HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem L Appeal CUP 15-7 Fitness CenterItem L Appeal (CUP 15 -7)
Correspondence received after the
distribution of the Agenda
City Council of the City of Seal Beach
Center at the Shops of Rossmoor
211 8th St.
Seal Beach, CA 90740
Dear City Council Members:
RE: Proposed Fitness
My name is Nancy Holland, I live at 12300 Montecito Rd. #30, Seal Beach, CA 90740 in district #2. I have
lived in Seal Beach for 28 years. My Condo directly faces the proposed job site.
The reason this proposed site is wrong is because there is no direct Boulevard access for the fitness center. For
a Fitness Center of this size there needs to be direct ingress and egress from a main boulevard, rather than
winding around in a residential neighborhood to enter and exit the Fitness Center.
I cannot imagine that you can not understand why this will create a huge problem for those of us living in the
area. Cars packing into an already overcrowded parking lot, bringing pollution, noise and congested streets in
our neighborhood. It's hard to park on Montecito Rd., as it is and this will make it even more difficult to get out
of our driveway. We already have increased traffic from the shopping center, and it's often difficult for
emergency vehicles as well as utility vehicles to park on Montecito Rd. This will increase car accidents and
make our neighborhood less safe and less desirable. This will have a negative impact on our quality of life.
Myself and many of my neighbors are asking you to reject this site for a Fitness Center. We are not against a
Fitness Center, but feel this particular location surrounded by condominiums, is a very bad choice. We would
like to be able to open our windows at night and get out of our driveways.
Sincerely,
Nancy Holland
12300 Montecito Rd. #30
Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 598 -7174
Law Offices of Joseph R. McGlinchey
3481 Yellowtail Drive
Los Alamitos, CA 90720 -4849
(714) 349 -8973
California State Bar No. 208034
July 22, 2016
Dear Ms. Ingram,
I am sure that you have been inundated by letters from the opponents of the proposed
LA Fitness project in The Shops at Rossmoor Center, so I wanted to take a minute to
assure you that there are plenty of Rossmoor residents who welcome what we view as
being an asset to the local community.
My wife and I belonged to the Rossmoor Athletic Club for many years before it closed,
and we really miss the convenience of a nearby health club that is open at times for
people who work full -time a long distance away from our homes (in our case, my wife
and I work 9 hour days in downtown Los Angeles). Currently the nearest fitness centers
are at least a 20 minute round -trip commute which (1) in my case takes up at least 90
minutes of my week's time, and (2) in my wife's case, results in her not being able to
work out due to her work schedule, getting the kids ready for school, and getting the
kids ready for the next day's activity after returning home from an 11 hour workday (2
hour commute and 9 hours at work). I am positive that we are not alone among Seal
Beach and Rossmoor residents.
We are also members of the Rossmoor Nextdoor message board, and over the past
couple of months have been "shouted down" by opponents of the project who seem to
mainly consist of the townhome residents who have for years (decades ?) been illegally
parking in the LA Fitness project footprint and those in Rossmoor who fear that the
illegal parkers will now move their parking across Montecito Road in front of their
homes.
In my personal opinion, when the town home owners purchased their homes adjacent to
a commercial property, they should anticipate / expect commercial development to be
performed on the property adjacent to their homes and not expect to be able to illegally
park their vehicles forever. Similarly, when homeowners buy a house across the street
from a commercial property (which is our case on Yellowtail) or from townhomes that do
not have sufficient parking allotted for its owners and visitors, they should expect to
have cars parked on the street in front of their homes on a regular basis.
In my legal opinion, this is not an issue that should affect the commercial property
owner's rights to develop a project so long as (1) there is sufficient parking for the
project, and (2) projected traffic is within acceptable standards. As per the report
presented to the City of Seal Beach Planning Committee, there is sufficient parking for
the project. Similarly, the 2014 traffic study indicates that the increase in traffic is within
acceptable limits. Given that the only recent "major" traffic addition to the Shops Center
was the May 2014 opening of the Rite -Aid Store on the corner of St. Cloud & Seal
Beach Blvd., I believe that the Planning Committee rightly concluded that traffic will not
be negatively impacted to such an extent that the project that will benefit the health of
the community should not be built.
On the Nextdoor message board, people have been saying that a residential community
is not a place for a LA Fitness center due to noise, invasion of the homeless, massive
traffic increase, etc. I have been commuting to the LA Fitness Center in West Garden
Grove for the past 8 years. The location of that facility is directly built -up against a fence
that separates at least half -dozen backyards of detached homes on one side and is
separated by 50 feet from the fence of an assisted -care apartment facility on another
side. Here is the Google Earth view of the West Garden Grove LA Fitness:
hftps://www.google.com/maps/place/l 1932+Va I lev+View+St +Garden +G rove, +CA +928
45/ a33.7891793,-
118 0273838 285m /data =!3m1 ! 1 e3!4m5!3m4! 1 s0x80dd2f291 db7217d:Oxbc6dcc65c338
d ec5!8m2! 3d 33.7895702!4d- 118.0272286
In all of the years that I have commuted to this facility, I have never witnessed noise,
traffic, parking, crime or homeless issues that have been the main complaints by
opponents of the Seal Beach LA Fitness project. Those who go to the gym tend to stay
for at least an hour, so you do not have the "in and out" traffic flow that comes with other
types of businesses. Additionally, since I have never seen the West Garden Grove
parking lot come anywhere close to being full, the proposal in Seal Beach should have
more than sufficient parking for members going to the health club. I searched the City of
Garden Grove City Council website in an attempt to find complaints on any of these
issues regarding the LA Fitness facility in West Garden Grove, but my search came up
empty. Perhaps it would be prudent for you and your Seal Beach City Council
colleagues to contact your Garden Grove counterparts to see if the arguments
presented by the opponents of the project have any merit.
There is one other complaint that has been presented by opponents that can probably
be best addressed by the LA Fitness Corporation at your request: the "membership"
level of the open -to -any LA Fitness member country-wide is estimated to be 6,000 —
8,000 members with 700 — 900 anticipated to utilize the facility daily. Opponents have
pronounced that "these numbers don't add up" and that the new facility will be bringing
in hordes of outsiders as demonstrated by the membership estimate. Perhaps LA
Fitness personnel can educate the community as to (1) how they determine an
individual club's membership level and calculate the daily usage figure, and (2) how
most members of LA Fitness go to the closest open location, so the already -open Long
Beach and West Garden Grove locations should insure that most of the members who
live near those facilities will continue to use them as opposed to commuting to Seal
Beach.
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration to this project that should be
within the development rights of the commercial property owner and will benefit many
people in the Seal Beach and Rossmoor communities.
Sincerely,
Joseph R. McGlinchey
Attorney At Law