M . . .M . . .M . . . My Madrona: Carbon Canyon Housing Project Appeal Hearing Set

Couldn't resist the title, just have a knack for those kind of things (and that's not necessarily good.)

Anyway, a couple of weeks back the City of Brea sent a letter and CD with the "Response to Comments" for the updates final Environmental Impact Report for the Madrona (formerly Canyon Crest) housing project, proposing 162 houses on a few hundred acres of open land on the eastern end of Brea within Carbon Canyon, between Sleepy Hollow and Olinda Village.

In the missive, penned by City Planner/Community Development Deputy Director David Crabtree, it was also stated that "The City Council public appeal hearing for this project has been tentatively set for [Tuesday] November 19, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.."  The notice, however, was followed by the disclaimer that once that date had been confirmed a written notification would be sent within ten days.

Detail from a letter by the City of Brea's city planner concerning the revised final EIR and intended hearing for the appeal of the Madrona (formerly Canyon Crest) housing project, proposing 162 houses in Carbon Canyon between Olinda Village and Sleepy Hollow.  The city has since pushed back the appeal hearing to late January and February.  Click on the image to see an enlarged view in a separate window.

In fact, what it looked like was going to happen was that the City of Brea was going to try to rush through the hearing over three consecutive days in early January, which would have been slightly more than problematic for anyone concerned about the project to be able to clear time on their schedules to attend those days back-to-back, especially so soon after the holidays.  As importantly, it would have given little time for opponents of the project to prepare for the very important and final resort of the appeal.

After the predictable outcry, however, the City has wisely revised the timetable, so that a staff report, without response via public comment, is due on the 19th to the council.  Then, there will be the actual appeal hearing at the 21 January council meeting and for the two meetings that follow in February.  Now, there'll be plenty of time, actually, for everyone to become better acquainted and informed about the results of the updated EIR and to formulate their arguments for and against.

There has been much stated in this blog and elsewhere about why Madrona is such a terrible idea and it has nothing to do with being anti-development.  In fact, there are several major housing projects going on in Brea within just a few miles of the site--including the expansion of Blackstone in the Tonner Hills, the La Floresta project on the old Union Oil site at Imperial Highway and Valencia Avenue, and the development at the Birch Hills golf course property on Kraemer.  There has been relatively little backlash against those projects, likely because there isn't nearly the type of risk, damage and effect at those sites than would be involved if a project were to happen at Madrona.

Among the prime reasons why Madrona is a terrible site to build homes have to do with extreme wildfire risk and public safety issues inherent in that; increased traffic on an already overburdened Carbon Canyon Road and the risk of serious accidents at the project entry at a very curvy point on the highway; and the loss of increasingly scarce open land and oak woodland and other habitat.  And, there are others.  More will be discussed here as the appeal date moves closer.