30 September 2008

Canyon Crest Appeal, Part II

A week from fifteen minutes from now -- Tuesday, 7 October at 7 p.m. -- the Brea City Council will hold part two of its public hearing on the appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the Canyon Crest housing project, composed of 165 luxury homes on the north side of Carbon Canyon, stretching from Olinda to the county line.


At the 16 September meeting, two weeks back, the appellants (Brea residents) laid out their case, followed by the respondent (developer Shopoff Group.) This meeting is scheduled to hear public comment, which is the opportunity for anyone to lay out their views in a five-minute timeframe.


As I stated previous to the last meeting, this is it, the last chance for interested parties to speak their mind (hopefully, respectfully, rationally, and responsibly) before the council either approves or denies the appeal. This ill-conceived project will transform this canyon forever and turn a necessary buffer against the massive sprawl that has become the Los Angeles megalopolis (doesn't that sound like a creature from a 1960s Japanese monster movie, like Godzilla & Rodan vs. Megalopolis?) into another sacrifice of open space and potential parkland to feed the twin-headed beast of private property rights and rampant real estate development.

The only hope here is for a significant opposition to state clearly, unequivocally and politely that this project is not wanted. After all, there's still Shell/Aera to battle on the "western front" of Brea next to Diamond Bar, where a massive project many times larger than Canyon Crest is proposed and there are smaller projects either approved or pending on the Chino Hills side. Further growth in the Inland Empire will also put a strain on the Canyon, although the current economic meltdown will obviously significantly delay most or all of these projects.
So, hopefully there'll be a significant turnout and a clear mandate of the citizenry is made abundantly clear to the council. If you care at all about this project, take a few hours out of your busy life and attend the meeting or even speak: next Tuesday, 7 October @ 7 p.m. in the Brea City Council chambers at City Hall, corner of Birch and Randolph, adjacent to the Brea Mall and Embassy Suites Hotel.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul,

Everyone in Olinda Village appreciates your blog and the support you have given the effort to stop Canyon Crest. We hope to hear your voice at the public hearing, October 7th. We also hope that many other Canyon residents from Sleepy Hollow, Western Hills, etc. both attend and speak their minds.

Canyon Crest will negatively affect everyone, and not just because of added traffic and construction noise and pollution. Some of the worst features of this proposed development are its wasteful use of water, deliberate destruction of 2000 native trees, its outsized houses with their "exclusive" attitude, and the extra risk of fire posed by building a tract of houses pressed against the brush with no activities for new families. 95% of wildland fires in California are human caused, accidentally or deliberately.

Every person and every voice is needed at the Oct. 7th hearing! Time: 7 PM.

Canyonnative

prs said...

Hello Ann, We'll have to see how much competition (?) this hearing will have with the second presidential debate. Hopefully, folks who are concerned about Canyon Crest and its negative impacts on our local area with DVR/Tivo the debate and come on down. I will issue another call on the blog on Monday and let's hope for the best!