HomeMy WebLinkAboutJANUARY 24, 2006 (2)
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ARCADIA CITY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
THE SHOPS AT SANTA ANITA PARK
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2006
7:00 P.M.
Arcadia City Counci~ Chambers
240 West Huntington Drive
Arcadia, California 91007
1 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next item on the agenda
2 for tonight is a public hearing for the Draft
3 Environmental Impact Report concerning the Shops,at
4 Santa Anita Park Specific Plan. Planning administrator
5 Mr, Nicholson will introduce the subject, please.
6
MR. NICHOLSON: Mr, Chairman, members of the
7 Planning Commission, at this time I'd like to introduce
a the city's consultant for the processing of the subject
9 EIR and the specific plan, Donna Butler,
10 MS, BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Nicholson.
11 Mr. Chairman, members of the Planning Commission, I'd
12 like to make a couple of introductions. On my right is
1-3 Megan Starr. She is with Best Best & Krieger, who is
14 the city's legal consultant, legal attorney for this
IS project. And we also have Terri Vatar from EIP
16 Associates who is the preparer of the Environmental
17 Impact Report. She is also present in the audience
Ie tonight.
19 I'd Eke to emphasize that the purpose of
20 tonight's public hearing is to receive testimony from
.21 the public only on the Draft Environmental Impact Report
22 relating to the Shops at Santa Anita Park Specific Plan
23 often referred to liThe Caruso Project.1I
24 The Planning Commission is here tonight to
25 receive testimony on the pros and cons -- not on the
2
1 pros on cons of the project, but simply on the Draft
2 Environmental Impact Report. The applicant, Caruso
3 Property Management Incorporated, has filed applications
4 for a specific plan, general plan amendments, zone
5 change, architectural design review and a development
6 agreement to implement a. proposed 1..1 million .square
7 feet mixed-use project, a relocated or reconstructed
8 saddling barn, and 98,000 square foot Simulcast center
9 within the racetrack grandstand.
10 On January 13th, 2006 the .city did receive a
11 letter from Caruso Affiliated indicating that they have
,12 decided to eliminate the apartments altogether from
13 their pr~ject. At this time, however, it is unclear" if
14 the applications for the specific plan, general plan
15 amendment, zone change that are analyzed in the Draft
16 EIR will be amended. So the report that we have before
17 us tonight is based upon the current applications on
18 file.
19 Comments received at tonight's meeting on the
20 Draft EIR will be incorporated into the Final EIR to be
21 considered by the Planning Commission .and the City
22 Council at public hearings .that will be scheduled at a
23 later date, It' is important again to note that there
24 will be no recommendations or decisions made regarding
25 the Draft EIR or this project at tonight's meeting.
3
~\
--
1
The review period for the Draft EIR was
2 originally December 23rd through February 6th. This
3 review period has been extended. an additional three
4 weeks, to February 27, so the city will be receiving
S comments on the Draft EIR through February 27th,
6
Just as a little bit of background. The
7 specific plan incorporates the 304-acre Santa Anita
8 Park. The property is currently zoned 5-1, which is
9 special use; R-l, which is second one-familYi and C-2 &
10 D, which is general commercial with a design overlay.
11 The R-.l zone covers the northern parking lot,
12 the. 'westerly third of the stables, and the southernmost
13 portion of the southerly parking lot. The 5-1 zone
14 covers the remainder of the specific plan area,
IS including the vast majority of the racetrack and the
16 easterly, as well as most of the southerly parking area.
17 There is a 0.2-acre area that is zoned C-2 & D that is
18 located in the panhandle. This is in the southwestern
19 corner of the property. It is applied to a vehicular
20 bridge that crosses over the R-l zone property from the
21 public right-of-way on Huntington Drive to Westfield
22 Santa Anita in order to provide access to the mall.
23 This is the only area that's zoned C-2 & D.
24 The general plan designation for 219 acres of
2S the property is horse racing, the southerly 85 acres is
4
1 designated as commercial with the floor area ratio of
2 .30, which would allow up to 1,1 million square feet of
3 commercial development.
4 As I mentioned, the proposed project consists
5 of a specific plan, the zone change, general plan
6 amendments, architectural de6i~ review and development
7 agreement. The zone change application has been filed
8 to allow the specific plan to serve as the zoning for
9 the 304-acre site, consistent with the City of Arcadia
10 Municipal Code Section 9296.4.. The specific plan
11 contains three primary zoning areas. Currently one of
12 the proposed zone use is mixed use, 85 acre~i special
13 use, or 5-1, 141 acres; and R-l, second one-family, 78
14 acres. The M-U zOne that may change as a result of the
IS elimination of the housing from the project includes the
16 southern parking area that is currently zoned S-1 and
17 R-1 and is designated in the general plan for commercial
18 uses.
19 The proposed 1.1 million square foot mixed use
20 development would be located. within this area. The S-l
21 zone represents the preservation of the portion of the
22 existing 5-1 zone, that includes the eastern two-thirds
23 of the stable area, the racetrack oval, and the
24 grandstand and the Paddock Garden and the eastern
25 parking lot. The following alterations are proposed
5
1 within this area. An approximately 98,000 square foot
2 Simulcast center which would be integrated into the west
3 wing of the Santa Anita Park grandstand. There is two
4 options. Option A would include the demolition of the
5 south ticket gates, the relocation of the existing
6 saddling barn to a new location within the western
7 portion of the Paddock Garden; or option B, demolition
8 of the south ticket gates and the saddling barn and
9 replacement of the saddling barn with a smaller version
10 of the original 1934 structure which would be located to
II the new location within the western portion of the
12 Paddock Garden.
13 The R-1 zone represents the preservation of
14 the existing R-1 zone on the northern and northwestern
15 portion of the project site and. includes the addition of
16 surface parking and roadway improvements as permitted
17 uses, as well as the continuing uses associated with the
18 racetrack operation. No residential development will be
i9 allowed in this area.
20 Proposed general plan amendments include
21 amendments to the land use designation and land use map
22 in the general plan for the entire racetrack from horse
23 racing and commercial to specific plan. So that the
24 specific plan development standards and design
25 guidelines will produce the desired result. Also
6
1 included would be amendment of language regarding views
~ of the grandstand and amendment of the general plan
3 noise standards, In addition, the application includes
4 language to reflect mixed use nature of the development.
5 The proposed architectural design review
6 requires design approval of the site plan, building
7 evaluations, parking and conceptual landscape plans.
8 Again, this will be done at a later time at public
9 hearings.
10 In regards to the racetrack, the proposed
11 Simulcast center will encompass approximately 98,000
12 square fef?'t'I 'as ~ mentioned, and would be constructed
13 inside the existing racetrack grandstand. This results
14 in the removal of some existing grandstand seating and
IS interior fixtures. I think it's really important to
16 note that. the Simulcast center is anticipated to
17 consolidate existing off-track betting uses and some of
18 the restaurant and entertainment uses that are currently
.19 within the grandstand structure and are permitted in the
20 S-1 zone.
21 Based on the current application, the
22 commercial retail portion of the proposed project is
23 comprised of a total of 804,250 square fe.et and would
24 include 363,950 square feet of small and medium-sized
25 in-line retail stores, a 35,000 square foot fitness
7
1 facility, a two-story anchor tenant, and about 128,500
2 square feet of tenant that would be located at the north
3 end of the project.
4 The second retailer would be up to
5 approximately 66,000 square feet on one level situated
6 at the south end. They're proposing a grocery store as
7 well as a multi-plex cinema.
8 The applicant has requested to enter into a
9 development agreement with the city, the agreement
10 requests vesting of the project as well as freezing all
11 permits and development fees to those in effect at the
12 time the agreement is adopted. The city is currently in
13 negotiations with the developer regarding the
14 development agreement.
15 Based upon an initial study, the city
16 determined that an Environmental Impact Report was
.17 necessary. The Environmental Impac,t Report has been
18 prepared to examine potential significant environmental
19 impacts that could result from the development of the
20 proposed project, and further to identify mitigation
21 measures that neither avoid or substantially reduce
22 those impacts. In addition, the EIR analyzes
2,3 alternatives that would provide or substantially lessen
24 some of the significant effects of the project.
25 1he Draft EIR evaluates the following
8
1 potential impacts of the proposed project, including
2 accumulative impacts. It will identify aesthetics, air
3 quality, biological resources, cultural resources,
4 geology and soils, hazards and hazardous material,
5 hydrology and water quality, land uSe and planning,
6 noise, population and 'housing, public services,
7 recreation, transportation and traffic, utility service
8 systems, and mandatory findings of significance.
9 All impacts associated with agricultural
10 resources and mineral resources have be~n de~ermined to
11 be effects not found to be significant and are not
12 further addressed in the Draft EIR.
13 As I mentioned, a number of alternatives were
14 analyzed in the EIR that would avoid or substantially
15 lessen some of the significant effects of the project.
16 And six alternatives have been identified. A detailed
17 analysis of the alternatives is provided in the chapter
18 6 of .the Draft EIR, and I'd like to mention that copies
19 of the Draft EIR are available online at the city's
20 website, available at the city Development Services
21 Department, Community Development Division, and in the
22 City of Arcadia library,
23 The original public review period, as I
24 mentioned, was December 23rd through February 6th. As
25 mentionedj the review period has been extended an
9
1 additional three weeks to allow the public an
2 opportunity to provide comments on the Draft. EIR to
3 February 27th, 2006.
4 Again, the purpose of tonight's meeting is to
5 receive comments only from the public and the Planning
6 Commission on the Draft EIR, it is not to query the
7 consultants or Development Services Department staff on
8 the Draft EIR, Also, this is not the time for the city
9 or consultant to respond ,to questions or comments raised
10 relative to the pros and cons of the project.
11 After: the review period of the Draft ErR, and
12 it's been ended, the city and its consultant will
13 prepare what we call the Final ErR which addresses all
14 environmental comments, both written and oral, that are
15 received on the Draft ErR. At a future date public
16 hearings will be scheduled before both the Planning
17 Commission and the City Council on the Final ErR as well
18 as on the project.
19 The Planning Commission and the City Council
20 must review and consider the information in the Final
21 EIR before they can make any decision on the project,
22 Prior to taking any action, the city must certify that
23 the Final ErR has been completed in compliance with the
24 California Environmental Quality Act.. that it has been
25 reviewed and considered by the City Council. and
10
1 represents the city's independent judgment and analysis.
2 What I'd like to do now is I'd like to mention
3 that Mr, Caruso has requested to address The commission
4 at the beginning of the public hearing portion of
5 tonight's meeting to introduce the project to The
6 Commission and the audience. The Commission has agreed
7 to allow Mr. Caruso ten minutes to do a presentation.
8 The Planning Commission will open the public hearing to
9 receive testimony from the audience on the Draft EIR
10 only. Upon conclusion of the public hearing, The
11 Commissioners may, if they wish, present their comments
12 on the Draft EIR or present comments in writing to the
13 Development services Department prior to the February
14 27th deadline. And any interested persons may present
15 comments up to February 27th on the Draft .EIR. This
16 does conclude my report, unless you have ahy specific
17 questions.
18
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Any questions from
t9 commissioners concerning a very thorough review of a
20 very complicated subject? Thank you, Donna.
21
22
23
Mr. Caruso, are you present here tonight?
MR. CARUSO: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LUCAS.: As I believe you were
24 just told, you and our staff have come to an
25 understanding that you would have, ten minutes to address
11
1 the Planning Commission on the subject matter of your
2 project. Is that agreeable to You?
3 .MR. CARUSO: That is absolutely fine. And. I
4 appreciate the opportunity to address The Commission.
5 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Please proceed.
6 MR. CARUSO: First of all, thank you for the
7 opportunity tonight. Thank you to the public for being
B here tonight, both those who are for or against or are
9 still deciding on the project.
10 To give you a quick overview, this is Santa
11 Anita Park today and we are planning a project that was
12 alluded to by.staff. Looking at the project today, we
~3 believe, and members of the community have told us, the
14 property currently has acres and acres of underutilized
15 parking lots, and unfortunately the attendance of the
16 track over the last number of years, as you're aware,
17 has gone down. That's also resulted in a decline in tax
18 revenue for Arcadia, in addition to the success of the
19 track. There are no public gathering spaces currently
20 at the track today, and we believe, and the track
21 believes, that there is a concern for the future
22 viability of the track which we feel strongly this
23 project will help secure its future for years and years
24 to come,
25 We have spent a lot of time in the community.
12
1 We have had well over a hundred meetings with city
2 leaders and representatives of communities, school
3 officials and organizations in Arcadia. We have had
4 get-togethers, we have had bus tours of our existing
5 properties so people have an understanding of the kind
6 of properties that we build with over 300 residents. We
7 have had a mail program and a survey program that has
8 resulted in over 2,000 responses which we have collected
9 to help develop the site plan that is part of this EIR.
10 And we :have opened up an office in Arcadia to have a
11 direct link to the community leaders and residents of
12 Arcadia.
13 What we have heard over ~d over again from
14 the couimunity, and I wool-t- read every one of these, is
1S they want to have an old town center similar in scale to
16 Myrtle Avenue, in terms of height and scale. They want
17 to make sure we have solutions, not only to new traffic
18 issues but existing traffic issues. They'd like to have
19 a community theatre and performing arts center as part
20 of the project., They want to have a connection to the
21 existing mall. Nice outdoor restaurants and shops,
22 up-scale shops not currently found in,Arcadia. Make
23 sure they have adequate and accessible parking. And
24 there has been concern on the elimination or the
25 inclusion of housing. And I do want to clear up for the
13
1 record, we have said, and I want to say again tonight
2 for the record, if the city requests that we eliminate
3 the housing as part of this project, we are absolutely
4 open to doing that and we will agree to do that at the
5 city's request.
6 So here's a quick snapshot just to put the EIR
7 into context. The site plan that is part of the EIR
8 that you have seen connects to the existing paddock and
9 opens .it up. The goal here is to have more people enjoy
10 the track, not only the sport, but also the beauty of
11 that track, and to do whatever we can to preserve the
12 be~uty of that track, And part of it is to open up the
13 paddock and create a larger open space area adjacent to
14 the paddock.. That's why the saddling barns, we're
15 proposing, move back to their original location where
16 they were originally built when the track was built so
17 the .paddock is opened up.
18 That's the design. You see the saddling barn,
19 the crescent shape off to the far left-hand side, And
20 now the paddock is opened up with an existing open space
21 then with stores and shops lining a ,new street that will
22 look and feel like a street but will just be .available
23 to pedestrians..
24 Large water feature on the south end to anchor
25 the south end. Taking the existing surface parking lots
14
1 and turn them into a landscaped lawn area. A walking
2 path has been requested by community members. We have
3 added a walking path. Then with restaurants overlooking
4 the lake feature, the water feature, down at the south
5 end.
6 This is the existing view looking west, And
7 after the project is built this will be the view looking
8 west, looking over the water feature along with the
9 shops and restaurants and promenade. This is the
10 existing view looking north to the existing track. And
11 this would be the view of the new street, the walk
12 street, the up-scale restaurants and boutiques and shops
13 lining that and connecting into the existing
14 grandstands.
15
And this is the Northwest view. And this is
16 the view overlooking the extension to the paddock.
17 Performing arts center and theatre adjoining that along
18 with restaurants. And, again, what we're trying to do
19 here is to have, not only current generation, bu~ also a
20 whole new generation of people experience the track.
21 And we believe by extending the opportunities to shop
22 and to dine in addition to going ~o the track and
23 watching the horses 'and experiencing that, and adjacent
24 to the existing mall and the connection there, will
25 really provide an unique opportunity for people to shop
15
1 and dine in Arcadia in this region.
2 And this is the view, again, towards the
3 paddock area. ADd this is from a second-level
4 restaurant looking down over the expansion of the
5 paddock and the new street running through it.
6 The key EIR findings., to wrap up. Traffic
7 flows improved at 14 intersections, the remaining three
8 maintain acceptable levels.. More than two million
9 dollars in additional sales tax revenue for the City of
10 Arcadia. No significant impact on local b.usinesses..
11 Important grandstand views have been preserved. No
12 significant .impact on public safety services. No
13 significant i~pact on water or sewer services.
14 We would like to give you a quick run-through
'15 and that should wrap up my ten minutes. And I
16 appreciate the opportunity to address this Commission,
17 thank you.
18 We're not having sound so I'll go ahead and
19 narrate. Again, this is a model that we built and
20 literally we took a miniature camera and walked through
21 it .to give you a sense of scale of what we're doing.
22 The scale of the track. The. scale of the street. ADd
23 we've been asked to incorporate a trolley similar to
24 what we did at The Grove. People and families do like
25 the trolley. The idea here is that it is a place where
16
1 families can hang out, a very clean, safe and friendly
2 environment. It is a complement to the existing mall.
3 There are stores across the country of outdoor centers
4 adjacent to existing malls and both have been extremely
5 successful.
6 It is designed, again, to connect and feel
7 like it's part of the track architecturally and was
8 always meant to be there, Real materials, in terms of
9 the construction, very up-scale, in terms of its design,
10 which we think is complementary to the residents and
11 citizens of .Arcadia. And providing a different kind of
12 opportunity for ,people to spend time outside, and
13 frankly, just hanging out and enjoying the beautiful
14 weather that we have here in Southern California, in
15 Arcadia.
16 We hope, along with your approval down the
17 road and the City Council's approval, we would be able
18 to start construction of this relatively soon, It.would
19 take about two years to construct through the process.
20 And, again, depending on the wishes of the city, the
21 housing could either be part or not part of this
22 project.
23 With that, I'll let this finish out, and,
24 again, thank you for the opportunity to address this
25 board.
17
1
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you, Mr. Caruso.
2 We will now proceed, unless there's any comments at this
3 moment by The Commission members. We'll proceed to the
4 public input. I want to emphasize what Ms. Butler told
5 us at the outset, that this is an opportunity for The
6 Commission and for the process of the Environmental
7 Impact Report to receive further input. This isn't, I
B don':t believe, an occasion for advocacy for 01; against,
9 and it's not in any way intended as a deliberative
10 process by we on the Planning Commission. We're all
11 hereto get as much information as we possibly can
12 concerning this subject matter as it is viewed through
13 the lens of the Environmental Impact Report.
14 So please limit your comments tonight, your
15 testimony tonight, to the Environmental Impact Report,
16 to the issues that are addressed in the Environmental
17 Impact Report, to issues that may not be address in the
18 Environmental Impact Report which you think are
19 essential to be addressed. That I wish to be the tone
20 of the evening. Commission members, we haven1t caucused
21 on this, but would it be our consensus that any speaker
22 limit themselves to five minutes?
23 .COMMISSIONER BADERIAN: That will be fine.
24 COMMISSIONER LUCAS.: So please keep that in
2S mind as you address us. A couple of the other
18
1 housekeeping measures. We must have .you print your name
2 in our -- I call it our guest book, but it's our
3 registry of participants. And if you are of like mind
4 with someone who has already spoken but you want to be
5 sure that the record reflects the weight of that issue,
6 you may simply abbreviate -- we would ask that you would
7 abbreviate your comments to the extent that "Mrs. Smith
8 spoke on the subject of -- and I am in complete
9 agreement with Mrs. Smith," So that will give us a
10 weighting sense without having to reiterate, or we
11 request that you not reiterate what this fictitious
12 Mrs. Smith may'have said in addressing the council.
13 We don't have an applause meter up here so the
14 function of applause serves. no benefit or purpose
15 whatsoever other than to belabor the evening and delay
16 the evening. So out of courtesy for those of us who
17 want to hear as much as possible what each of you have
18 to say tonight, please refrain from applauding at -- or
19 any expression of approval or disapproval for any
20 statement made by another person. So I ask that we
21 respect the others in the audience and all of our time
22 by refraining from any applause.
23
Other commissioners' suggestions? On behavior
24 suggestions? All right. This is intended to make the
25 process of deliberating on this at a future date all the
19
1 more effective, so I hope you'll keep that in the spirit
2 of your comments. We want to be effective on what we're
3 doing on the Planning Commission. I know the City
4 Council wants to be effective. I know the staff here in
5 the City of Arcadia works daily to be effective in
6 dealing with this proposal. I hope you will assist us
7 in understanding concerns that you have as they relate
8 to the Environmental Impact Repcrt tonight.
9 With that, if you wish to speak, there's kind
10 of.an assembly line process here, I'm sorry to say. If
11 you wish to speak and you're close to the front, well,
12 then, just step forward. If you'd like to form a cue or
13 a line along the wall there to my right, your left, that
14 would help speed the time -- or lessen the time between
15 the speakers and allow more of you to speak to. The
16 Commission. You're really speaking to the receptacle of
17 information tonight, you're not advocating, let.'s hope.
18 That having been said, does anyone wish to
19 address the subject of the Environmental Impact Report?
20 Here comes a young man in a yellow jacket.
21 MR. FOLEY, Good evening, members of The
22 Commission and staff.. My name is Vincent Foley, I
23 reside at 320 Cambridge Drive, surrounded almost by the
24 racetrack property, And as all of you know, and as all
25 of we know who live in that area, traffic is terrible.
20
1 And I was at this podium several years ago during the
~ Draft EIR process for the Westfield expansion and there
3 were traffic mitigation measures in that EIR which
4 should have and probably would have eased. a lot of the
5 traffic problems we're having today. Unfortunately, not
6 one of those measures that were in the EIR, not only in
7 the Draft EIR but in the Final E1R of Westfield's
8 expansion, have ever been implemented. My concern is,
9 that had those been implemented we might not be facing
10 today the traffic problems that we are. But because we
11 have such bad traffic, everybody seems to be focused on
12 the traffic situation, and how this new shopping center
13 may bring in more traffic.
14 TheE1R, the Draft E1R shows how traffic can
1S actually be improved at at least 14 of the
16 intersections. What I want to make sure of is that
17 there is some way to make sure that if these mitigations
18 get included in the E1R, that they are actually
19 performed, not as in the Westfield situation where it
20 all sounded good, but nothing happened. The city hasn't
21 forced any of those mitigations, the county hasn't
22 forced any of those mitigations. .1 don't want to see
23 that happen here, I want those mitigations to be done,
24 and I think traffic has an opportunity to be improved in
25 Arcadia rather than worsened.
21
1 And I've talked to people in Los Angeles who
2 say that because of The Grove and the traffic mitigation
3 that the Caruso Affiliates have done there, traffic is
4 actually better within a five-mile radius than it is
5 today. So what I would like this Commission to do is
6hop"fully move the process along, approve .the project as
7 quickly as possible, get it done, and maybe traffic can
8 be better in Arcadia. Thank you very much.
9 MS. READE: Good evening. My name is Bernetta
10 Rea~e and I am the executive director of Arcadia First,
11 ~ coalition of 3600 residents and business owners here
12 in the City of Arcadia.. Thank you for this opportunity
13 to comment on the Draft EIR for the Shops at Santa Anita
14 Racetrack specific plan. We have submitted letters to
IS the city for the official record and tonight I would
16 like to just highlight a few of the concerns we have
17 already communicated. We hope that this is the first of
18 many sessions during which comments on the Draft EIR and
19 the project. are allowed, as, we feel that the Draft EIR
20 is deficient in many ways and does contain a fatal flaw.
21 The purpose of. the DEIR is afford effective
22 communities an opportunity to comment on proposed
23 development. The DEIR is, if you will, the document of
24 record which is supposed to give the public an honest
25 picture of what the proposed project actually looks
22
1 like. In this place there is a clear disconnect between
2 what the developer is saying in public and what it is in
3 the official record. For example, the developer
4 proposed housing, then recently in a letter to the city
5 and in ads, has said housing .it out. Now in today's ad
6 and here this evening you have heard him say that it
7 will only come out if the City Council chooses to take
8 .it out. So which is it? Is the appl.ication to take out
9 the square footage from his application? Will he file a
10 new DEIR to reflect a new project? Or is the question
11 of housing now up to the City Council? Confused? We
12 are too, This DEIR cannot ,be viewed as adequate if, for
13 no other reason, than it does not adequately describe
14 the project.
IS Further, Draft EIRs are supposed to be
15 documents that the average person can read and
17 understand with the executive summary portion of the
18 document, a place where one can quickly familiarize
19 themselves with the proposed development. The Draft EIR
20 at hand does not meet this standard. Its vague language
21 makes it difficult, if not impossible, to Understand
22 ~xactly what the project is and what its impacts will
23 be.
24
Let me touch on the traffic section. The
2S mitigation proposed to reduce impacts at selected
23
1 traffic intersection requires ongoing staff support and
2 maintenance. Nowhere does the Draft EIR detail how the
3 costs associated with this new technology to mitigate
4 the impacts of the 30' to 40,000 vehicles a day this
5 project will bring into Arcadia will be covered. What
6 are the costs attached? Who will foot the bill?
7 The Racetrack at Santa Anita is the iconic
8 building of Arcadia. The Draft EIR seems to simply
9 dismiss the fact that there are negative impacts on the
10 historic integrity of this facility and its site .line.
11 This piece of property is the last significant piece of
12 property in the City of Arcadia, yet the Draft. EIR
13 dismisses out of hand. examination of. viable alternatives
14 to the project. The analysis for the alternatives that
15 are included is willfully inadequate. This is one of
16 the reasons that Arcadia First has officially called
17 upon the city to establish a blue ribbon commission to
18 identify an alternative that is viable for the city, for
19 the racetrack owner, and one that will be voted on by
20 the citizens of Arcadia.
21 There are a number of other issues which have
22 been addressed in our letter sent to the council and we
23 encourage the city to require the developer to resubmit
24 a complete DEIR so the people of Arcadia can make an
25 informed decision. Thank you.
24
1
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
2 our registration.
3 Next speaker, please. While the next speaker
4 is coming up, I think I may have missp6ke earlier and
5 called this the Environmental Impact Report and of
6 course it is only the Draft Environmental Impact Report
7 we're' addressing. Strike any reference to Environmental
8 Impact Report I made before. It's the Draft EIR. Thank
9 you.
10
MS. RUIZ: Hello. My name is Rebecca Ruiz. I
11 am a homeowner here in Arcadia. My daughter attends.
12 public schools here. Really, Arcadia is known for four
13 primary things, peacocks, the arboretum, great schools
14 and thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita Park. And we
15 love Santa Anita Park, It's a wonderful place to go.
16 We go to Clockers' Corner, we'll go to the Infield. So
17 how this project, Caruso, actually reinvigorates the
18 racetrack is of huge importance to us. We've seen the
19 attendance decline, we believe this project will
20 actually bring new people to the racetrack. But this
21 project is a lot. more than that. It.'s really a
22 community place I it 1:8 bringing mature trees where
23 there's currently asphalt. There's a place to dine
24 outside instead of in a parking lot. It's bringing
2S revenue to the city, which we badly need. And it's also
25
1 a place where if the property value is increased then
2 the schools would benefit from that.
3 Now, I did read the environmental impact
4 assessment and it wasn't that hard. I did not see
5 anything in there that was a show stopper, certainly
6 mitigations needed to be done, But the project was
7 tasteful and it seemed like it would fit right into the
8 community. So we can't wait for years and years before
9 a decision is made and for public votes and all of those
10 things. The last thing I'd want to see is Arcadia to be
11 known for peacocks, the arboretum, okay schools and the
12 mall with a Dave & Busters.
13 MR. HENRICH: Good evening. My.name a Tony
14 Henrich. I live at 431 North Altura Road in Arcadia.
15 My wife and I have lived here for 30 years in the lower
16 ranch area. 1'1 m past president fo'r the homeowner I B
17 association building area and currently chairman of the
18 architectural review board. I very much support this
19 project. Let me just make a quit comment. First off, I
20 think the EIR should focus on the fact that we want to
21 save Santa Anita Race Track. It is a historic grand
22 jewel of our community. It is known throughout the
23 United States for its class and its quality. It is by
24 far the best racetrack in the United States. Caruso
25 offers the best solution to save our track and its
26
1 historical monument. It offers the best solution for
2 this property, the best alternative. Most importantly,
3 I think the size -- and I think the EIR should say this,
4 it's been alluded to but maybe not strong enough, Mr.
5 Caruso is not building another mall. He's building a
6 plaza for Arcadia. Caruso offers Arcadia a downtown,
7 offers a place where our families can gather and enjoy
8 open space and dining. Space where we can ~alk .around
9 and enjoy. It's a destination. Mr. Caruso has proven
10 this type of. quality in the projects that he's built and
11 I have seen.
12 Equally important to me, I think, is we've
13 talked about the apartments or the dwellings there. I
14 think that is important. to the project itself. I
1:5 believe housing provides a sort of community atmosphere.
16 It provides more safety. I'm not sure it would be that
17 much of an impact on our schools, but the fact remains
18 that the city right now is expanding, we're building
19 more apartments. At the homeowner's association I see
20 more and more la~ger buildings, structures coming in,
21 adding bedrooms, four, five, six bedrooms., So I hope
22 that we would keep the apartments or the dwellings to
23 keep a downtown atmosphere in this project.
24 I also think that the project complements the
25 mall. I think the project gives us a wonderful new
27
1 downtown. We don't have one in a sense. I think the
2 apartments should stay, I recommend approval of the
3 EIR. Thank you.
4
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign,
5 Next speaker, please.
6 MR. HEIR: Good evening. My name is Paul
7 Heir, My wife and I reside at 515 East Wistaria,
8 Arcadia, We've lived there for 25 years. The reason we
9 bought in the City of Arcadia was because it's a
10 single-family resident community. In fact, I think the
11 motto is IlCity of fine homes." We didn't buy here
12 because of, you know, downtown. I think the EIR needs
13 to take some -- needs to take a look at the alternative
14 projects, that I didn't notice in the current here. I
15 think we definitely need more open spaces. I think the
16 current proposal has a 7.5 percent acre water feature.
17 considering there's over 304 acres or something of area
18 in Santa Anita Park, I think there should be more open
19 space. I think other alternatives could also be
20 considered. I didn't see. those. Since we are city of
21 homes not of businesses, basically, I think we could
22 have -- why not look at a single-family home option on
23 quarter-acre lots. I hear some people laughing at that.
24 You probably live in a house, I think.
25 I ~lso noticed on Mr. Caruso's presentation
28'
1 here that one of the top things he said is traffic flow
2 improved at 14 intersections. I question how does the
3 traffic flow improve when we're bringing 30,000 autos
4 into the city every day? And what effect does that have
5 on our kids? I have a son that went to Arcadia High.
6 While he was there one of the children was killed on --
7 at the campus boulevard there. If we add 30,000 cars is
8 that not going to increase the chance of our kids and
9 all of the other Arcad1ans being victims of accidents?
10 And also, I don't see anywhere in here where
11 it says how is Arcadia going to pay for repairs to the
12 city's roads and to the traffic what the traffic
13 would do to those roads. So those are my comments that
14 I'd like you. to consider. Thank you.
15
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
16 our registry.
17 MR. HUDSON: My.name is Dirk Hudson. I live
18 at 428 Stanford Drive, which is part of the very block
19 that this mall would be placed on. And I want to say
20 that I'm a strong supporter of the mall.. the proposal
21 to put .in the Caruso project, because I think it would
22 improve the lifestyle of everyone here in Arcadia,
23 including me, which is not to say that I'm not somewhat
24 concerned, of course, about traffic. I think traffic
25 could be improved. I think traffic was far worse when
29
1 we moved here some 30 years ago than it is today. And I
2 think that putting in traffic lights at key spots and
3 perhaps timing those traffic lights could make quite a
4 difference.
S As far as the apartments are concerned, I
6 understand that alternative 3 of the draft has already
7 eliminated the apartments, in which case there would be
8 no need to have any delay for a new Draft ErR.
9 The very term nenvironmental impact.'.' connotes
10 a negative sense in minds of many people. I think we
11 tend to look at ~- too much at the negative impacts
12 rather than the positive impacts of the project. And of
13 course if we adopted that idea, that state of mind
14 before the mall was built, we wouldn't have the mall
15 today because there was opposition then. And we then
16 wouldn"t have all the advantages we've gained as a
17 result of the mall. We tend to emphasize the negative
18 more than the positive impacts, and yet an objective
19 view requires consideration of both the positive and the
20 negative,
21 And also, we should look at the negative
22 impact if the project's defeated and a less desirable
23 alternative comes in place, Not only that, but the
24 indirect effects of that defeat if there's such a
25 defeat.
30
3l
1 urge approval of this project. Thank you.
2 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next speaker, please.
3
MR. PEARSON: Hello, my name is Craig Pearson.
4 My wife and I have been residents of Arcadia for over 25
5 years. We have three grown children who are all
6 products of Arcadia schools. After reading the draft
7 EIS (sic), we believe that the city, by trying to build
8 this. project, is sending a message that we are no longer
9 a community of homes. I would like to share with you
10 seven specific objections we have to the draft EIS. We
11 believe that these objections provide a sound basis for
12 rejecting the project.
13 The first item we have has to do with safety.
14 The draft EISdoes not address the project's impacts of
15 the safety of chiidren attending school in the project
16 area. There are at least six schools located on the
17 streets that will carry the increased traffic for this
18 project. The alleged benefits of the project do not
19 justify placing these children at risk. I also note the
20 private schools, Barn Heart and Holy Angels, were not
21 included in the tabulation in Section 4..11,7.
22 My second comment has to do with traffic in
23 general. It is clear that this project will
24 significantly reduce the quality of life in South
25 Arcadia by worsening our traffic problems. Table
32
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
.10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
;
4.13-11 which summarizes the level of service with and
without the project for various intersections shows that
ten intersections will suffer reductions in level of
service to a letter grade of D or below. For example,
on Saturdays, Centennial and Huntington East will go
from a B to an F for failing. The traffic situation is
bad enough already, why should the residents of South
Arcadia have to put up with this unnecessary worsening
of traffic.
My third objection is traffic in the Holly
Avenue area. Figure 4,13-5 shows that 5 percent of the
retail and commercial trips generated by the project
would travel up Holly Avenue. No other surface street
receives a heavier impact. Holly is a two-lane street,
speed limit, 30, which travels through a primarily
single-family home area and has three schools on the
street.
Item No. 4 is the impact -- in the table of
impacts it's No. 4.13-4 on neighborhood intrusion.
These are found to be significant and unavoidable. This
constitutes a significant negative impact on the quality
of life for South Arcadia residents.
Objection No. 5 I have is construction
impacts. The draft EIS does not clearly define the
reconstruction that will, be required 'to increase the
33
1 capaci~y of our streets. There ~re two mitigation
2 measures, 4.13-1(e) and (hl which describe major
3 reconstruction of aolly Avenue at Gate 3 and Santa Anita
4 and Huntington, How can all this reconstruction take
5 place without taking property from the mediums, from the
6 sidewalks, from the adjoining parks, churches or other
7 property owners? This obvious significant impact is not
8 adequately addressed.
9 Also, mitigation measure 4.13.1(t) implies
10 that the construction costs of these roadway projects
11 would be paid for by the taxpayers, not the developer.
12 It says that Mr. Caruso would pay for the intelligent
13 traffic systems, the signals, the detector but it seems
14 to specifically exclude the construction. costs.
15 Item No. 6 is safety. Again, mitigation
16 measure 4.13-1 (al proposes to eliminate the
17 right-turn-on-red restriction on the eastbound 210
18 off-ramp at Baldwin, This restriction was implemented
19 as a safety measure over five years ago bepause when
20 making that turn the driver does not have a clear view
21 of the oncoming traffic on southb~und Baldwin. Why
22 would we eliminate a restriction that was obviously
23 implemented for safety reasons just to make access to
24 this project a little easier?
2S And item -- my objection No, 7 has to do witb
34
1 the additional police. Impact No. 4.11-2 states that
2 the city would have to hire five additional personnel,
3 three patrol officers, one detective and one traffic
4 enforcement officer to cope with the impacts. It also
5 states 'that "The project developer shall pay all
6 applicable annual fees to the city." End quote. Does'
7 this mean that the developer would pay for these
8 additional police officers? On the contrary, it sounds
9 like, once again, the taxpayers would foot the bill.
10 I appreciate the opportunity to present these
11 comments" and I urge the residents of Arcadia to insure
12 that our City Council acts in the best interest of our
13 city by stopping this project. if the City Council
14 approves this EIS and this project, I would propose that
15 their next action should be to change the city's motto
16 from community of homes to community of malls and access
17 roads. Thank you.
18 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next speaker, please,
19 MS. WILLIAM: Good evening. My name is Sonia
20 William and I reside at 133 Greenfield Place, Arcadia,
21 And I live there with my husband and have for 21 years.
22 The land use perspective, many cities are faced with a
23 shortage of parking within their city limits and the
24 City of Arcadia is no different. With respect to
25 parking, I have six points of suggestion,
35
1
One, the Rusnak dealership. I noticed
2 recently the Rusnak is using Santa Anita Racetrack
3 parking lot to store his stocked vehicles. The city
4 could prevent paying out to purchase (inaudible) and
5 other businesses, plus the lack of imminent domain if
6 Rusnak makes a deal with Magna Corporation to use the
7 racetrack parking lot for vehicle storage,
8 Two, (inaudible) is about to do a required
9 retrofit and expansion, part of the expansion includes a
10 parking structure which mayor may not be sufficient in
11 the years ahead and/or for future expansion.
12 Three, Westfield and Magna should have a joint
13 partnership and plan to enhance both their properties.
14 Westfield needs more parking, residents keep complaining
15 that the parking, although improved, is still
i6 inadequate.
17 Four, the HollYWood Racetrack. This has been
18 recently sold and when it closes in the near future, it
19 is likely that Santa Anita will attract race goers that
20 they attract and may even have to hold races in a more
21 extended season. The DEIR indicates that the big race
22 days there will be a spillover of cars wishing to park
23 at the racetrack and this has not been adequately
24 covered by Caruso. Where will the spillover take place?
25 Five, the Gold Line. This will be coming
36
1 through our area in the near future. Buses,
2 transportation, parking could be provided at the
3 racetrack parking lot. Sierra Madre Station has a
4 five-story building on two different acres.
5
Six, is our city really short of revenue? If
6 users of the racetrack would charge an extra one dollar
7 for parking and admission this money would generate
8 roughly the same 2.3 million anticipated from the Caruso
9 development, It would not generate any extra traffic,
20 any additional expense for the police and fire, et
22 cetera, to the city, Just to put this in context, the
22 handle at the track for 220 days of racing was 1.250
13 billion in 2004. My comments this evening are related
14 to the alternative land use section of the DEIR. As my
15 comments reflect, I feel that other alternatives were
26 not addressed or discussed adequately in the DEIR and
27 that further review and evaluation is warranted. All
18 the above suggestions would benefit Arcadians by keeping
29 the vista and architectural integrity of our historical
20 treasure. Magna Corporation would have supplement
21 income adding to the running of the racetrack and the
22 racetrack would also still be very usable and not hidden
23 behind massive 67~foot high buildings.
24 How is it going to be economically feasible
25 for one mega retail center to be built next to an
37
1 already existing regional mall such as Santa Anita? The
2 DEIR cannot address this issue adequately. More study
3 is needed. Social and economic~related issues cannot be
4 addressed in an EIR and they are the most important and
5 should be key.to the discussion of the Caruso proposal,
6 They cannot and should not be overlooked, Thank you.
7 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
8 Next speaker, please.
9 MR. THOMAS: Good evening. My name is
10 Mitchell Thomas and I reside on Fallen Leaf Road in
11 Arcadia. So far from what I've heard tonight, I'.m the
12 senior resident of this town having lived here for over
13 42 years. Went through school here, K through 12. I
14 remember back when the question before the community was
IS the building of the Santa Anita Fashion Park, what it
16 was originally called, But as happened, we got the mall
17 and the communities moved on. In the late '70s I was a
18 reserve policeman here and I remember working traffic
19 post for the police department for Santa Anita
20 Racetrack. And everybody seems to be bemoaning the
21 traffic impacts in this community. We had a lot more
22 traffic then. We got through it.
23 Mr.. .Caruso and his project appear to be
24 willing to do whatever is necessary to pacify the
2S community of Arcadia and all the residents thereof. I
38
.1 would strongly recommend that all of the staff and all
2 of the elected officials of the City of Arcadia work
3 with Mr. Caruso and make sure that these problems are
4 mitigated. He certainly seems to be willing to. My
5 particular opinion is, having gone K through 12, 11m
6 adamantly opposed to any kind of extra living on this
? property. However, the project itself, from what I've
8 seen of it and have been in some of these community
9 meetings, is a massive bonus to the city and the
10 community members of this city.
11
Now, I can tell you, I've been a reserve
12 police officer. in the City of Sierra Madre and a reserve
13 commander for over 22 years, whether anybody knows or
14 doesn't know, the C{ty of Sierra Madre is going through
15 critical, critical mass right now not having. the funds
16 to police, or pay for fire or community services. We
17 can't have this in this community. We have to have a
18 base and we all know 'that the State of California is
19 siphoning off our property taxes. There has to be
20 something on this property, and it has to generate
21 income. We have to have police and fire. And I would
22 suggest strongly that all of the staff members here mike
23 sure that we continue to have the very, very best police
24 and fire in Southern California and that it is in .fact
25 paid for, Thank you.
39
1
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you very much.
2 Please sign the registry.
3 Next speaker, please.
4 MR. BECKWITH: My name is Brent Beckwith. Pm
5 one of the co~owners of Red-Rock Chili in the Santa
6 Anita Mall. I'm also one of the founding members of
7 Arcadia First. I'm the president of Arcadia First. As
8 you know from my appearances here even back in May, the
9 big issue is basically the economic feasibility of the
10 Caruso project. And, actually, reading part of the
11 DEIR, especially the economic feasibility or the
12 financial analysis portion of it, I have two big
13 concerns.. The first concern is there I s an assumption of
14 a total growth rate of over 34 percent over the next
15 five years in the trade area.
16 The second is the example used to demonstrate
17 a positive economic impact to the surrounding
18 businesses. In regards to the first assumption, the
19 growth rate of over 34 percent, that seems like a pretty
20 rosie picture, and I'd really like to know the data that
21 was used to come up with that figure. That kind of
22 makes me think about the election back in 2000 where
23 Bush and Gore were battling over how they were going to
24 use the budget surplus, which we never got and we're in
25 a deficit. So I think these numbers have to be
40
41
1 project, has a major duplication of one of the things
2 that Westfield already has, such as a large movie
3 complex, a high-end grocery that's going to be in the
4 expansion of the Westfield project with more
5 restaurants. Which right now, the Westfield project is
6 still growing into their capacity of the movie theatres
7 and the ,restaurants. I don't know if you ever go to the
8 restaurants in the Westfield project, but they're not at
9 capacity, They're still growing. And do we really want
10 to build more restaurants to a market that's still
11 growing in the capacity?
12 Another major concern I have, and I think
13 needs to be understood, is the proposed racetrack
14 project that Caruso is putting forward to the council is
15 more than twice the size of .any other projects. All but
16 one of Caruso's projects is relatively small, about 15
17 to 200,000 square feet, and his only large project, The
18 Grove, is 575 square feet. He's never completed a
19 retail project right next to an existing regional
20 shopping center so he has no track record of success in
21 this type of business environment. The size of the
22 Caruso project also seems illClgical to me, due to the
23 fact that his emphasis is high-end retail, and the
24 market for high-end retail is smaller and shouldn't
25 require a vast amount of square feet.
42
1 During Caruso's presentation he said he thinks
2 the market can support this development. Due to Mr,
3 Caruso's success from his other developments, I think
4 it's possible that he's suffering from what Ted Sherman
5' and Alan Greenspan calls his "irrational exuberance."
6 We need more than his confidence that the market can.
7 support this project. Building more retail than what
8 the market can support could have a major imPact on the
9 retail businesses, in the long. run could hurt residents
10 of Arcadia if businesses close. If there's too many
11 businesses and Dot enough customers ~or the businesses
12 to be profitable, businesses close and those sales tax
13 dollars are not ,going to be there.
14 So I'm pro-development but there has to be the
15 market capacity for it, So that's something that really
16 needs to be addressed, Thank you.
17
18
19
20
21
22 J\.venue. I think most. everybody knows where it is but
23 we're between Baldwin and Holly and we walk across the
24 street to the mall. And what I want to tell you is, I
25 haven't raised three kids here, I haven't lived here for
COMMISSIONER LUCAS : Thank you. Please sign
our registry.
Next speaker, please.
MR. BOULTINGHOUSE: My name is Dennis
Boultinghouse and my wife and I live at 460 Fairview
43
1 25 years. We1ve lived. here for seven years and we love
2 this city. We love living here. The quality of this
3 city is wonderful, All the services, all the people.
4 We're just -- we love where we live. And I find it
5 interesting that years ago we were not here when they
6 decided to build the mall. I get the feeling there must
7 have been the same kind of division as was referred to
8 by the people here about whether or not the mall was
9 going to be a good thing or a bad thing.
10 Mr. Foley mentioned traffic. We live kind of
11 in the same grid because we're south of the racetrack a
12 block and he's slightly north of the racetrack. We
13 don' to have any problem with the traffic. And that isn '.t
14 to say that his concerns and his experience are
15 different than ours , I can only say we haven" t had a
16 problem. And oftentimes we walk across, we're within
17 walking distance of the track, and we walk across that
18 bridge you mentioned. And we look out on those hills
19 and what a magnificent view that is. And we also feel
20 that the quality of the mall really helps our lifestyle
21 and our enjoyment. I don't speak for the people of
22 Arcadia, South Arcadia or whatever. I just speak for
23 myself.
24
And I have also been to The Grove. And to
25 have that kind of a project to be able to drive to or
44
1 walk to, to me, I mean, it's really a no-brainer, yet we
2 all watched that presentation tonight. It's going to be
3 a wonderful addition to our city, so that when we walk
4 across that bridge, if it's still going to be there.,
5 it's even going to enhance our view because we're still
6 going to see those wonderful mountains and this
7 beautiful open space with up-scale shopping and we're
8 still going to go to the mall and we enjoy going to the
9 mall. I think what is really interesting here tonight,
10 one of the ladies who spoke for Arcadia First, and her
11 concern was in her opening remark whether or not the
12 condominiums were going to be here or the apartments
13 were going to be here or not. And I thought Mr. Caruso
14 was very clear, it was up to you all. It was up to the
15 city as to whether or not you wanted them. So if that's
16 that person's major concern, I really think that Arcadia
17 First, in their own way, really endorses t~is wonderful
18 proj ect. From my wife and' I, we really look forward to
19 it. Thank you very much,
20 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next speaker, please.
21 MR. SHULMAN: Sanford Shulman. My wife and I
22 reside at 437 Harvard right off of Baldwin below the
23 freeway in back of the racetrack. As you can see, I
24 didn't bring any prepared notes or books to read or
25 letters to read to you. So I'll be very brief. I've
45
46
1 been to a number of the neighborhood meetings. I've
2 been to the public meeting, I've heard Mr. Caruso a
3 number of times give the proposals of how he will be
4 able to regulate the parking and how to alleviate the
5 traffic. At all of these meetings he"s asked for
6 response, I know he I s gotten a number of" 'response ~ And
7 the last two meetings that I was at, because of the
8 negative response he had to the apartments or the
9 dwellings, and as far as the project, .I think the
10 project will be a financial benefit to the City of
11 Arcadia, plus to the residents of Arcadia. Shops,
12 restaurants we can attend instead of going to .Pasadena.
13 However, I was under the impression that Mr~ Caruso
14 clearly stated that the apartments was now out of the
15 project. And then my puzzlement here tonight is in his
16 presentation I was under the impression that he said
17 that it will now be up to the City Council and the
18 Planning commission. That's one clarification I would
19 like to have made, because I was, and a number of people
20 who were at a number of those meetings who was against
21 the residential situation at the Shops at S,anta Anita,
22 thought that was out of the project, I think the
23 project, as it stands, without the residential
2.4 development, would be of a benefit for everybody within
25 the City of Arcadia and surrounding areas. Thank you.
1
2
PM
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
47
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you very much.
Next speaker, please, 08:25
MR. LAMBERT: My name is Charles Lambert.
I've been lucky enough to go to The Grove quite a few
times. I enjoy going down there. I think it's fun and
exciting. Traffic is no problem. And we need a
face-lift at Santa Anita Racetrack. I think it would be
a great asset to have this project at Santa Anita
Racetrack. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next speaker, please.
MR. CHIU: My name a John Chiu. I reside at
429 Cambridge. I just have a few quick comments. One
is that, when I saw theEIR, my impression is that the
residential project is pretty much a show killer. So I
think probably a lot of people have that feeling, share
that feeling. If that is the case, I'm just wondering
if we should focus more on the project without the
residential and just make it primary for the Draft EIR.
Would that be something feasible.
Also, the one thing Ilm not so clear about on
the alternative EIR is that with the elimination of the
residential project, would that be addition retails or
commercial add-on to the 800,000 square feet proposal
commercial to make it back up to 1.1, is it just 800,000
and nothing? Also, I've been to The G~ove a few times
1 in the past few months, and I'm pretty impressed by the
2 actual structures, but one thing that really got into my
3 mind is that they have a pretty ugly parking structure
4 which is big, tall and kind of like block every single
5 view that you can think of. I'm wondering if there are
6 any alternative proposal to make the parking underground
7 or something, I haven't seen anything in the EIR, I
8 think that's the comments I have.
9
COMMISSIONER LUCAS, Thank you very much.
10 Next speaker, please.
11 MR. BOWEN: My name is Jeff Bowen and I've
12 been here since 1950, so I guess I beat the gentleman
13 who was here 40 years. I remind those of you who maybe
14 have not been here as long as I have, that there were
15 days when I was a lot younger, we had 40, 50, 60,
16 sometimes 70,000 people at Santa.Anita. And they all
17 came in at 12:00 noon and left at S:OO o'clock. Those
18 of who you remember thatl yes, it was true, and we lived
19 through it, It. was not a problem. This project will
20 open at whatever time, 10:00 in the morning and 10:00 at
2~ night. And that same traffic, with regard to the
22 traffic question, will be spread over a long period of
23 time. Entirely different than what we experienced in
24 those days.
25 Regarding the housing, if the citizens don't
48
1 want it, let the system work and let Mr. Caruso take it
2 out. Simple as that. It's a vacant parking lot, and my
3 observation with that is something's going to go there,
4 that's a given. Caruso has a class plan and a good plan
5 to go there, And let" s let him implement it and work
6 with him, as he's done with us to this point to
7 eliminate the housing if that's what's wanted. Those
8 are my observations on what'sheen said tonight, And
9 thank you.
10 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
1:,1 Next speaker, please.
12 MS. FOLEY: Good evening. My name is Delores
13 Foley and I live at 320 Cambridge Drive, and I live in
14 the area closest to the racetrack and closest to the
15 traffic that comes down Baldwin Avenue. And. when we
16 first moved into Arcadia we were very surprised that we
17 could not go out at s:oo o'clock on Sunday, on Saturday
18 or at 12:00 O'clock when all the cars were coming in.
19 And the traffic is much better now, and hopefully when
20 they put in the new project and ,there's going to be
21 traffic mitigation, .that that will also help, But I'm
22 concerned that Arcadia First is so concerned about the
23 impact on the local businesses. The EIR specifically
24 states that the -- there will be no significant impact
2S on the local businesses. I think it's because they're
49
1 worried because of the Westfield Shopping Town telling
2 them that this is what's going to happen and we all know
3 that they're supported by the Westfield Shopping Town.
4 Hopefully you will approve this ErR as quickly
5 as possible and that we will have a nice area to go to
6 during the week and. on the weekends, Thank you,
7 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
8 Next speaker ,please.
9
MR, BERNSTEIN: Good evening, Commissioners,
10 My name is Ken Bernstein. I'm director of preservation
1i issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy at 523 West Sixth
12 Street in Los Angeles. The conservancy is the
13 county-wide historic preservation organization for the
14 Los Angeles County area. We are the largest local
15 historic preservation organization in the United States
16 with over 8,000 members throughout the Los Angeles. area.
17 And we've had a long history ourselves of involvement
18 with Santa Anita Racetrack dating back to 1999 when we
19 became aware of the inappropriate alteration of elevator
20 towers at Santa Anita without appropriate public review
21 at that time. We've worked with the National Trust for
22 Historic Preservation, which also has a very strong
23 interest in Santa Anita Racetrack, believing it to be a
24 tremendous nationa'l significance and has placed this
25 site on its list in the year 2000 of 11 most endangered
50
1 sites in the United States. It was endangered at the
2 time because the racetrack 1'8 owner Frank Stronach had
3 proposed a number of additional inappropriate
4 alterations to the racetrack and some very incompatible
5 new development to the site. Together these would have
6 obliterated many, if not mqst, of the racetrack's
7 historic features and made it no longer one of the great
8 art- dece jewels of our region.
9 Santa Anita is clearly one of our signature
10 historic complexes in the entire region. It's one of
11 our most significant art deco buildings in the region
12 and beyond. Clearly, one of the most important
13 racetrack facilities i~ the entire nation, and we're
14 very pleased to hear many of the comments tonight that
15 have acknowledged this. And we're also pleased that the
16 EIR recognizes that this site appears eligible for the
17 National Register For Historic Places, and we agree with
18 that significance. Indeed there is. a nomination pending
19 for this site to the National Register For Historic
20 Places that is currently pending before State Historical
21 Resources Commission. We are very supportive of that
22 nomination in order to give this site conclusively the
23 level of significance that it's long deserved.
24 We also appreciate this project does not have
25 as dramatic an impact as some of the previous proposals
51
1 for the site. We're also mindful of the need to enhance
2 this property in' order to maintain the economic
3 viability of Santa Anita, which could otherwise be in
4 question and could place the racetrack's future
5 existence in question.
6 But having said that, originally when this
7 project was proposed, we'd hoped that the new
8 development would avoid all negative impacts on the
9 racetrack, that it would be a stand-alone retail
10 development that would leave all historic elements of
11 the racetrack entirely intact. But this proposal does
12 in fact h~ve s~gnificant impacts, as the EIR indicates,
13 on several racetra~k elements., including the demolition
14 of the saddling barn, demolition -- or the possible
15 relocation of the saddling barn. The south entrance
16 gate, as ~ell as changes to the grandstand and potential
17 changes to the 'historic views of the racetrack. Because
18 of this, the conservancy's leadership will be carefully
19 scrutinizing this EIR further and preparing more
20 detailed comments for you by the February 27th deadline.
21 We want to further explore which of these impacts are
?2 truly unavoidable, which can possibly be avoided, and
23 whiCh can be improved upon through a fuller area and
24 preservation-oriented alternative.
25 I want to conclude by just reiterating
52
1 something that we've already asked Mr. Caruso to take a
2 look at, which is if there are going to be unavoidable
3 impacts to cultural resources, to look at ways of
4 incorporating mitigation measures that offset those
5 impacts. And specifically to those 1999 elevator towers
6 which are very visible in this rendering here. You can
7 see those two giant protrusions in the exterior of the
8 grandstand. And the EIR itself says, "Place to the east
9 of the vertical entry pavilion the new elevator tower
10 rise higher than the grandstand roof and obscure and
11 interrupt the o~iginal facade." And. even s~ys, liAs a
12 result of these additions, almost half of the original
13 193,4 facade has been obscured as shown in figure 4.4."
14 We would ask'that Mr. Caruso look very carefully at the
15 possibility of reversing those inappropriate alterations
16 while still complying with ABA and stable access
17 requirements, keeping the amenities, that were provided,
18 but that could have been provided for in a much more
19 skillful and less intrusive manner. And we would hope
20 that if there are to be impacts on this project, that
21 additional mitigation measures be considered. We will
22 be providing further comments in writing February 27.
23 Thank you.
24
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
25 our registry.
53
1 Next speaker, please.
2 MS. HANSEN: My name is Mary Hansen. I reside
3 at 900 Hugo Drive in Arcadia. I have been in this,home
4 for 45 years and I now have someone there with me ,named
5 Misty, my four-legged friend. Caruso supports inclusion
6 of the community performing arts center, and I have long
7 been an advocate of getting something big here where we
8 can have our parties and not go to Pasadena or Los
9 Angeles. There are other community benefits also. The
10 DEIR has three alternatives and every aspect has been
11 studied. I know that I've been here long enough that I
12 saw the city council and a few others fight the mall,
13 and now look what we have over at the mall, a lot of
14 stations, a lot of stands. We need something like he
15 has presented to us, and we need it in my lifetime.
16 Thank you.
17 COMMISSIONER LUCAS : Next speaker, please.
18 MS. JOHNSON-McAVOY: My name is Christie
19 Johnson-McAvoy. I am the principal of Historic
20 Resources Group, which is a private preservation
21 consulting firm. I've also been an advisor to the
22 National Trust For Historic Preservation and part of Los
23 Angeles Conservancy board. I'd like to speak tonight to
24 the impacts that were addressed by Mr., Bernstein just a
25 couple of minutes ago. In that, while Mr. Caruso did
54
1 address in his formal presentation at the beginning some
2 very -- some very key impacts that he said had been
3 addressed, the key impact that remains and is well
4 highlighted in the Draft ErR is the impact to historic
5 preservation and the impact to Santa Anita as a proposed
6 historic district that is eligible for the National
7 Register of Historic Places.
8 There are issues of stewardship that are
9 involved in communities who are lucky enough to have
10 historic resources. And usually that stewardship
11 extends from the city to the private sector to any of
12 the, other non-profit and other citizens who wish to
13 support those historic resources. lIve spent a
14 considerable amount of my time advising clients about
15 how to economically get their his.toric, .resources to have
16 a better economic feasibility than they currently --
17 than they may currently have. And of course we all
18 acknowledge that Santa Anita needs some help in some
~9 revitalization and some rehabilitation.
20 The Draft EIR notes that there is a set of
21 standards called the Secretary of the Interior Standards
22 that are the appropriate design guidelines for historic
23 districts. It actually does say that the Simulcast
24 center that will be put into the grandstand building
25 will be built according to those standards. There is
55
1 not enough information about character-defining features
2 that will be impacted by the Simulcast in the grandstand
3 to know whether or not that statement is true. But the
4 proposed historic district is more than a grandstand,
5 more than the clubhouse. It's a component of parts that
6 tells you the exact story of thoroughbred racing in
7 California. It goes back to 1933. All of the
8 components of this district are physically represented.
9 All of the story is there, from the stables to the entry
10 point, to the design landscape, to the grandstand and
11 clubhouse designed by Gordon Kaufmann. And then into
12 the Infield and another experience looking back at the
13 grandstand. The view shed to the mountains and the way
14 that the various tracks are circulated on the site, all
15 contribute to making Santa Anita a historic district.
16 The significant impacts on this district will
17 remove some contributing features. And it is
18 acknowledged that the project will do that. It is my
19 belief that, slightly better planning can reduce those
20 impacts. That there may be some different sidings that
21 can help that,. There ,is not a preservation planning
22 alternative clearly stated that doesn't keep the
23 original footprint of Mr. Caruso's project. So the
24 aspects of this very special resource is that this is
25 really the best of the original five tracks in
56
1 California that were authorized in 1933 to begin
2 pari-mutuel racing in California. This was the crown
3 jewel. This was the one where the racetrack and racing
4 fans were able to kind of kick that seedy image that had
5 been kind of built up in racing in the early 1900s. And
6 it ,is a facility that does provide something for
7 families as well as racing fans.
8 The five tracks that compose that historic
9 context a~e Santa Anita I -Del Mar, Bay Meadows, and
10 (inaudible) and 'Hol1.ywood Park. If you know anything
11 about development these days, you know that only Santa
12 Anita and Del Mar retain any of their integrity. And,
13 in fact, several of the others are on their way to being
14 demolished. You have the opportunity to create a
15 marketable economically feasible historic district
16 devoted to entertainment if you keep all of its
17 component parts, and are the only place in California
'18 where you can tell the real story of racing. So I urge
19 you to look at those impacts that are identified as
20 significant, unavoidable impacts and try to, with teams'
21 and the other non-profits and other stakeholders, to
22 look at whether or not we can make those 'impacts
23 avoidable, because they are. Thank you.
24
25
COMMISS IONER LUCAS: Thank you.
Next speaker, please.
57
1
MR. CASEY: Good evening, Commissioners. My
2 name is Ed Casey with the Weston Benshoof law firm
3 appearing tonight on behalf of Westfield. We appreciate
4 the opportunity to discuss the Draft EIR for the Caruso
5 project and the track. And I realize it's toward the
6 end of the night and you"ve had a long evening so I'll
7 try to limit my comments to the four key issues that I
8 See concerning the proposed project. And the first one
9 is this, simply, what is the proposed project? By now
10 you've heard that the Draf,t EIR says that the proj ect
11 will include 300 residential units, and by now you've
12 heard that the developer has said, at least in this ad
13 that I understand appeared about a week ago, that those
14 residential units are going' to be gone, but maybe not,
15 Because in an ad that appeared today, as well as what
16 the applicant said today, maybe the units are gone,
17 maybe they won't be. It',s all up to the City Council.
18 Now one of the speakers said earlier, well,
19 that's a pretty simple question to be answered, are the
20 units in or are they out? It should be a very simple
21 question to answer. But the point is this, the question
22 has to be answered now. Because if the question is not
23 answered now, then the public is left in the dark when
24 it has to comment on ,this Draft EIR 'and have to comment
25 On 'what this project, or maybe some other project's
58
1 impacts will be. When you take out the residential
2 component, the EIR analysis changes. For example, when
3 the residential component is pulled out, what impact
4 analyses in the EIR will still apply and which ones
5 won't? When you take out the residential component,
6 what aspects of the proposed specific plan still apply
7 and which ones won't? The same can be said about the
8 benefits, the objectives and the alternatives for the
9 proposed project, whatever version of the project is on
10 the table. So for all those reasons this DEIR has to be
11 pulled back, has to be revised, and has to be
12 recirculated.
13 My second point is this, whenever you are
14 considering this Draft EIR or any revised version of it,
15 I urge you to keep two key general plan policies of your
16 city at the forefront so those key policies reflect this
17 commUnity's values. First and foremost, the general
18 plan says that the views from the south of this
19 community's jewel, the racetrack, must be preserved.
20 Second key policy is that whatever gets developed in the
21 track south lot must create a synergistic, that's the
22 word used in the general plan, a synergistic
23 relationship with the surrounding uses including the
24 Westfield Mall. We know that the proposed project
25 simply does not respect those key general plan policies,
59
1 and how could it? The proposed project would be a new
2 mall to be placed next to an existing mall that will sit
3 right in front of the track and block its views. When I
4 say block its views, don't take my word. Look at figure
5 4.1-3 in the Draft EIR that was not presented today. It
6 is literally a here-now-and-gone-tomorrow-type figure.
7 The top shows the views from the south that the general
8 plan says should be preserved. You can see the
9 racetrack. The bottom picture is when the racetrack is
10 built, literally the track is gone, including the
11 elevator shafts that Mr. Bernstein talked about. And
12 yet ,instead of trying to solve those problems and
13 respecting. those key general plan policies, what the
14 Draft EIR says is that let's amend those key policies,
15 the general plan and do away with it. And to add insult
16 to injury" the Draft EIR says that the project's land
17 use impacts are less than significant.
18 Point three is that when 'the Draft EIR comes
19 out, in whatever revised vers'ion, the. land use impac,ts
20 and all the project impacts must be carefully ,analyzed.
21 'And that's particularly important because this version
22 of the Draft EIR says that the project will have 17
23 17 significant environmental impacts that cannot be
24 mitigated. That's in the EIR. It's listed there. And
25 17 significant environmental impacts that cannot be
60
1 mitigated for a project that is touted to enhance the
2 community's quality and character of life.
3 So my final point is this, whi~e we're still
4 analyzing all the aspects of this one thousand-page
5 Draft EIR, we know three things right off the bat. The
6 proposed project does not respect certain key general
7 plan policies. The proposed project does not create any
8 synergistic effect, because it will be a new mall next
9 to an existing mall. And the proposed project will
10 cause 17 significant environmental impacts that cannot
11 be mitigated. And I submit to you and everybody else in
12 the audience, that there must be a better alternative.
13 There must be a better project. And with that question,
14 that question of alternatives is so important that in a
15 state statute called CEQA requires all Environmental
16 Impact Reports to carefully anaiyze alternatives. And
17 this Draft EIR simply does not do that, for this reason.
18 Every alternative looked at in the Draft EIR includes a
19 retarl use. No other types of projects are analyzed,
20 and that short-changes the public. It short-changes the
21 community, because a comprehensive look at alternatives
22 is so critical to this project and to this community
23 because it's the only 'way to insure that the community's
24 crown jewel, the racetrack, is preserved, that it will
25 be enhanced and the qua'lity and character of life in
61
1 this community will also be preserved and enhanced.
2 Thank you.
3 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
4 Next speaker, please.
S MR. STODDEN: Good evening. My name is David
6 Stodden. I live at 230 West Wistoria Avenue here in
7 Arcadia. As a relatively newcomer here to Arcadia, I
8 can offer this perspective of having lived and worked in
9 other cities here in the Southland. And one of the
10 things that I tell people is "I've moved to Arcadia."
11 And the response I usually get is, "Where'Is that?" And
12 it's true. And at least from what, I,'ve observed, that
13 many people. even living nearby, relatively 20, 30 miles
14 -away, are ,not familiar -with Arcadia, don.lt even know
15 where it is,. But then I say, lIWell I it I S near
16 Pasadena." They go, "Oh, okay, okay. I know where it
17 is now." I think my point is that I think Arcadia's got
18 to come out of the shadow of Pasadena and begin to
19 assert its own identity. And up to this point there's
20 this feeling that it's a suburb of Pasadena. Up untii
21 they recently completed the addition to the mall, if I
22 wanted to see a movie, I had to go to Pasadena or maybe
23 Monrovia or somewhere else. !, couldn't see a movie in
24 Arcadia. Now, with that addition present, it's much
25 better than it used to be. I have at least one theatre
62
1 complex to go. But I think given the size of the City
2 of Arcadia, our choice is somewhat limited for
3 entertainment and dining. And so I view the proposed
4 Caruso project as a welcomed addition to the city.
5 I would like to just say to the naysayers
6 here, II-Let's hear your better idea. 11 We say that --
7 they say it's a bad idea and they say they ,refer to
8 the racetrack as a jewel, but when you talk about
9 jewels, a diamond, for example, you usually put a
10 diamond ina gold setting. I don't call the current
11 abandoned parking lot at the mall a gold setting. It's
12 more like a rusty iron setting. And so let's give the
13 racetrack the forum and decorum that it deserves and
14 make it somewhere where people can go. I doubt many
15 people, unless they've actually gone to a race, have
16 walked on the grounds or admired the architecture, other
17 than a quick drive by while they happen to be on
18 Huntington Road. That concludes my speech. Thank you.
19 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
20 our registry.
21 Next speaker, please.
22
MR. BOARD: Thank you for the opportunity. My
23 name is Greg Board. I've been a 2~-year homeowner here
24 in the community. I date back to the time when the
25 racetrack was a very viable and a very energetic entity.
63
1 One of the things that concerns me looking over the
2 Draft EIR is it's problematic putting it into the larger
3 context of what's going on not only in our community but
4 in Southern California. Make three points, We had a
5 very visionary man in Dr. Charles Drew who built the
6 track in probably one of the deepest times of economic
7 peril ever experienced in California. I think in Mr.
8 Caruso we have somebody who's going to do that. The
,9 -historic preservation, this gentleman made reference to
10 the fact the racetrack might not need to exist. And
11 truly it doesn't. Who would have thought five to seven
12 years ago that even with the addition ofa casino,
13 Hollywood Park would go away. I think it's entirely
14 comprehensible that M~. Stronach may look at this and
15 say, "You know what, is this really the best use of my
16 property? Why not build a racetrack in Bakersfield,
17 I've got plenty ,of land, I can fly people over the
18 hill." We can't make the, assumption this is always
19 going to be here.
20 Two, I hear a lot of people saying that, gee,
21 there's lots of other alternatives. I haven't seen
22 those alter~atives emerge. I've visited Mr. Caruso's
23 developments around the area. I think they're
24 significant. I think they're unusual. I think we all
25 can look at the fact that we go to Old Town in Pasadena,
64
1 we, go to Myrtle Avenue in Monvoria to see interesting
2 and attractive places. If we deny Mr. Caruso the
3 opportunity, one of the things we haven't assessed is
4 the number of people positioning themselves to step in
5 and take his place. I think he has a proven record of
6 developing very interesting, very unique retail business
7 environments. As I drive around Southern California and
8 look at other Westfield developments I find they share a
9 lot of commonality than what we now have. If there are
10 indeed 'better ideas, I would suggest that - -, I'd like to
11 see them come forward. I certainly don't see them
12 coming forward.
13 Thirdly, as we've watched our auto dealers
14 migrate away and other source of revenue in the city and
15 we're now operating on. reserves, we need to look at what
16 we're going to do to replace that revenue and allow the
17 city to grow for the future. You know, I know many
18 other people would love to see the city remain static
19 and be the place we've always known and loved, but I
20 think it's very idealistic and unrealistic to expect
21 that to, happen. Thank you.
22
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
23 Next speaker, please.
24 MR. ROYAL: Bob Royal. Coming up on Nita
25 Crest up near Grandview. The Westfield Mall is not
65
1 attractive to ,me. I haven't been there for over a year.
2 The only reason I went over there a year ago was because
3 they were offering if you buy a meal you get free
4 tickets to the movie. But 1 just don't particularly
5 like the looks of it. But this right here would be a
6 very attractive addition to -- I've visited the other
7 malls and they do real well. You have to think
8 something's going to happen to that parking lot. Nould
9 you want a Wal-Mart, warehousing? A slaughter house?
10 Wrecking yard, something like that? Anyway, I just
11 wanted to put my two bits in.
12
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
13 the registry.
14 Next speaker, please.
15 MR. RAMIREZ: Good evening. My name is Ralph
16 Ramirez. My wife and I live on Sharon Road, 504 Sharon
17 Road in Arcadia. I did want to mention things that
18 other people have not mentioned, rather than repeat what
19 they have. The issue that really impressed me
20 significantly about the Caruso projects in general is a
21 -- the one thing is on all the walls that's given to all
22 security is a code of conduct, which is a very, very
23 unique thing that I have not seen in other malls. In
24 the sense that people who arrive with all kinds of
25 irate-type frames on T-shirts_, inappropriate behavior 1
66
1 gang attire, those kinds of things, this is a private
2 development owned by the racetrack and the Caruso
3 people. People -- they are informed this is not an
4 appropriate behavior in this environment'. And you are
5 hereby instructed to cease, and desist this conduct or
6 you're escorted off this property. A very significant
7 difference that could have (inaudible) some of these
8 ,recent occurrences that happened at Westfield and other
9 places and other malls.
~o And the second thing that I think is extremely
11 important. Those things are given to all the security
12 people and they're memorized. It was really interesting
13 to talk to the security guy. And he could memorize and
14 repeat each of those issues and each of the security
15 people are instructed to do that. The camera securities
16 in all the buildings, hundreds of them at The Grove next
17 to the Farmer's Market are very a significant, I think,
18 issue, .being able to monitor vehicles coming in, license
19 plates that come in and go out. That could be
20 integrated with the police department to report stolen
21 cars. I used to be on the advisory board for the
22 district attorney and attorney general. One of the
23 issues of course is stolen cars. A lot of issues could
24 be done very easily integrated with the reserve police
25 officers at no cost to the city. That would be a way
67
1 for us to, not only keep our streets and public areas
2 and these areas like the Caruso project 'more safe for
3 people to visit, people to feel comfortable in at all
4 times of the day and night, I think is a significant
5 improvement over what we have at present.
6 Lastly, as a businessperson here and as a
7 homeowner, my wife has been here for a long time" 40
8 years, and we both are raised herel native Californians.
9 We think it's a significant issues of maintaining the
10 property values and improving them. I've observed this
11 and read all the information that's been available and
12 seen these facilities. And the improvement to our
13 community is significant. We spend a lot of tax dollars
14 that would go to the city that we spend in Pasadena and
15 Monrovia and other cities because we don't feel
16 comfortable at Westfield, I don" t particularly care for
17 it. But this environment is an area that's user
18 friendly, and I think, it's a very comfortable ,place to
19 spend your dollars and spend it in our community if we
20 could. And a lot of that money is not going here now.
21 'That's what I wanted to say. Thank you very much.
22 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
23 Next speaker ,please.
24 MS. BOZUNG: Members of the Planning
25 Commission, City Staff, my name is Linda Bozung, I'm
68
1 with the law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and I
2 represent Caruso Affiliated. I wasn't planning to speak
3 tonight but there has been a bit of confusion, I think,
4 raised perhaps by Mr. Caruso's letter and one ad that I
5 definitely wanted to clear up tonight. I think that
6 confusion has been as with respect to the nature of the
7 project. The project remains the same. It is the
8 project before you. The project that is in the EIR.
9 That is the project that you will make a recommendation
10 to the City Council and that the City Council will make
11 a decision concerning that project.
12 Mr. Caruso and Caruso Affiliated have not
13 changed the project. And we apologize if there's been
14 confusion. about that. what has occurred, ~oweve~1 and
15 you've seen the 100 meetings that have taken place with
16 the community, is that Mr. Caruso and the folks at
17 Caruso Affiliated have met with the community and
18 they're listening to the community. And the community
19 has said and the residents of the community, and we
20 believe, the city, have said we don't want residential
21 units at the Shops at Santa Anita. However, that's not
22 a unilateral decision that Mr. caruso is going to make,
23 and is changing the project. What he is making very
24 clear is if you and the City Council make the decision
25 that you wish to remove the residential units from the
69
~ project, he is willing and able to build the Shops at
2 Santa Anita with the commercial component only without
3 the residential units. But that is your prerogative,
4 your dec~sion to make, as well as the City Council's
5 decision to make., He is just making it clear to the
6 community that he's heard them loud and clear and if the
7 community, City Council, Planning Commission, does~lt
8 want the residential units, he is willing to build the
9 project without those residential units. He would not
~o usurp that decision-making power from the Planning
11 Commission or the City Council. He's been involved in
12 government too long to do that. He's leaving that up to
13 you ,and I just wanted to make it clear tonight,
14 contrary to what some of the speakers have said, that
is the project is not changing at all, it is the project
~6 that it is in the EIR. Thank you very much.
~7 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Would you
~8 please sign our registry. Next speaker, please.
19 MR. McCANN: Good evening. My name is Mike
20 McCann. I live at 270 West LeRoy in the direct shot
21 from the track where all the traffic we talked about is
22 going to be coming. I too had no intentions of standing
23 tonight. We've raised six children here. My family
24 came here' in '39 because of the track opening. We've
25 seen many, many changes in the racetrack. And the one
70
1 thing that I've listened to all night is we love looking
2 at it. You're not going to be looking at it if you
3 don't go in it and put some money in it. live been
4 putting money in that racetrack since before it was
5 legal for me to do so. I guarantee you, this is not
6 scare tactics, that track is going away. The handles is
7 down. The people aren't there. Del Mar is viable, why?
8 It's a new group of people going to Del Mar. Young
9 people. I'm the youngest guy at Santa Anita. I go
10 every day. I'm a member of the Turf Club, have been all
11 my life. I have a box there. I watch it, it's dying.
12 It isn't going to be here. So all you people from
13 environmental heritage, you like looking at it, you
14 don't like those elevators, those elevators are going to
15 be gone along with the racetrack unless we do something
16 to bring people into that racetrack, and a new group of
17 people because we're dying. Thank you.
18 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Very
19 interesting perspective. Not spoken to before tonight
20 that I've heard.
21 Next speaker, please.
22 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: This is very difficult for
23 me. I don't enjoy speaking in public, but I have also
24 'been here more than 40 years. Was raised here and
25 raised my son here 'and I'm a public teacher. So I have
71
1 interest in all sorts of the components in our
2 community. I think some of you know that I'm a very
3 active volunteer. And I guess what I'm most concerned
4 about is I'm to trust that those of you who I ,have
5 always trusted with the well-being of our community is
6 going to keep it a place where I can raise my son. I
7 grew up on Naomi and Holly, I have to tell you that our
8 lifestyle significantly changed when that racetrack was
9 emptying and going on, but it was only two times a day
10 and it was only certain season. You could not get to
11 the freeway during those times and you could not go out
12 and play. I have to trust that you are really going to
13 look at this, because there are some real concerns ~
14 have here. I have concerns for the safety. And I
15 really think that as a public school teacher I see what
16 happens when we get huge groups of kids together. I'm
17 not saying I'm opposed or for, I'm saying look at these
18 things. Make sure our air quality is good. Make sure
19 our children are safe. I look at these children as
20 something that we all have a need and a right to
21 preserve. And I want my child to be able to raise his
22 children here. And I do not want to feel like I have to
23 l~ave Arcadia bepau~e I have been he~e since I was a
24 child. And to tell you the truth, I have been to The
25 Grove, and we have good friends in Hollywood and we
72
1 carpool to The Grove and we still can't find a parking
2 place. So this is not allaying my fears. Thank you. I
3 just really need to know that you guys are on our side
4 and are going to look at each little thing.
5 COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you. Please sign
6 our books for us.
7 Next speaker, please.
8
MR. SAYER: Hi. Good evening, my name is
9 Scott Sayer. I live at 444 West Huntington Drive,
10 that's directly across the street from the south
11 racetrack or south parking ,in front of the racetrack.
12 You1ll haye to excuse me, 11m also not a very good
13 public speaker and I didn't get a chance to really
14 poli~h these notes. It's just some kind of scribbles.
15 I did take a stab at reading the Draft EIR. It" s
16 960-some pages. I got about halfway through. Anyway,
17 this is sort of in no particular order some of the
18 things I took out of it.
19 The first thing is pay versus free parking.
20 And I guess I'm going to interrupt myself with an
21 anecdote,. This Saturday as I was walked through the
22 parking .area of our condo, I saw a nice looking
23 gentleman in a sport coat smoking walking out toward the
24 street. And I thought, I've never seen him before. So
25 I watched h~m walk up the driveway and around the
73
1 corner. I thought, I wonder if he's, heading to the
2 track. So I walked to have a look, and sure enough, he
3 hopped into a porsche Boxstet with someone else and the
4 two of them took off, made a left turn and went right
5 into the racetrack. So he had parked his car in our
6 condo to try and save a few bucks on parking,. That
7 doesn't happen all that often, at least I, don't catch it
8 all that often. This is the first time in a few years,
9 but maybe it goes on more often than I think. I really
10 don't pay that much attention.
11 I feel pretty ,strongly that pay parking is
12 just not appr.opriate. In fact, I feel like that's a
13 deal breaker on the whole project. The developer wants
14 to have, I guess we'll call it limited pay'parking with
15 exceptions for less than two hours and exceptions for
'16 'buying a certain amount of stuff and exceptions for
17 residents, and exceptions for validations. I feel like
18 if he wants tenants to validate people, well, he can
19 make up that money in cam charges on the tenants if he's
20 -- well, anyway. I just don't think it's appropriate.
21 It's not right that he should be making money on parking
22 and encouraging people to park in other places, across
23 the street or even at Westfield, not that' I'm a big fan
24 of Westfield. It's not fair to them. I ihinkfree
25 parking is the only way to 'go and we just shouldn't
74
1 accept anything that involves pay parking.
~ Let's see, a lot of people have referred to
3 the traffic and the Draft EIR does discuss various
4 improvements with this -- I don't know the right
5 terminology, interconnected traffic system where they're
6 going to align all the signals to work together. Plus
7 various improvements with striping at yarious corners.
S I didn't see a lot in the EIR regarding dedications. I
9 guess my ,point is, what happens when we put in all the
10 improvements, and they are proposing a lot of
11 improvements, and it really doesn"' t work. We haven I t
12 left ourselves any alternative. One of the things that
13 I've been looking at is the portion of Baldwin, between,
14 I believe it's called Gate S, which, is the exit that's
15 'shared with Westfield and the racetrack, or it's a
16 common exit out onto Baldwin, from that point to the
17 north property line of the track Baldwin is only two
IS lanes. North of that point, further up Baldwin, there's
19 some existing public ri~ht-of-way that's basically full
20 of trees that could be made into a street widening but
21 there's this kind of choke point where the racetrack
22 occurs. So mY idea is to at least require the
23 potential, maybe we don't have to actually have them
24 vacate it, but to require the potential if we need it
25 sometime in the future because of parking or traffic
75
1 issues, that they would vacate a piece of Baldwin from
2 Gate S to their property line and provide some kind of a
3 bond for future improvements to that. Again, that
4 wouldn't have to be something that happens now. We can
5 see what happens with the project. See if there are
6 traffic problems, then if there are, we would have an
7 alternative. I'd sort of like to see that studied in
S the EIR as .,ell, to see if, that kind of dedication would
9 help alleviate some of the traffic that occurs on
10 Baldwin heading up to the freeway.
1.1 Let I s see, Westfield I B legal counsel earlier
12 said something to the effect that this project didn't
13 have a synergistic relationship to the mall. I found
14 that to be very disingenuous at best. It's -- of course
15 Westfield is really, on record, public record, that they
16 want nothing to do with the Caruso project. They are,
17 in fact, the ones that are preventing any sort of
IS relationship from occurring. That said, it should still
19 be incumbent on Caruso to design his center in a way
20 that it relates, in both parking and pedestrian terms,
21 to conriecting the two pieces together. We can require
22 that of him now. At some time in the future-, a year I
23 five years, ten years, who knows, from now, Westfield
24 will want something from us. And at tbat time we can
25 then require Westfield to provide reciprocal access back
76
77
1
The next item, I think someone else alluded to
2 the public transit as well, is bus access. The traffic
3 report, which 'I did read a little bit of, speaks about
4 improving the bus line arrangement. In fact, it
5 suggests that the number of buses entering the site
6 should be increased. It doesn't explain in any way how
7 the developer is supposed to make that happen. He has
8 no control over MTA or whether transit -- I would expect
9 or hope that the city perhaps has some ability to
10 require some improved b~s service. One thing he can do,
11 though, would be to provide real substantial bus
12, pul:l-outs or -- pull-ins at the places where bus stops
13 currently occur and provide some improved bus shelters.
14 There isn't really anything right at the moment.
15 There's three or ,four locations where the bus stops at
16 the property,. It requires those things in the Draft
17 EIR, and they don't really appear on the site plan at
18 all.
19 Someone else alluded to the Gold Line, that
20 there's parking available there, and there certainly is.
21 I'd like to see a better designed condition that when
22 the Gold Line is completed into Arcadia and there is at
23 least an Arcadia station, that there should be, or
24 rather the racetrack at least should provide a shuttle
25 to the Gold Line that -- at their own expense, it should
78
1 be their own shuttle that runs at least when the track
2 is in business and hopefully Caruso would use that for
3 his own facility full time as well.
4 Another idea, and I'm going to kind of toss
5 this one out, I'm not sure if this will go anywhere.
6 The traffic report identified, I believe, it was eight
7 specific days when the racetrack is operating at what
8 we'll call peak capacity. Peak capacity today isn't
9 anything like it, was 30 or 40 years ago. But we'll call
10 it peak capacity where they typically get 3,000 or 4,000
11 cars per day on those eight days. The opening days,
12 Strub Stakes Days, Oak Tree, we all know which days they
13 are. On those days they get 12,000 cars. We all know
14 what happens,the city fills up and it's completely
15 jammed.
16 What I was going to suggest, maybe one way to
17 alleviate some of that, at 'least two of those days,
18 opening day and the day after opening day occur right
19 after Christmas, which is the same time that the 'mall,
20 and probably the Caruso p~oject as well, will be having
21 after-Christmas sales and they're really still going
22 full blast. I'd like to see, if it's possible, to just
23 shift the opening day of the racetrack back a week or a
24 week and a half to after New Year's.
25
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Please bring your remarks
79
1 to a close.
2 MR. SAYER: Sorry. Okay. All right. Well, I
3 had a number of other things. Lighting, that it
4 mentions something about studying lighting. What
5 happened on the mall, I don't want to see that happen
6 again on the Caruso project. Specifically the
7 up-lighting or wall lighting needs to realiy be heavily
S restricted on the south side of the project so that all
9 the residential people don't have to look at these
'10 bright ,lights at night.
11 The height limits, I think the highest
12 elements are S2 feet. I think that's way too high. It
13 should be held down to 70. The number of, towers needs
14 to be limited. Anyway, I'm trying to think if there's
15 anything else. One other thing. They were proposing a
16 fence, a security fence along Huntington. And I don't
17 think that's appropriate either. The mall's gotten
IS along just fine for 35 years without a fence. I don't
19 see any reason why this place would need a fence so --
20
21
22
23
24
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
MR. SAYER: That's basically it, I think.
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
Next speaker, please,.
MR. BOULTINGHOUSE: My name a Dennis
25 Boultinghouse and I spoke before, but there's one quick
so
1 thing I'd like to say. It was disturbing for me tonight
2 to know that there were several people here who were
3 very negative about Mr. Caruso's project, two in
4 particular who spoke as if they were residents of
5 Arcadia and how bad it would be for the city and they
6 don't live here. I don't know if you can control that
7 or not, but this is the first meeting I've been to. I
S don't think it really does 'us any good to hear somebody
9 come from the outside and knock our city, a project that
10 perhaps is going to be part of our city, and that many
11 of us here are for it who live here. So I don't know
12 how you can handle that, but I don't appreciate somebody
13 coming in who doesn't live here and knock the project.
14 Thank you very much.
15
16
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Next speaker.
MR. FLORES: My name is vix Flores. I live at
17 32 Camino Real. I just wanted to say a couple of words.
IS I'm very much in favor of the project. And I'm just
19 amazed at the anti-feelings of this project that I've
20 heard this evening, everything. A smart ,person to tell
21 Mr. Caruso how to build this project. It"s ridiculous.
22 It's such a beautiful project. And to borrow a phrase
23 from the Westfield attorney, we would be short-changed
24 ,if this was not allowed to proceed forward for the
25 citizens of Arcadia. Thank you.
Sl
1
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
2 Next speaker.
3 MS. DUARTE: Mary Duarte. I live at'i110
4 Rodeo Road in Arcadia. I did read through the draft. I
5 did not read through the thousand-page page document. I
6 was very pleased to see that so many of the potential
7 impacts were mitigated to the point where they're
8 regarded as less than significant. And then I went back
9 through and looked at those items that were regarded as
10 potentially significant, and the conclusion that there's
11 no mitigations and the impact was significant and
12 unavoidable. But I looked at it again and said,
13 "blacktop parking lot is not going to remain." And so
14 many of the things that were -- had significant and
15 unavoidable impacts, it looked to me like any
16 development on that property was going to have similar
17 or significant and unavoidable impacts. So I think in
18 analyzing the ErR, you have to look at not only what
19 impacts are significant and unavoidable, but are they
20 different from what impacts that would be on any other
21 development and is there a development that would avoid
22 them? I suspect from looking back through it, without
23 going through the thousand-page document, that in fact
24 most all of those significant and unavoidable impacts
25 are going to be there no matter who does something. And
82
1 I can tell you for sure that if you, anyone of us,
2 owned that property, we would not ~llow it to stay as
3 blacktop parking lot. something is going to happen
4 there. And I view this as a quality development. And
5 the Caruso people have done quality projects elsewhere.
6 So I urge you to take a very careful look at this.
7 Thank you very much.
8
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Thank you.
9 Any other persons wishing to speak tonight who
10 have not previously spoken?
11
MR. ANDERSON: Gordon Anderson, live been a
12 resident since 1951. I'll be brief. A lot has been
13 said and just a couple of things that -- a lot has been
14 said about the traffic. In one of the residential
15 meetings I attended I heard presentation that impressed
16 me very much, that was the computerized signal, how
17 they'd utilize the traffic so much better and move it
18 through and not leave the signal on green while the
19 traffic has passed through while others are waiting. It
20 would be a big improvement.
21 The other thing is, Arcadia is one of the top
22 income cities in the common of Los Angeles. We need to
23 up-scale. Mr. Caruso is quality development that I
24 think would be a fine one to bring this fine improvement
25 to our city. Thank you.
83
1
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Would you please sign our
2 register.
3 Anyone else who has not already spoken who
4 wishes to speak to the subject of the Draft
5 Environmental Impact Report this evening?
6
COMMISSIONER OLSON: Mr. Chairman, seeing
7 none, I move to close the public hearing.
8 COMMISSIONER BADERIAN: Second.
9
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Moved and seconded. Roll
10 call, please.
11
12
13
14'
15
16
17
18
19
CLERK: Commissioners Baderian?
COMMISSIONER BADERIAN: Yes.
CLERK: Hsu?
COMMISSIONER HSU: Yes.
CLERK: Olson?
COMMMISSIONER OLSON: Yes.
CLERK: Lucas?
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: Yes.
Motion passes four to nothing. Comments from
20 The Commissioners? It's our time if" "anyone wishes to
21 submit comments on the draft environmental report.
22
COMMISSIONER OLSON: Mr. Chairman, I
23 appreciate all the comments we heard tonight. I think,
24 considering all those items, as well as other thoughts
25 and things that come before us, we've got till February
84
1 27 deadline. I' llsubmit some written comments to the
2 Development Services Department prior to that point from
3 the comments tonight and notes I've taken and what I've
4 heard. I do want to appreciate the audience for their
5 comments and for their behavior.
6
COMMISSIONER LUCAS: I almost feel like
7 applauding the audience. Any other commissioner wish to
8 make comments concerning -- exercising .the prerogative
9 of the chairman, I would like to thank everyone who
10 spoke. Everyone who sat patiently and listened
11 attentively and the very best of manners. This is a
12 very big subject that will consume a great deal of
13 resources of' our community to analyze and to evaluate
14 and decide upon in the coming months. So thank you very
15 much for participating in this extremely important
16 process. Thank you.
17
18
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20
21
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25
(TIME NOTED: 9:25 P.M.)
85
1
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
ss:
2 CO,UNTY OF LOS ANGELES
3
4 r, CATHRYN L. BAKER, CSR No. 7695, do
5 hereby certify:
6
7 That the foregoing meeting of the City of
8 Arcadia was taken before me at the time and place
9 therein set forth;
10 That the speakers were recorded
11 stenographically by me, were thereafter transcribed
12 under my direction and supervision and that the
13 foregoing is ,a true record of same;
14 I further certify that I am neither counsel
15 for nor related to any party to said action, nor in
16 any way interested in the outcome thereof.
17
18 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have subscribed my
19 name this 26th day of January, 2006.
20
21
22
23
24
CATHRYN L. BAKER, CSR No. 7695
25
86