Monday October 30th 1:00pm County Planning Commission Meeting
On October 30th, the Planning Commission will be hearing two important matters related to the Seminary site. The first is the Seminary Neighborhood Association appeal of the County’s decision to begin the environment review process (you can read our letter on this subject here). As part of our appeal, we’ve hired a traffic engineer to study North Coast Land Holdings proposed project as well as the CEQA alternative. You can read about the traffic here.
In addition, North Coast Land Holdings is requesting that the property’s 33-year-old Master Plan be extended yet again instead of letting it expire. We oppose this extension. You can read our reasoning here.
Please attend this important meeting if you can. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can write to the Planning Commission ([email protected]) and share your thoughts.
Thank you.
SNA Appeals Start of EIR!
On September 29th the County planning department issued a notice that it would begin environmental review of North Coast Land Holding’s plans for the Seminary property. The timing of this action coming just days before the October 2nd Strawberry Design Review Board meeting on the application leaves us scratching our head.
Environmental review is a significant step in the long procedure of processing the NCLH application.
The Seminary Neighborhood Association believes the County was in error in taking this action. You can read our full appeal here. Briefly, our argument falls into two broad categories:
First, the application is too vague and leaves too many questions unanswered for it to even be reviewed.
Second, the application is so far beyond what could ever be approved that there is no point in even beginning the lengthy and expensive review process.
The appeal will be heard by the County Planning Commission on Monday, October 30th at 1:00 pm at the County Civic Center. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend this critical meeting and support the appeal.
Seminary Neighborhood Responds to Latest NCLH Proposal
North Coast Land Holdings has filed a revised application with the County which has some new elements but continues to be unresponsive to the complaints of Strawberry residents and the Strawberry Design Review Board. Like the previous Branson application, this application flies in the face of the Strawberry Community Plan, Seminary Master Plan and its Conditional Use Permit. You can read the letter here.
Letter to North Coast Land Holdings with Community Survey Results
On July 26ththe Strawberry community came together to hear about North Coast Land Holding’s latest plans for the Seminary site. At the conclusion of the meeting, over 200 Strawberry residents completed a survey regarding the future of the site. The Seminary Neighborhood Association and the Strawberry Community Association wrote a joint letter to NCLH that highlights the survey results and calls on NCLH to engage with the community about the future of the site. You can read the letter here.
Joint Letter from Community to the County
Now that the Strawberry Design Review Board has heard the North Coast Land Holdings/Branson application three times and voted to reject the application, the Seminary Neighborhood Association and the Strawberry Community Association have sent a joint letter to the County explaining how we expect the application to be handled.
Hundreds of Residents Protest Seminary Plan
While North Coast was a no-show, more than 300 residents attended the Strawberry Design Review Board to protest the developer's plan for the Seminary. Read the IJ recap by clicking here.
SNA Letter to the Strawberry Design Review Board
In advance of the September 12 Strawberry Design Review Board hearing, the Seminary Neighborhood Association has submitted an official letter regarding the North Coast application for the seminary property. You can view the letter here.
More Coverage on North Coast's Illegal Rental Scheme
Click here to read the latest IJ article on the secretive rental scheme being conducted at the Seminary site.
Spotswood Blows the Lid Off Illegal Seminary Rentals
The IJ's Dick Spotswood shines a spotlight on North Coast's illegal rental operation at the Seminary. Click here to read the column.