure showing that:
(1) A new significant environmental impact would result from the project or from a new mitigation measure proposed to be implemented.
(2) A substantial increase in the severity of an environmental impact would result unless mitigation measures are adopted that reduce the impact to a level of insignificance. (3) A feasible project alternative or mitigation measure considerably different from others previously analyzed would clearly lessen the environmental impacts of the project, but the project’s proponents decline to adopt it.
(4) The draft EIR was so fundamentally and basically inadequate and conclusory in nature that meaningful public review and comment were precluded. (Mountain Lion Coalition v. Fish and Game Com. (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 1043)….”
The New information added to an EIR is “significant”. The EIR was changed in a way that deprives the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment upon a substantial adverse environmental effect of the project or a feasible way to mitigate or avoid such an effect (including a feasible project alternative) that the project’s proponents have declined to implement. This “Significant new information” requires recirculation of the EIR and postponement of the July 18th Planning Commission Hearing.
This is not the first time the City’s handling of this project mandated a requested continuance from PCPOA and the public. My partner, Ty Green, criticized the City’s failure to continue the public comment period for the DEIR in his May 22nd letter to you. His letter requested a mere 15-day continuance, within the existing statutory period for public comment, because of the daunting impacts this massive project posed to the community and the overwhelming number of materials to be reviewed. Another reason for the requested continuance occurred after his letter was sent to you when the City purposely delayed responding to our initial Public Records Request “PRR”) of April 19, 2023. We received some of the requested materials from our PRR at the close of business on May 15, 2023, 24 hours before the Planning Commission Hearing on May 16, 2023.
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Packet Pg. 191 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
July 10, 2023
Voluminous, but incomplete, materials requested in April were finally provided to us on the 25th, three days after the close of the public comment period, necessitating our second reason for a continuance. This document dump and its timing was brought to the Commission’s attention at the May 16th Hearing. The Commission summarily swatted away our request.
In fact, to date, we still have not received all the requested materials pursuant to our Public Records Requests. As a result, PCPOA and the public are being prevented from knowing all the relevant material information pertaining to this project while simultaneously being forced to comment on the project on a fast-track expedited timeline the project with incomplete information.
I appeared at last month’s Planning Commission Hearing decrying this rush to judgment.
The City’s express train to approval is ignoring full compliance with CEQA Guidelines and other requirements for this project. It is incredulous that the construction of 19 55-foot-high movie studios, requiring several zoning changes and other variances, purportedly poses no significant environmental impacts to the community! There are, in fact, significant traffic, biological, and wildfire impacts posed by this project that the City is ignoring. What’s the rush? Yet, the City will not even propose the project be conditioned on the already approved Dockweiler Extension that successfully survived the EIR process and will ameliorate the traffic, wildfire, and evacuation impacts posed by this project benefiting the canyon residents. Safety trumps expediency. The City appears to be myopic in focusing on the potential tax revenues the Studio may generate while overlooking the inevitable wildfire calamity lurking “around the corner”. A Wildfire affecting the Canyon is inevitable: it is only a matter of time, unfortunately.
Even so, the EIR fails to consider the Wildfire and evacuation impacts posed not only to Placerita Canyon but also to the neighboring Circle J community (another disaster waiting to occur, unfortunately).
Also overlooked in this rush to judgment is that Placerita Canyon is a Special Standards District. Neither the DEIR nor the “Final EIR” seriously consider the substantial impacts this project poses to this Special Standards District. Both the DEIR and the “Final EIR” are devoid of any analysis the significant impacts this project poses to the District and its Canyon Residents.
Pertinent portions of the Special Standards District are reproduced below.
17.39.020 Placerita Canyon Special Standards District
“Intent and Purpose. The purpose of the Placerita Canyon special standards district (PCSSD) is to protect, maintain, preserve and enhance the secluded, rural equestrian character of the community, to enhance the community’s unique appeal and to help mitigate the cumulative impacts of residential development. Additionally, it is the purpose of these special standards to ensure that new and expanded structures are compatible with the characteristics of surrounding single-family residential neighborhoods, and protect the light, air, and privacy of existing single-family residences from negative impacts. These standards are also intended to ensure reasonable access
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Packet Pg. 192 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
July 10, 2023
to public riding and hiking trails, and to minimize the need for installation of infrastructure such as sewers, streetlights, concrete sidewalks and concrete flood control systems that would alter the community’s character, while providing for adequate drainage and other community safety features.
B. Property Development Standards. The following requirements shall apply in all zones in the area identified as Placerita Canyon on the official zoning map and as described in subsection (G) of this section: 1. Animals which are kept or maintained as pets shall be permitted to continue when in accordance with the following: a. Two (2) horses or other similar animals which, in the opinion of the Director, are neither obnoxious nor detrimental to the public welfare may be kept on a lot or parcel of land which has a minimum area of five thousand (5,000) square feet, but less than fifteen thousand (15,000) square feet. b. The requirements of Chapter 17.62 (Animal Keeping) with respect to animal keeping are met, with the exception of the minimum lot area above. 2. Any new development shall adhere to the following standards or provide the following amenities: a.
Trails. i. Riding and hiking trails shall be provided as depicted on the latest Placerita Canyon Backbone Trails exhibit on file with Parks, Recreation and Community Services, to the satisfaction of the Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services; ii. Trails shall be fenced to the satisfaction of the Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, with fences of a rustic wood appearance; iii. Trail access shall be provided at all river crossings; iv. There shall be no obstructions including, but not limited to, landscaping, trash receptacles, or other similar structures within a designated trail; v. Fencing shall not be permitted to cross riverbeds in such a manner as to deny trail access; vi. All new residential projects of greater than four (4) dwelling units and all new commercial, industrial and institutional projects (including expansion thereof) shall provide trail easements, consistent with community goals and the Placerita Canyon backbone trails exhibit, to the satisfaction of the Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services; vii. Unobstructed multipurpose pathways for both pedestrian and equestrian uses shall be developed in each new development to the satisfaction of both the Director of Public Works and the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services. Although alignments that are not adjacent to roadways will generally be preferred, road easements may be used when the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services determines that other locations are inappropriate; and viii. Trail construction shall be completed and maintained in accordance with the conditions set forth by the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services. All information pertaining to trail requirements shall be shown on the tentative parcel or tract map and on the final parcel or tract map prior to the final map recordation;
C. Street lights, in accordance with City standards, shall be installed only at road-to-road intersections; exterior lighting shall be designed to minimize off-site illumination, within the requirements for public safety. Exterior lighting on residential parcels shall be of top-shielded design to prevent direct off-site illumination; hoods shall be used to direct light away from adjacent parcels. Exterior lighting on nonresidential parcels shall be prohibited except where necessary for the safety of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, as determined by the City. To minimize off-site illumination where lights are required, cut-off fixtures in keeping with a rural equestrian architectural style will be specified;
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Packet Pg. 193 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
July 10, 2023
D. Commercial/Industrial Zones. 1. Landscaping Requirements. a. Adequate buffering between residential and nonresidential areas shall be provided, in accordance with the provisions of this code; b. Street trees shall be required; c. Landscaped berms or other landscape treatment shall be used to screen the view of parking areas from the street; and d. Landscape plans shall incorporate twenty-four (24) inch box trees. 2. Lot Orientation. Properties fronting on Lyons Avenue shall be oriented with their primary access on Lyons Avenue. Site orientation shall discourage use of Placerita Canyon Road as a primary access. 3. Noise Limits. Any loud music (live or recorded) shall comply with the noise limits as set forth in Section 11.44.040 (Noise Limits).
E. North Newhall Area. The following requirements shall apply to those properties in the Placerita Canyon special standards district that are within the North Newhall Area (NNA), as identified in the General Plan. The future uses and development within this area require careful advance planning and consideration of any potential projects shall be required to address each of the following subject areas:
1. Public Participation/Outreach. a. Be subject to public participation and outreach led by the applicant(s) or the applicant’s representative, at the onset of and during conceptual planning and prior to formal submittal of a proposed project to the City. Outreach would include, but is not limited to, the Placerita Canyon property owners’ association.
2. Traffic Intrusion/Gateways. a. Be internally and externally pedestrian-oriented, and have equestrian and bicycle amenities and accommodations; b. Understand and acknowledge that any development at these locations will increase existing vehicular traffic and create new vehicular traffic, and that there will be impacts to equestrian and pedestrian circulation in the existing neighborhood, and therefore to minimize those impacts, special attention must be given to mitigate impacts caused by such identified access points; c. Layout and orientation of any developments shall be designed to discourage and where possible prevent additional trips into Placerita Canyon caused by or resulting from such developments; d. Include defined entry gateways or monuments into the Placerita Canyon special standards district, at Railroad Avenue, complete with landscaping and architectural elements with signage expressly stating there is no through traffic allowed; and e. A traffic study shall be prepared for all new developments that are projected to generate two hundred fifty (250) or more new daily trips, within the areas encompassed by the NNA. The traffic study shall analyze those potentially impacted intersections within the NNA area and those that lie within a one (1) mile radius of the subject development site.
3. Buffering and Transitions. a. Preserve the existing rural equestrian community, generally known as Placerita Canyon, and provide adequate buffers and graduated transitional design to ensure existing neighborhood protection and compatibility of character resulting from any proposed development; b. Incorporate the current Santa Clarita Valley Trails Advisory Committee (SCVTAC) network of multi-use trails into adjacent neighborhoods which shall have rural and equestrian characteristics; and c. Require use of the MWD right-of-way as a landscaped buffer (subject to MWD approval) between the NNA within the PCSSD and
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Packet Pg. 194 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Ms. Erika Iverson, Planner
City of Santa Clarita
July 10, 2023
the rest of Placerita Canyon, which landscaping shall consist of low water, low maintenance landscape material.
4. Architecture. a. Consist of three hundred sixty (360) degree architectural design with pedestrian-scaled building massing and forms where adjacent to existing residences, with the use of landscaping to visually soften hard edges of buildings; b. Structures shall have varied building heights and designs shall create east/west sight lines. Building heights up to thirty-five (35) feet may be permitted. Additional height, not to exceed fifty (50) feet, may be permitted subject to the approval of a conditional use permit…
7. Economic Development. a. Based on the area’s proximity to the nearby Metrolink station and Old Town Newhall, development in the NNA would be supportive of revitalization efforts, with an appropriate mix of retail, office, restaurant, and general commercial square footage combined with neighboring and integrated housing types…” As the Standards confirm, the EIR fails to address all the District’s provisions, intent and purposes. This alone requires the EIR be amended and recirculated.
CONCLUSION
The “Final EIR” remains woefully inadequate for the reasons expressed above. At a minimum, the July 18th Planning Commission Hearing needs to be postponed and the “Final EIR” must be recirculated for public comment. Your duty to the public trust and canyon residents mandate such.
We reserve the right and intend to further comment on the content of the “Final EIR” prior to July 18th to the extent that time and the availability of our consultants permit. A response to our requests by July 12th is warranted.
Very truly yours,
ADAMSKI MOROSKI MADDEN
CUMBERLAND & GREEN LLP
JEFFREY A. HACKER
JAH:alr
cc: Joseph Montes, Esq., [email protected]
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Packet Pg. 195 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109))
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Packet Pg. 196 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109))
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Packet Pg. 197 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) June 23, 2023
RE: Shadowbox Studios Construction & Occupancy/Use Greatly Heightening the Likelihood of a Freight Train or Metrolink Train Crash at the 13th Street At-Grade Crossing in Santa Clarita, CA
My Dear Old Friends on the Santa Clarita City Council, Santa Clarita Planning Commission, Santa Clarita City Staff, City Manager and City Attorney:
I sent you a letter on May 25, 2023 concerning my warning to you that the use and occupancy of Shadowbox Studios is very likely going to cause one or more violent, deadly train crashes at the at-grade crossing of Santa Clarita controlled 13th Street and the north-south train tracks immediately west of the Shadowbox Studios property which carry both Metrolink trains and freight trains on a daily basis. I incorporate that letter by reference, but won't repeat its gory detail from that letter, except to reiterate that on January 6, 2003 I was a resident/voter/property owner in Santa Clarita, and a passenger in a Metrolink train crash at an intersection 'far milder and less risky' than the one you will create if you approve the construction, occupancy and use of Shadowbox Studios. (At present I am literally dying because of my physical injuries from that train crash, including broken metal in my body, because of that train crash.)
I make these comments on behalf of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE) as their train-crash expert, and on behalf of many of my 25 year friends who still live in Placerita Canyon.
I am writing to you again, to send you some new information, and links to relevant Metrolink train crash photographs which illustrate the deadly risk you are creating to the lives of Santa Clarita residents/voters/property owners/taxpayers with the Project as presently designed.
Here is the new information I am giving you to reinforce my opinion that you will create deadly risks to Santa Claritans if you approve this Project with its current proposed site plan:
(1) Reading the City's EIR from the original Dockweiler Drive project, which would have added a new at-grade crossing linking Dockweiler to the east end of Lyons Avenue, when that EIR was written 30 Metrolink trains per day, plus 9 freight trains per day, travel along the train tracks parallel to Railroad Avenue, which is crossed by both 13th Street immediately southwest of the Shadowbox Studios land. That is a heck-of-long-time to have the massive traffic created by
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Packet Pg. 198 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) Shadowbox Studios, plus the massive number of cars attributable to the future ADU housing units which the State is forcing the City to allow to be built in Placerita Canyon east of the 14 freeway (and not counted in the Shadowbox EIR), plus the existing Placerita Canyon residents cars, plus the Masters College students and faculty cars all sitting there, on a daily aggregate basis waiting for all those trains to safely pass. You, the developer, and the Shadowbox Studios EIR grossly under-count the amount of time the 13th Street at-grade crossing will be shut down every day for passing trains.
(2) I am attaching to the email which sends you this letter a short study done by the CPUC in 2003, after "my" Metrolink train crash plus 4 others on the "Antelope Valley Line" running through Santa Clarita and southwards, which shows that ALL of those train crashes were caused by human conduct NOT involving a train crew. That report was prepared was before the very deadly 2005 Glendale Metrolink train crash, which was also human caused. Frankly I cannot think of a single subsequent train crash on that Antelope Valley Line, even if minor, which was caused by humans who were on the train crew. That human truck and car driver at-grade crossing impatience/agitation factor with at-grade crossing is the most profound contributor to human caused train crashes on the Antelope Valley Line. (3) Within a few moments of "my" Metrolink train crash, while I was still buried in the crash debris inside the train car, a train crewman standing in the wreckage, watching over me told me "It was a Universal Studios truck driver who caused our train crash." Universal Studios, a movie studio, just like Shadowbox Studios. The dead truck driver was Jack Wysocki who was working on the filming of "The Run Down" a big-budget movie released later in 2003 by Universal Studios.
While I was laying flat on my back, paralyzed, in the Intensive Care ward at Holy Cross hospital about a week after that 2003 Metrolink train crash caused by the Universal Studios truck driver, I received a phone call from a Universal Studios Driver-Captain, Gary S, who lived in Stevenson Ranch, who many of us in Santa Clarita knew at that time because he was active in their HOA.
Gary expressed his condolences to me and said "I want to tell you about Jack Wysocki, the dead Universal Studios driver, who has worked on teams with me." In sum and substance Gary said 'Jack needed his job. Jack was under a tremendous pressure from the Universal movie production team working on The Run-Down, to move some materials from Point A to Point B QUICKLY. All of us assume that Jack drove through the downed-rail-crossing-gates trying to not get stuck waiting for a train, because of the pressure of the deadline he was facing, and the pressure from his bosses on the movie. Jack had probably been stuck at that Buena Vista/train track crossing many times, and may not have even seen the train coming, because of the time pressure he was under.'
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Packet Pg. 199 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) That description of the atmosphere of time-pressure on Movie/TV production-truck-drivers illustrates to you WHY the risk of a train crash at the 13th Street at-grade-crossing is more likely to be caused by some truck driver working at Shadowbox Studios than caused by some normal joe living in or going to college in Placerita Canyon.
By putting this MASSIVE movie/TV production studio at this at-grade-crossing, with no other means of ingress and egress to the studio lot, YOU the City WILDLY increase the risk of a human-caused-train-crash, just like those covered in the 2003 CPUC report on Antelope Valley Line causation I am sending you.
Frankly, its a moral and legal cop-out by the City and by Shadowbox Studios to say "CPUC won't let us put in a second at grade crossing" either at the north-end of the Project, or at the originally planned Dockweiler Drive at-grade crossing. That decision by the CPUC, to help SCRRA, Metrolink and the freight train line is, to me, a classic "TAKING" of private property without compensation by the State of California of Shadowbox Studios property rights of ingress and egress to their very-large property. It seems to me that prior to "just acquiescing" in CPUC's supposed-policy, without even formally applying for a second at-grade crossing in the vicinity of the Project, that the City and Shadowbox Studios are hypocrites who need to sue CPUC, SCRRA and Metrolink for an uncompensated taking of property rights which also puts human life in Santa Clarita outside of the trains at risk. Don't just acquiesce. Fight for Santa Claritans lives and safety.
(4) As I told you in my May 2023 letter to you, my train car in the 2003 Burbank Metrolink Crash "spun around 180 Degrees" with the front of the train car ending up facing backwards as it fell over on its side, on the ground 20' from the 5 Freeway southbound curb-lane. Passenger train cars and freight train cars DO NOT simply, neatly fall over on their sides when there is a train crash. Instead, train cars are often propelled by tremendous momentum in a train crash, in some unpredictable direction and end up as far as 100' away from the train track, in many cases at 90 degrees to the direction of travel of the train. See the Metrolink and freight train crash photos at the link below.
If you closely look at the "site plan" for Shadowbox Studios, its large office building is ridiculously close to the actual train track at 13th Street. That office building's location is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS in terms of risk-taking by the City, let alone by the property owner/developer, to put that office building so very, very close to the actual train track. (Its also worth noting that 'somebody' be it the freight train line or Metrolink claim that office building is actually encroaching on the train track fee title owner's right of way. The office building wouldn't be encroaching if it wasn't 'too close'.) You, the City, are "asking for" dead and gravely injured Santa Claritans from Placerita Canyon
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Packet Pg. 200 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) and Masters College SQUASHED and bloodied in their cars, sitting at the at-grade crossing, when the inevitable train crash occurs. You, the City, are "asking for" a crashed train car or two puncturing the corner and side walls of that office building in a train crash, with a freight train car, or a passenger train car puncturing the immediately adjacent windows and walls of that office building.
And to make matters absolutely worse, the crashed, derailed train cars will make it IMPOSSIBLE for fire trucks, ambulances or a crane to get across the train tracks, from "mainland Santa Clarita" onto 13th Street in front of the Shadowbox Studios office building to rescue and evacuate human beings, let alone dig them out of a collapsed building with a crane. The 2 traffic studies provided to you by Shadowbox Studios don't even bother to mention that a train crash at the at-grade crossing will block emergency vehicles, and evacuation of the office building as well as the existing buildings on the south side of 13th Street I don't often mention to people that I've got a baccalaureat from the SUNY Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning (1975) and this site plan/land use plan for Shadowbox Studios is the most profoundly IDIOTIC, UNSAFE one I have ever seen in the 48 years since I graduated.
Given the history of Metrolink train crashes alone, a "safe distance" for the Shadowbox Studios office building to be away from the train track is 100'. The more people using a building, especially a multi-story building, the bigger the "death and injury risk" in the building from a train crashing and derailing:
(A) As indicated, my own Metrolink train car spun 180 Degrees at the end of its crash, derail and fall onto its side sequence. [No photos left online outside of LA Times paywall.] (B) In the 2005 Glendale Metrolink train crash and derailment, when the train hit a mere Jeep on the train track while the train was headed southbound, the train cars first flew to the west (hitting a parked freight tain) and then ricocheted and flew to the east, hitting an oncoming northbound Metrolink train. It was that "flying sideways" of the derailing train cars on southbound train which (1) killed and severely injured people in the southbound train and (2) severely injured people in the northbound train. The Glendale train crash illustrates that crashing, derailing train cars "fly sideways"...in the case of a train crash at Shadowbox Studios right into the Office Building as well as the studio buildings so close to the tracks. See:
https://www.dailynews.com/2018/01/25/photos-a-look-back-at-the-2005-metrolink-train-cras h-in-glendale/ In particular see photograph #s 1, 5, 14, 16, 21, 39 of 39 photos on slide show, plus photo at top of news article.
(C) In the profoundly deadly Chatsworth Metrolink train derailment and crash in 2008, the train cars also "derailed sideways" and flew off the train tracks in some cases 30' and at at 45 degree to 90 degree angles to the train track...also illustrating what you can expect from a train
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Packet Pg. 201 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) derailment at the 13th Street at grade crossing next to the Shadowbox Studios office building, and the existing buildings on the other side of 13th Street. See:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kkanouse/2851501111 and
https://www.google.com/search?q=Daily+News+photographs+Metrolink+Chatsworth+train+cr ash&tbm=isch&source=univ&fir=Pzr37mUdkqo-YM%252CF-Vp4dRxV1f8IM%252C_%253BzZxR1 rTWNSkctM%252CLqmDvpdhN40M-M%252C_%253BY7OYiRf0YUeMiM%252C-H6vAfNSU172c M%252C_%253BScqa-0fnBF6RiM%252CnKjQKvzjoO8RjM%252C_%253BL-1jpkxI4pHjkM%252CL wA-nwt6bhR18M%252C_%253BKvHxdD18ZiSB3M%252CqXnebF4aI_sL9M%252C_%253Bsvjk-s2 YfBLmiM%252CLqmDvpdhN40M-M%252C_%253Bd_PRh7KfviKryM%252CyRoDEHmaXIXuFM%2 52C_%253B0N9a-rh2GtUphM%252CF-Vp4dRxV1f8IM%252C_%253BhVgT5EkDuW1n0M%252C 6WUZuW9S9BJqnM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kTzxNwpIAJp6VHraHOQzlZfIuHqUQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKE wjO37uc4Nj_AhXKI0QIHf3xBVUQjJkEegQIFBAC&biw=1280&bih=609&dpr=1.5 (D) In America's most recent dire freight train crash, in East Palestine Ohio, some of the derailed train cars also derailed and/or fell sideways a significant distance from the train track. See:
https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/east-palestine-train-derailment/photo-gallery-train-d erailment-fire-in-east-palestine/ Look, in particular, at the derailed freight train cars NOT parallel to the train track, and how far away from the train track many of them landed despite the weight of their being full of cargo which might have slowed their movement down.
Instead, the momentum of the freight filled train car propelled it even further from the tracks.
You are "asking for disaster and death" of Santa Claritans if you put the Shadowbox Studios office building, let alone the studio buildings, so close to the actual train tracks as shown in the site plan/plot plan for this Project.
REITERATED CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY:
PLEASE, PLEASE GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE IN SANTA CLARITA WHO ARE
YOUR VOTERS, PROPERTY OWNERS, RESIDENTS AND TAXPAYERS, EVEN IF YOU DON'T WORRY
ABOUT THE SAFETY OF PEOPLE ON THE PASSENGER TRAINS WHEN A
TIME-AND-BOSS-PRESSURED DRIVER FOR SHADOWBOX STUDIOS, LIKE THE LATE JACK WYSOCKI WHO CRASHED "MY" METROLINK TRAIN, CAUSES A DEADLY TRAIN CRASH AT THE 13TH STREET
AT-GRADE CROSSING, IN NO SMALL PART BECAUSE OF YOUR AND THE DEVELOPER'S VERY, VERY RECKLESS, DANGEROUS DECISION MAKING ON THE SITE PLAN OF THE PROJECT .
If you believe in God, and Santa Claritans are killed or maimed because of your reckless decision-making on the Shadowbox Studios Project, worsening a train crash at that 13th Street at grade crossing, the sin will be on your soul in the afterlife. Even if you don't believe, do the
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Packet Pg. 202 Attachment: Public Comment Letters (Shadowbox Studios (MC21-109)) morally correct thing and insist on a redesign of the Shadowbox Studios project, moving the office building and the first few studio buildings due north of it much further back from the train track. 100' feet back from the track is the "safe number".
Please feel free to phone me if you have any questions on my letters and written "testimony" before the Planning Commision.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Kilpatrick, J.D.
[email protected]
(702) 684-4221
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