John Millsap

Dear Mr Warrick:  My name is John MiIlsap. I am an architect and my home on 27620 Cedarwood Drive, parcel number 0333-913-01-000 is directly adjacent to the above project. Prior to my move here 4 years ago I was the Facilities Development Director for Sutter Health, a 22 hospital company in Sacramento, and was in charge of the design and construction of all their buildings.  I  was also the Facilities Representative to the State of California Hospital Safety Board for two terms. During that time we wrote the regulations for SB1953, the Seismic Safety Act.  As you may know any additions or new construction of hospitals requires a conditional use permit so I am familiar with the approval process for the above project.

I attended a presentation next door Saturday, March 19, 2022.  I am in full support of the project and would like to comment on some of the concerns of neighbors in the adjacent condo properties. Little has changed since that construction in the early 1980’s.  Deferred maintenance is a big problem. As so often in these meetings the major concerns were density, trees and wildlife.

Density and trees:  While there may be some tree removal for roads and lot grading, two major streets, Sugar Pine and Cedarwood are already existing or graded. There was some concern that single home sites would remove more trees than a multi-family condo project. Part of this confusion was the lack of understanding of the size of the proposed single family home footprint.  Sheet 1 shows sections of how the houses could be located.  For example a 3600 s.f. three story home would only have a 1200 s.f footprint plus garage.  That is a very small portion of a 14,000 s.f. lot. My home has a 1600 s.f. footprint on a 10,000 s.f. lot and I have  10 indigenous trees and 6 ornamental trees.  This ratio is very typical of Cedarwood Drive and the surrounding community.

Wildlife:  Birds of all types (especially Blue Jays), squirrels, chipmunks, bobcats and coyotes are prevalent throughout our built neighborhood.

It is very important to my family and our neighbors on Cedarwood Drive that a high quality single family community be developed next door.  In his presentation the developer offered to work closely with the condo owners to resolve long standing HOA problems.  The opportunity is there to have a complete, comprehensive vital neighborhood of existing condos, existing clubhouse and new single family homes that will be a fine asset to the community.

Thank you for your consideration, John E Millsap AIA Emeritus