Dear Editor,
As Salida residents, we are writing to express concern that after a year of working through the established process to obtain city approval for a development project at 323 West First Street, people who didn’t participate in public hearings or voice concern during the six months that the Planning Commission and Council were reviewing the project, are now circulating a petition to appeal City Council approval. This appeal would remove four badly needed inclusionary units from the market and managing the appeal process could cost the taxpayers of Salida in excess of $20,000.
We would like to clear up a couple items that seem to have caused confusion. First, with regard to parking: The city of Salida used to own the lot, but sold it in the late 2000s. We are the third owners and like the previous two owners, we have leased the lot to the city for parking. The proposed development meets all parking requirements and the city has secured additional public parking nearby.
Second, with regard to building height: The maximum height of any part of a townhome within 24 feet of First Street or the Monarch Spur Trail cannot and will not exceed 35 feet. The interior units will have pitched rather that flat roofs to allow more light into the development, and the very top of these roof peaks cannot exceed 40 feet.
The Salida Bottling Company project, which will include 15 townhome units and one commercial space with an upstairs condo has been on the agenda of three Planning Commission meetings and three City Council meetings. This project has been vetted by city engineers, and city planners, has included view-corridor studies and solar studies in response to neighbor concerns, and at the request of City Council, twenty-five percent of the units will be deed-restricted in perpetuity.
Rather than build a single, monolithic block of condos or a parking structure that would bring even more traffic into that area, our vision is to build something that reflects the architectural character and history of Salida, and at the same time meets some of the city’s housing needs. This is an urban project, intended to meet the city’s goal of infill development and to keep development within the city and out of rural areas.
We respectfully ask that the citizens of Salida decline to sign the petition if asked, and if you already signed the petition to appeal this project and wish to remove your name please contact us at salidabottlingdistrict@gmail.com for instructions on how to do so. If you have further questions or would like additional clarification on this project please feel free to email us at the same address.
Sincerely,
Kristin Homer
Andrew Middlemiss
Eric Warner
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