Two Options

Setting aside whatever 'dreams' I had for Ponte Vista at San Pedro, it is now time to get serious about two options I feel can should be considered to be the best for OUR community.

If you have followed this blog or take time to review some of its posts, you should be able to understand how much knowledge I have attained to offer the two options.

The first option is actually the "No Project" Alternative that either of the developer's of the site have always had.

"No Project" means that a developer can use about 49.5 acres of the 61.53 acre site to build up to 429 single-family, detached houses on lots of not less than 5,000 square feet.

It is the reality that Bob and or Ted would have very little trouble finding all the permits and approvals necessary to build according to the current zoning on the site.

It's like Dorothy always having been able to go back to Kansas. The option was there from the date the property was sold, back in 2005.

It is already approved as far as the Planning Department and the City Council goes.

It would provide no traffic mitigation from the developer.

It is what the City Council considered it should be as far back as 1981.

It would probably not allow for an access through the Ponte Vista site for Mary Star High School, but that has always been something everyone should have known since the Federal Government sold part of the property to a private party and gave the rest to Volunteers of America.

It is an option OUR community could live with, I believe.

Option number two will find me at odds with the majority of the folks wanting R1 and wanting a larger project, with more senior housing.

The second option is to build out Ponte Vista at San Pedro equivalent to The Gardens.

I can feel comfortable with up to 831-units, of varying types.

I would like to see the vast majority of the units being built as upscale town houses. I can still wish for some senior housing, as long as the total number of units remains with the up to 831 units.

This option may also not allow for an access to Mary Star High School via Western, but the folks in the Westmont neighborhood need to share the problems with the rest of OUR community and not resort to the 'backroom' deal they made with Mary Star and the City Council some years ago.

It is not the fault or responsibility of the members of OUR community to suffer because of prices paid for land that is not worth as much as it was when it was purchased.

If the equity fund doesn't make the profit it thinks it should, tough!

327 units on Fitness Drive is plenty of density for that area and there really should not be more density than The Gardens at Ponte Vista.

I also would demand that any zoning change that will allow for up to 831 units, requires significant traffic mitigation for Western Avenue.

The option for up to 831-units also carries the necessity that a new EIR be conducted, because the Planning Department only considers two access points to Western be viable.

Up to 831-units falls well within the "775-886" number of units without a bonus density that the Planning Department's guidelines suggests.

The idea of between 8,000-10,000 square feet of retail space at Ponte Vista would probably not work out, but the whole site is close to the Westmont Shopping area.

If the developers of Ponte Vista wish to have something they do not already have the rights to build, the there will need to be zoning changes on the property.

To have those zoning changes approved, there needs to be a new EIR created and new studies accomplished. There needs to be a "start over" of all the processes, including an entirely new application.

There should be an understanding that either of the two options listed on this post would be in the best interest of the members of OUR community whether the developers wish to understand that or not.

DLJ, Ted Fentin, and others had the option to change more than one individual in the processes and they chose not to support that option.

They chose their options, now I have chosen mine.

Up to 429 or up to 831, those are the options.