April 12, 2002

Ms. Susan Jordan
2nd District Planning Commissioner
email: sjordan51@aol.com

RE: ARCO AM/PM Mini Mart New Gas Station APN 067-200-005 99-DP 052

Dear Ms. Jordan:

In preparation for your site visit on Monday, April 15, 2002 concerning the above project, I have prepared some information about the project to give you an understanding of why we have appealed the project to the planning commission. First and foremost, we believe that the project, at its current size and its planned operation is detrimental to the safety and well-being of the neighborhood.

The following statement from the director's review staff report, "the proposed turn-of-the century stagecoach stop design is the most unique feature of the gas station/mini-mart project and the only real substantive difference between this proposed facility and the one which operated until 1988," highlights some of the inadequacies in the development plan and how this project will impact the neighborhood. This is not merely one service station replacing another as the director's review staff report suggests.

The differences between the proposed project and the last one are huge.

The proposed project is three times bigger than the previous gas station and mini-mart. The old station had one fueling island with 2 gas pumps which allowed 4 cars to use the station at once. The proposed station has 2 fueling islands with 6 gas pumps to allow 12 cars to pump gas at once. In addition, there are seven parking spots for the mini-mart, which the last gas station didn't have. This project will be 50% bigger than any of the gas stations at Calle Real and Fairview, none of which are next to a residential area.

Fifteen hundred (1500) cubic yards net import of fill and 334 feet of new retaining walls are needed to accommodate the gas station and mini-mart, the latter which will be poised at the very edge of the site. A turning movement study had to be done to ensure that fuel delivery trucks could turn on the site. The project is so big and squeezed tightly onto this site that the architect couldn't fulfill the neighbors' request to move the dumpster further away from their houses!!

With a height of 25 feet, a 3,600 square foot canopy covering the gas pumps, and a six foot grade differential from its adjacent neighbor, this project, with its ungainly service station architecture, will literally rise from the rooftops of the adjacent storage facility to dominate this locale, which a former planning commissioner (Colleen Beale) called the "gateway to Goleta." Since the last station, vegetation at the site has grown considerably. The removal of the mature vegetation and the trimming of the Myoporum along the northern property line to allow delivery and customer vehicle access will significantly change the aesthetics of the property, how the community relates to it, and the dampening effects for the next door neighbor (the residence for the storage facility property manager) from the noise, night lighting, and 24-hour customer traffic of this project.

Other changes in the neighborhood make this traffic-intensive project a hazard.

This project is now situated in a largely residential area where once agricultural fields were predominant. The traffic impact of developments adjacent to this project (the recently completed housing development at Orchard Park, the under construction Maravilla retirement community of 600 residents plus its 50 some employees, the 200 units of Sumida Garden apartments located south of this project, and the 85 planned housing units at Christmas Tree farm property located on north. Patterson Ave.) have yet to be experienced at the Calle Real intersection, notwithstanding the information in the traffic study. The traffic study indicates that the degraded levels of service at the north and southbound 101 ramps on Patterson caused by the past closure of Fairview Avenue overpass will improve with its re-opening. This hasn't happened. We believe that the traffic study's calculations for satisfactory levels of service to the adjacent intersections with this project will similarly not be borne out.

The old gas station could be easily accessed from both Calle Real and Patterson Ave. Since then, Patterson was widened with a median separating north and southbound lanes. So, now only northbound Patterson Ave. traffic has easy access to the project. Calle Real's intersection with Patterson also changed limiting Calle Real motorists' access to the project. With the widening of Patterson and a new overpass over the freeway, the northbound 101 Patterson off-ramp is now significantly closer to the project, creating other potential hazards.

These changes in the roadway system will mean that travelers who use the station with an origin/ destination of north/southbound U. S. 101, southbound Patterson Ave., Hollister or Calle Real will have to make a U-turn at Patterson. (This will be the majority of the projected 2,000 average daily trips this project is expected to generate.) And, traffic unable to negotiate to the correct lane of the dual left turn lanes on Patterson to make the U-turn will either have to travel north on Patterson to make a U-turn at the next streets (either Parejo or University) or travel through the neighborhoods to be able to return to south Patterson. Eighteen wheelers have already been seen trying unsuccessfully to make U-turns at University Ave. because they missed the U-turn at Patterson or the left turn onto Calle Real. This could very well apply to ARCO's fuel delivery vehicles where their venture into the neighborhoods would be totally unacceptable. Any traffic into the neighborhoods because of this project is unacceptable.

The 24-hour operation of this project will degrade community standards.

PANA has unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with ARCO to reduce the size of the project, its operating hours, and an architectural style more suitable for this neighborhood. The property owner next door and across the street is going to great lengths in her new development across the street to reduce the commercial character of her projects so it would fit into the neighborhood. ARCO should follow this developer's lead so that its project will be more aesthetically integrated into the neighborhood. Because this project is a huge traffic generator our greatest concerns are for the safety and welfare of all will be traveling the adjacent roadways. Greater consideration for the long-lasting impact of this project on traffic congestion and safety and neighborhood compatibility is imperative.

I look forward to meeting with you at 10 AM on Monday. Also meeting with you will be the adjacent property owner, Trudi Carey, who is an architect and developer for the property next door and across the street and Beth Wood, a neighbor. Please park at the adjacent All-Store facility immediately north of the ARCO property (adjacent to the Patterson Ave. off-ramp) and we will meet you there. We greatly appreciate the time you are taking to meet with us to learn of the neighborhood's concerns. Thank you.

Sincerely, Cecilia Brown
President, Patterson Area Neighborhood Association

Copy to: Jean Pare by email