650 North San Pedro Road

Santa Venetia

At its meeting on November 28, 2011, the County Planning Commission accepted staff recommendations that the 650 San Pedro Road LLC Master Plan, Precise Development Plan, Subdivision and Rezoning Applications be denied. The next move will be up to the Board of Supervisors, which will most likely take up the issue in early 2012. A copy of the staff report is available here.

Unless one is a resident of the Santa Venetia neighborhood or a frequent visitor to China Camp State Park or San Pedro Mountain Preserve, one could be unaware of a heavily wooded 14.8-acre parcel that has been the subject of subdivision plans since 2003.  But this parcel, on the south side of North San Pedro Road as one leaves behind the last homes of Santa Venetia, is known to a few who have been observing  the activities of two and sometimes three pairs of herons who have raised their young in nests at the top of one tall tree amidst a grove of eucalyptus for the past several years.  Covering the steep slopes above the grove is a forest of oaks, bays, and madrones, and at the base of the hill is a pond and wetland that may have been partially created by past owners.  The one existing residence and neglected outbuildings on the site are shrouded by trees and French broom and accessed by a single driveway off N. San Pedro Road.

Since the initial application seven years ago, the county has required numerous environmental studies for the proposed subdivision for 14 residences (subsequently reduced to 12).  A Constraints Analysis, a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), a Final EIR, and two amendments to the FEIR to address public concerns and comments have been prepared. (Visit the County's EIR page to view these documents.) The constraints for developing the site are numerous: runoff from the steep forested slopes, need to protect and restore the pond and wetland, how to save the heron rookery whose nesting tree was found by an arborist to be diseased and a hazard, how to mitigate for the loss of 200 trees that might have to be removed to make way for development, access onto the narrow San Pedro Road with poor sight-lines, and added traffic on the already busy thoroughfare through Santa Venetia to the Civic Center.

MCL has submitted letters of critical comment to the Planning Commission and been well-represented at public meetings over the years.  Jean Starkweather, past MCL President and Board member, has been observing the herons for many years at this site and at a nearby grove that was previously inhabited by the herons.

2011 Documents and Correspondence

2009 Documents and Correspondence

 
 

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