The entirety of this blog was written and is supported by members of the Greater East San Carlos Neighborhood Board:
On Monday October 1, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. the San Carlos Planning Commission will hold a second hearing on the proposed Transit Village Final Environmental Impact Report. Outstanding unresolved issues include concerns about:
1. The fate of Old County Road if the Transit Village is built on former CalTrain by pass tracks.
2. The building height and density, which is excessive in context to our adjacent single family residential neighborhood.
3. Lack of any clear benefits to the neighborhood while there are definite short term and long term impacts.
4. Questions about the lack of coordination between the City, CalTrain and High Speed Rail in planning future projects within this rail corridor.
5. Short term and long term mitigation from this project to protect and enhance our neighborhood (i.e. further improvements to Laureola Park).
6. How toxins are being addressed, why Arsenic is not being addressed, and concerns about potential toxic dust impacts during remediation blowing into our neighborhood.
7. The impact of building height and its impact of shadows on residential structures closest to Old County Road and impaired views of the San Carlos hills, which we currently enjoy.
8. Noise bounce back from the Transit Village structures into our neighborhood resulting from future increased CalTrain and High Speed Rail train use.
9. The Transit Village not being required to meet the same parking standards our neighborhood single family residences must meet, and there is potential for spillover parking from that development into our neighborhood.
10. Insufficient funding to pay for the increase in students resulting from this development which will have a direct impact to our local schools.
There have been five years of discussions with the City, developer Legacy, Sam Trans (property owner) and High Speed Rail and the GESC has continually commented on the Draft and Final EIR. The GESC Board and community have been unsuccessful in getting resolution on these issues to date, which should also be of concern to west side residents.
We look forward to seeing you Monday.
Thank you for your support!
