Update #8 Meeting Recap
WELCOME!
A big welcome to all the new members of this email distribution list. We are glad that we could find so many additional interested neighbors during the outreach conducted by Kitty, Aurora, and Kathy. As always, this email list is for everyone to use to spread information that they might have about this issue to the group. Please, however, always respond to the latest update because with each new update new members are added to the distribution list. If you wish to see previous updates, just scroll down.
Important Zoom Call -Tomorrow
First and most important, on Monday evening at 6 pm, there is a zoom call with the organization “Our Neighborhood Voices“, a state wide group that is fighting these crazy laws that allow developers to bypass local zoning laws and build high density developments in otherwise low-density single-family residence neighborhoods. Our own soon to be mayor of RPV, John Cruikshank, will be on the call, and we need to show by numbers how many of us voters are concerned about this issue. If you join the call, we need as many people as possible identify themselves as being with our group: Neighborhood Voices of Silver Spur (Yes - that's our new group name) - and how much you want to see the city complete it’s housing element and get it approved by the state so we don’t have to worry about this developer putting a high density project in our canyon.
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/3588018061
Meeting
The meeting of neighbors that we had on Saturday, November 11 at Aurora and Mickey Rysanek's house was a huge success. We thought maybe we would get 20 people, but we got over 50! That shows how interested in this issue all our neighbors are. I know there were even more people that wanted to come, but due to work or other commitments couldn’t make it. We hope you can make it to a future meeting.
For those who were unable to attend here’s a brief summary:
The meeting was a huge success, especially since our outreach was only days before and it was a 3-day weekend with some people out of town or with previous commitments. We have a lot of concerned neighbors- which is crucial.
Kitty Callahan gave a passionate and heartfelt account of the brazen encounter with the developer Jha as he and his workers started tearing down backyard fences of several neighbors on Silver Spur. The way that it was handled by the developer was less than neighborly. Several neighbors along Silver Spur are looking at their legal options for preventing this from happening again.
Joan Davidson spoke, representing Our Neighborhood Voices, a statewide organization with the focus of putting a measure on the ballot that will stop some of these crazy laws allowing builders to build whatever they want. We hope neighbors see the importance of supporting it. It may not stop the developer in our situation, since it won’t be on the ballot for a year, but this issue isn’t going away, so we need to spread the word all over PV.
Mike Peterson gave a little background about how he found out a developer had bought the vacant property in the canyon, and how when he posted his concerns on the NextDoor app, it went viral with something like 2500 views and hundreds of comments, showing just how many of our neighbors are concerned. He also talked briefly about what the housing element is, and how, without our city having an approved housing element, builders can use a law called the Builders Remedy to bypass local zoning laws. He expressed his concerns, not only about the loss of value due to impaired views, the possibility of a large construction project creating instability in the canyon hillsides and possibly damaging existing homes, not to mention the increased traffic around the construction area and near our elementary school, but also a change to the entire character of our neighborhood from a single family residence environment to a mixed development area.
We then had a question-and-answer period with Larry Hall and Regina Filippone, attorneys who are interested in helping us with our efforts to combat any potential development. Some neighbors may work with them individually to protect their property lines. We appreciate the time they took to come out on a Saturday and talk to us.
Lastly, we ended with some things that members of the group can do right now:
1. Stay informed, through reading the occasional update that we will send out and visiting our website (address in the flyer was wrong - working on fixing - stay tuned!).
2. Educate neighbors around you about this issue, and encourage them to join our group
3. Go to a city council meeting to let them know that you are part of our group, and you are concerned about getting the housing element completed, and having the city help us combat inappropriate development.
4. If you can’t go to a meeting, email city council members with the same information
5. Lastly, help us keep an eagle eye on what’s going on in the canyon. If you see any activity, let us know. We can check the permits, and if there isn’t the appropriate permit, we can alert the city. This lets the developer know that we are intensely interested and aware what he is doing. Feel free to text Mike at 310.977.7027 with info about what you see.
Although there has been no specific building plan yet submitted for the canyon, this developer has a history of proposing high density developments on single-family residence lots. We want the developer to realize that this is not going to be an easy place to do that.
