HomeMy Public PortalAbout Public Comment - Amye OstiPublic Comment Form
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First Name Last Name
Amye Osti
E-mail
Agency*
Town Council
Planning Commission
Other
Phone
Date of Meeting*
2022-09-27
To find the date for an upcoming meeting or to view the agenda, click Agenda Item Number (2)
here. Agendas are posted at least 72 hours before the meeting time.
Public Comment (2) *
To:
Town of Truckee, Planning Division
Jenna Gatto, Planing Manager
10183 Truckee Airport Road
Truckee, CA 96161
From:
Amye Osti
Dear Jenna Gatto,
I am writing in response to the proposed Truckee2040 General
Plan Update
("General Plan Update, "'GPU," or 'Truckee2040"). As a resident of 40 years, my main concern
will always be about making good long-term decisions for our town that will retain
its character, environment, beauty, freedom and peace. But based on the limited number of comments
the town has published as of September 26th, I think that this planning
process and the impacts of the plan on the community have not been communicated
sufficiently. I think the town needs to extend
the planning process and change how the plan is communicated to the public in
order to get proper and legitimate buy in.
Most people live up here
to enjoy the outdoors, be around wildlife, breathe fresh air, feel the freedom
of wide-open spaces, dark skies at night and live in peace and tranquility. We must move forward using restrained growth back
by accountability and mitigation strategies or we will lose our town
forever.
I have outlined a few concerns about the current process,
plan and DEIR. Please review and I hope
we can do everything we can to keep our town as a beautiful jewel that it
is. Thank you for your time and efforts,
Amye Osti
Issues with the town planning process and DEIR and General
Plan Update include:
Outreach,
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Sufficient
outreach and disclosure of the town's 2040 planning process AND MESSAGING OF
THE PLAN/DEIR. It seems most of this planning
took place during Covid pandemic. As a result,
most people I know in town had NO idea about the process or how to participate. ADDITIONALLY, the town's outreach materials
fail to highlight the major impacts OF THE PLAN and instead spend significant
page space highlighting positive things like roadside curb improvements. I find your document VERY difficult to
understand and decipher where all of the
additional people will live, drive, go to school, recreate, etc?
What is Truckee's
Population Now? The town is not
clear about the current population. The
community needs to understand our current population, how many people have
moved here since the pandemic and the town needs to analyze the impacts of this
latest growth spurt. The town character,
traffic, wildfire risk, evacuation risk and significant environmental degradation
have increased significantly in the last 3 years. We need to better understand the cumulative
effects of the past 3 years and take that into consideration with future planning
because I am sure it will be the last 3 years times 100.
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Mapping
Projected Growth: Deficient
Illustration of Projected Population
Growth to 50,000 residents.
Where is the population now and where will they go? For example X people live in Tahoe Donner
now, the GPU projects and additional X people by 2040. Map this out.
The current document is very
vague and unclear about how the town plans to implement and mitigate tripling
the town population. The community needs
very descriptive illustrations, so we
can understand exactly what you are proposing.
Illustrate by community, neighborhood, impacts on classroom sizes, access to ski
resorts on weekends, impacts on beaches like Donner Lake, increase of river
rafters destroying the river, impact on wildlife tec.
Noise: The GPU and DEIR does not address in real
terms the impact of increased noise in the community. The document needs to properly evaluate how
noise has substantially increased over the past 10 years and will significantly
change with this new GPU. You need to
evaluation the impact on road noise, impact of noise on animal populations,
impact of noise at night when people are trying to sleep.
Increased Traffic: No traffic modeling or scenario -based planning
was completed to provide the baseline information needed to determine how
congestion could be alleviated. How will
residents be able to drive on west river street? That street is already a disaster (safety and
visually). It is impossible to get
through that street on any busy weekend with tourists. Triple the population and add tourists that
street will come to stand still. This
will be true for highway 89, 267, Donner Pass Road. Expanding the width of 267 bypass is not a
solutions. That will decrease the beauty
of that area and increase noise. What will happen to the air quality if
everyone is always stuck on the road?
The GPU and DEIR need a very specific and clear plan that MODELS
increase traffic and its impacts on the community. This would include wildfire evacuation which
is an EXTREMELY critical topic.
Wildfire
and Safety: Density in the Wildland
Urban Interface, evacuation safety and impacts on forest health. The DEIR does not explain how Truckee will
evacuate from a forest fire. If the
population increases to your proposed amount can the town guarantee safe
evacuation of residents? How will people
evacuate Sierra Meadows if a raging fire comes up the 89 corridor? We can't even get to and from Palisades Tahoe
or Northstar and a regular weekend. Has
the town modeled the wildfire risks? Can
we all be evacuated safely? I seriously
doubt it. The capacity DOES NOT exist.
The 2040 "self -mitigation
approach will not give Truckee residents the needed safeguards to protect
the community and the environments from uncontrolled growth.
"Environmental
review document fails to fully and accurately inform decision makers and the
public of the environmental consequences of proposed actions, it does not
satisfy the basic goals of the statute. See Pub. Resources Code § 21061 ('The
purpose of an environmental impact report is to provide public agencies and the
public in general with detailed information about the effect that a proposed
project is likely to have on the environment; to list ways in which the
significant effects of such a project might be minimized; and to indicate
alternatives to such a project."). In numerous instances, the DEIR here fails
to fully analyze potentially significant effects and to consider potentially
feasible mitigation or alternatives that could reduce the significant environmental
impacts of the General Plan Update." I
agree with this statement from the MAP comments letter. 100%.
Mental
Health: Truckee is feeling the stress from congestion, aggressive drivers, unaffordability, enchroachment, airplanes, declining wildlife and more.
We live here for our mental health. We must keep it that way
Upon clicking submit, your comment will be emailed to the relevant Council, Commission, or Committee Members and Town Department Heads
and uploaded to the Town website for public view.