City of Visalia
To: Planning Commission
From: Brandon Smith, Principal Planner
Cc: Paul Bernal, Community Development Director
Date: September 11, 2023
Re: Late Correspondence for Planning Commission Agenda Item regarding Carleton Acres
The Planning Division received correspondence by email after business hours on Friday, September 8, 2023. The correspondence received raises various environmental concerns regarding the project and questions regarding th e availability of certain environmental studies.
The e-mail received regarding these concerns is attached to this memo.
In response to certain requests found in the email, project information and data can be found in the Appendix of the Environmental I mpact Report for soil samples (Appendix G :
Environmental Site Assessment), hydrology report (Appendix H: Water Supply Assessment), and transportation report with “vehicle miles travelled” (Appendix J: Traffic Impact Study).
ATTACHMENTS
• E-mail received September 11, 2023
-----Original Message-----
From: jeffrey Falconer <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 8, 2023 10:09 PM
To: Brandon Smith <[email protected]>
Subject: Details on public hearing regarding development at Riggins between Shirk and Akers
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Greetings Brandon.
I received the notice of availability regarding Final EIR for the developments within that area. How do I get a copy of the soil samples; hydrology report; and transportation report plus projected VMT report for the variety of construction projects?
Also Specific Plan # 2021-13, General Plan Amendment # 2021-14, Tentative Parcel Map #2023-04 AP 077-100-108 and 077-100-105. And anything else that I can review.
My concern as discussed with Paul - the impact on air quality related to the students currently attending the middle school and the air quality relative to the construction of the potential new elementary school.
My concern is the fact construction will be disturbing agricultural land that has endured years of pesticide applications. When the middle school was built it took a long period of time to attain soil quality required for construction of a school building site. Any chance there exists the soil testing results for the schools built on Ferguson and northward - Was that 4 or 5 schools including Ridgeview Middle School in the last 8 or more years? A need to have brown soil for building site before ground breaking?
This may seem over cautious. I desperately want to do my part to question on behalf the safety of current and future students. With a record diagnosis of asthma in our youth more than the state average, it gives me reason to be certain of the youths’ safety.
Also, my concern for traffic flow and congestion. We pick up our grandson every school day at Ridgeview. What a traffic jam and heavy flow. Idling really increases potential for increased air pollution!
Plus, we already have a water crisis. Increasing residential and commercial use of water and energy requires a fine line between tree plantings and green growth to sequester greenhouse gases, and the needed water supply for plant survival, plus the demand for residential water consumption. What consideration is there to require establishing filtration and recirculating of gray water?
I will call the first of the week to identify how to move forward. Thank you for any assistance you might give to satisfy my concerns and provide a better understanding of the safety of the projects as it relates to our natural resources.
Regards,
Kathy Falconer 310.995.6295 - [email protected]
Sent from my iPad