Attachments: Letter of December 30, 2013

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1 November 12, Officers: Cindy Feinberg President Cliff Ghersen 1 st Vice President Aaron Budgor 2 nd Vice President Trish Davis Secretary Tom Schleck Treasurer Directors: Frank Abatemarco Monica Babich Brenda Blalock Dr. Aaron Budgor Trish Davis Peter Dealy Dan Eidelson Cindy Feinberg Cliff Ghersen Kathi King Robert Kupiec Barbara Mathews Charlene Nagel Michele Saltoun Tom Schleck Jean von Wittenburg P. Gerhardt Zacher Honorary Directors: Ralph Baxter Sally Kinsell Robert V. Meghreblian Diane Pannkuk Richard Thielscher Joan Wells Executive Director: Victoria Greene Montecito Planning Commission 123 E. Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, CA Re: Montecito Family YMCA Revised Conditional Use Permit Parking Modification, MPC Hearing of November 18, 2015 Dear Commissioners: After receiving an update on the parking plan for the Montecito Family YMCA Revised Conditional Use Permit application, the Montecito Association would like to update our earlier comment letter on the project with these comments. The Association remains concerned about the longterm adequacy of parking for the facility in the absence of guaranteed access to offsite parking in the mid to long-term. The YMCA has proposed a valet plan as a fall-back measure in the event that Manning Park parking is unavailable in the future. We do not believe the use of valet parking as proposed would be effective. The net result would likely be additional YMCA client parking on streets in the neighborhood that are narrow and already experience problems with pedestrian/traffic safety. Additional on-street parking would be incompatible with the semi-rural residential character of the neighborhood and thus valet parking is not appropriate for a conditionally permitted use located within a residential neighborhood. The Association would support a joint use agreement that commits a portion of the park spaces for shared use. Any such agreement would need to maintain adequate parking for public park users at all times and in no way be detrimental to public use of the park. Thank you for your consideration of these comments. Sincerely, Office Coordinator: Susan Robles Office: 1469 E. Valley Road Santa Barbara, CA P.O. Box 5278 Santa Barbara, CA Tel: (805) Fax (805) Cindy Feinberg, President Attachments: Letter of December 30, 2013 info@montecitoassociation.org

2 December 30, 2013 Montecito Planning Commission 123 E. Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, CA Officers: Dave Kent President Robertson Short 1 st Vice President Monica Brock Petersen 2 nd Vice President Ted Urschel Secretary Tom Kern Treasurer Directors: Frank Abatemarco Tom Bollay J.W. Colin Michael Cook Cindy Feinberg Dorinne Lee Johnson David Kent Tom Kern Barbara Mathews Richard Nordlund Monica Brock Petersen Tom Schleck Robertson Short Carla Tomson Ted Urschel Jean von Wittenburg Robert Williams Honorary Directors: Ralph Baxter Sally Kinsell Robert V. Meghreblian Richard Thielscher Joan Wells Executive Director: Victoria Greene Office Coordinator: Susan Robles Office: 1469 E. Valley Road Santa Barbara, CA P.O. Box 5278 Santa Barbara, CA Tel: (805) Fax (805) info@montecitoassociation.org Re: Montecito Family YMCA Revised Conditional Use Permit, 12RVP Dear Commissioners: Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments on the Revised Conditional Use Permit for the Montecito Family YMCA. As detailed in our comments below, while we support certain aspects of the project, we are concerned that the proposed expansion poses significant issues to the surrounding neighborhood and the Montecito community as a whole. We believe that a comprehensive approach to this project is required, one that takes into account not only the changes to the YMCA facility itself, but the potential impacts on the surrounding residential community. To this end, we believe that certain aspects of the facility plan should be revised and reasonable limits should be put on membership, facility usage, hours of operation, noise and parking, and appropriate and enforceable mitigations should be included with any project approvals. The revisions and restrictions elaborated below are necessary to ensure that the commercial use of the YMCA facilities will not be detrimental to the comfort, convenience, general welfare, health and safety of the neighborhood and will be compatible with the residential use of the surrounding area. The findings required for approval of a Conditional Use Permit cannot be made in the absence of these measures. Facility Plan The Montecito Family YMCA is a cherished institution in the Montecito community. We recognize that there is a need to modernize the existing facility, and we generally support that plan. Subject to our comments below regarding membership, facility usage, hours of operation, noise and parking, we support the project plans with respect to the main building, the preschool and the swimming pool. We recommend only the following: 1. Reject the plans to build a gymnasium. We strongly believe the gymnasium would have a significant adverse impact on the aesthetics of the community and on traffic, parking and noise, and would be grossly incompatible with the scale and character of the surrounding residential neighborhoods. We are also concerned that the construction of the gymnasium would result in an increase of the overall use of the YMCA facility. In the event the plans to build a gymnasium are rejected, we recommend that the YMCA submit a revised project schedule for approval.

3 Montecito Family YMCA December 30, 2014 Page 2 2. In the alternative, if the gymnasium is approved, revisit the plans for and conditions upon which the gymnasium may be used. Require a greater setback from San Ysidro Road or relocate the structure, and require adequate landscaping to fully screen the view from San Ysidro Road. Reduce the overall size and scale of the gymnasium, including its finished height, length and width. Reduce the effect of noise by prohibiting windows and rollup doors that open in any direction other than San Ysidro Road, and require that all doors remain closed during operating hours other than as necessary for ingress or egress. Request and review timeline for construction of different phases of YMCA project, including gymnasium, and require the gymnasium to be built last rather than first to allow for subsequent evaluation of the impacts of other portions of the project. 3. Examine further the safety and impacts associated with locating child care facilities in proximity to SCE s 66kV power distribution lines, as well as in proximity to Oak Creek due to flood potential. Membership, Facility Usage, Hours of Operation, Noise and Parking While we generally support the plans to modernize the facility, we are not supportive of the plans to expand the membership and usage on the YMCA. We believe the proposed plan will have significant anticipated and unanticipated impacts on our community, and in order to mitigate those impacts, we recommend that strict limits be adopted to ensure that the project does not adversely affect the community and that neighborhood compatibility is ensured, as follows: 1. Membership. The current membership of the Montecito YMCA is 1,407, and current five year average membership of the Montecito YMCA is approximately 1,550. While an expanded facility might be able to accommodate a greater number of members, we believe strongly that the existing number of members already places a significant strain on the surrounding community based on the traffic and parking, and that any increase will intensify the impacts on the community. We recommend that the YMCA be required to limit membership to its current number of members, and that any increase to that limit be postponed to a date following the completion of the entire project to evaluate the actual use and impacts of the new facility. 2. Facility usage. There are two separate issues here, one being the use of the facility by members, and the other being the use of the facility of non-members. We anticipate that both will increase as a result of the improvement of the facility. An increase in either or both will intensify the adverse impacts on the community. We recommend that the YMCA be required to measure usage by its current members, both before the project and after its completion, as a condition to any approval. In addition, we recommend that the YMCA be required to limit the number of non-members using the facility to the current number, and to postpone any increase in that limit to a date following the completion of the entire project. If, in the event that actual usage of the facility by members increases, we also recommend that the YMCA be required to decrease the use of the facility by nonmembers by a corresponding degree. Finally, we recommend that the YMCA be required to limit the number of special events conducted at the facility, including noise generating events such as swim meets. 3. Hours of operation. The current hours of operation of the Montecito YMCA are sufficient, and any expansion into the early morning hours or late evening hours would

4 Montecito Family YMCA December 30, 2014 Page 3 have an adverse impact on the surrounding community. We recommend that the hours of operation of the facility be fixed at the current hours. 4. Noise. We are concerned with several noise impacts, including but not limited to construction noise, traffic noise, noise from the main building, noise from the pool area and noise from the gymnasium. Most noise issues arising currently from the use of the YMCA are related to the use of amplified sounds, either in the form of music (mostly in exercise class) or voice (in exercise classes and in swim classes). The YMCA has not been very sensitive to neighbors concerns with respect to existing noise, and we are concerned that the expansion of the facility (including a second floor main building, an expanded pool area and a gymnasium) would result in a greater noise problem. We recommend that the YMCA adhere to applicable community standards during the construction phase, including hours of construction, and request a timeline of the different phases of construction to limit the impacts on the neighborhood. We also recommend that reducing the effect of ongoing noise by prohibiting windows that open in any direction other than San Ysidro Road in the main building, in the indoor swim area and in the gymnasium (if approved), and prohibit the use of amplified music or sound except indoors. (Note: Amplified sound has been similarly prohibited at Lower Manning Park for many years.) 5. Parking. The Montecito YMCA does not have sufficient parking for its current staff, members and other users. We have not seen any analysis of the parking requirement pursuant to the Montecito Land Use Development Code but the amount of proposed parking is clearly well under the ordinance requirement. As a result, the Commission must make a finding that a modification to the parking requirement is justified. While the YMCA may have agreements with Santa Barbara County with respect to Lower Manning Park and with Montecito Union with respect to school property, those agreements may be revised or terminated on short notice. Even if those agreements continue, the impact on the traffic flow in the neighborhood (on both Santa Rosa Lane and on San Ysidro Road) resulting from increased membership and usage would be significant, and the use by the public of Lower Manning Park would be adversely affected to an even greater degree than it is affected today. We caution against approving the project and the required modification based on the false assumption that parking is readily available. As a separate issue, we are also concerned about the proposed new staff parking lot on San Ysidro Road both as to matters of safety and traffic flow along San Ysidro Road and in conjunction with Montecito Union School. We recommend that a comprehensive safety and traffic study be conducted with respect to ingress and egress, and additionally recommend that the lighting for such parking lot be installed in compliance with applicable community standards. For additional information regarding our concerns, we also incorporate by reference our letter dated August 12, 2013, addressed to Errin Briggs, then the planner for this project, at Santa Barbara Planning & Development, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A. Sincerely, Dave Kent, President

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