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Letter to the editor: Beechwood development plan for road improvements cause for concern 

Letter to the editor paso robles daily newsBeware of the fox guarding the henhouse

–This Tuesday night, Oct. 6, 2020, the Beechwood housing development comes before the Paso Robles City Council for approval.

This project itself may not be of concern to a lot of you, especially if you don’t live or work over on the east side of Paso Robles. But no matter where you live in this town, what you should be concerned with is how this development gets handled by the city council.

This project is going to happen. The land has been zoned for this use, it has gone through the planning commission, and like it or not, it will be built. However, what Tuesday night’s presentation to the city council for approval will be, is something far different than they originally proposed.

Which begs the question: Knowing that, how did the planning commission pass this on through?

There are several negative reports within the EIR that are being completely ignored. It is exactly what happened with the Olsen-Chandler Ranch development. Negative impacts on air quality, traffic, roads, etc. No amount of public input or fact presentations against those negative impacts was given a minute’s worth of consideration. The die was cast.

What I do want to focus on, is if this council will allow, or not allow, the developer to put off the road and infrastructure improvements they promised in the original documents.

The planning department and the city engineer are suggesting that the council approve the project and allow the developers to build and sell a certain amount of homes (hundreds) before they put in those promised improvements.

The city, in its argument for allowing this, is saying that those improvements may not be necessary for years, if ever. And that it puts an undue financial burden on the developer at the beginning of the project.

I’m stifling every single sarcastic remark that comes to mind when the city planners suggest we should allow this developer to go back on their word of what their original intentions were.

As far as the developer is concerned, this ain’t their first time at the rodeo. Isn’t adequate financing a criterion for the submission of a project to the city?

So if they claim they don’t have the money for the promised up-front improvements, then wait until you do. Or better yet, scale down the project.

Either way, the “financial burden” on the developer is not your problem or mine. And certainly, it should not be the determining factor in how this council votes.

Jan Albin,
Concerned resident,
Paso Robles


Editor’s note: Letters to the editor are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.

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