Over the past several months, CSU Chico has been in the process of upgrading their General Plan. The General Plan Update process includes a an environmental impact report (EIR) to address impacts of the proposed plan. The General Plan Update EIR has been written and is currently circulating for public comment. The open comment period ends on September 25, 2020.
As part of the plan update, the University has proposed to construct a 4,000 seat sports arena on Warner Street and West Sacramento Avenue where the 25 homes were recently demolished. CANA is concerned because, during events, this would dramatically increase traffic on West Sacramento, West 2nd Street and Warner Street bringing hundreds of additional cars into the City of Chico’s urban core. This is in violation of the recommendations of previous traffic studies by both the City of Chico and CSU Chico.
Please follow this LINK if you would like to review the General Plan update and EIR. It is a very large document.
Please note that there is a zoom meeting this coming Wednesday, September 2 at 5:00 pm and you can pre-register at: Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: MP EIR Virtual Town Hall. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
The Enloe Fuel Cells are back on the Architectural Review and Historical Preservation Board (ARHPB) agenda for September 16th @ 4:00 pm.
The Enloe Fuel Cells Project was heard by the ARHPB on Wednesday, August 19 at 4:00 pm . While the meeting was not an in-person meeting, comments were taken via the City’s online system.
City staff recommended that the ARHPB adopt the required findings contained in the ARHPB Staff Report . CANA also sent comments.
Addressing the Board on this item were: James Matthews (representing the applicants); Bill Seguine (Director of Facilities at Enloe); John Whitehead (CANA); Donna Wallace, neighbor of proposed project, spoke against the project. Her concern was the emissions from the fuel cells.
With no other members of the public wishing to address the Board, Chair Bellin closed the public hearing.
Board Member Thomson made a motion that the Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Board continue the item pending additional or new design details that adequately address the noise and screening concerns.
The ARHPB continued the hearing until their September 16th meeting. Many of the Board members were concerned with the scale of the project and how it would effect Enloe Park. Fuel cells are also used by Home Depot. The Enloe Project, however, is about three times larger and many Board members had not yet had the opportunity to visit the site.
Comments can still be made via the City’s online system. For more information, Dexter O’Connell, Associate Planner for the City of Chico, prepared the staff report. His contact number is: 530-879-6810, dexter.oconnell@chicoca.gov.
The Chico Avenues Neighborhood Association and Enloe Hospital along with the City of Chico spent many hours and a lot of energy over a period of years to finally agree on a design for a green space buffer between the new hospital tower and the neighborhood. Enloe Park is that buffer and it fulfils one of the last remaining requirements of the Development Agreement between the City of Chico and Enloe Hospital to facilitate Enloe Hospital’s tower expansion. At the same time the hospital was able to construct the new parking lot on West 5th Avenue which is currently being used by the hospital for valet parking. Enloe is now proposing to install 40 fuel cells on the Magnolia side of the valet parking lot. They will be installed in what is now the sloping landscaped area between the parking lot and the sidewalk on the west side of Magnolia. The fuel cells and required site work will eliminate approximately 28 feet by 160 feet of existing landscaped area.
Each fuel cell will produce 70dB of sound at a distance of 6 feet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 70dB is about the amount of noise a pedestrian hears when a car passes you or if you stand next to a car that’s idling. CANA’s concern is that the sound of the fuel cells will carry into Enloe Park negating the quiet place of refuge it was intended to be used for by Enloe patients, their families, staff, and neighbors. The sound will also carry towards the homes on Arcadian between West 5th and 6th Avenues negating the buffer the Enloe Park green space was designed to mitigate.
As Avenue residents, the CANA Board members are interested in receiving input and comments from other neighborhood residents and would be ready to organize an informational meeting to help answer any questions or concerns.
Contact email is: president@chicoavenues.org
Included as a link is the Bloom Energy Revised Plan and an Artist Renderings link.
On February 10, 2020, the Chico City Council voted 4-1 to adopt an ordinance that would amend the city code and establish a by-district election process. The majority of the CANA area is in District 4 but there is some spillover into District 5. A more specific description of district boundaries can be found in the following City districts document provided by the City to the Chico Enterprise Record. For map downloads, demographics, and other City documents related to district breakdowns, go the the City of Chico web site.
Chico City staff officials and the Planning Commission are continuing to discuss Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s) and hope a program that allows for pre-approved or “free plans” for accessory dwelling units will be finished by summer, 2020. Trying to find new ways to come up with housing, including free, pre-approved plans are one way that Chico hopes to encourage more accessory dwelling units, called ADUs. This program encourages smaller but more quickly built homes that are affordable, helping disaster survivors, downsizers or anyone looking for less expensive housing.
A summary of the changes heard at the Planning Commission meeting on February 20, 2020 are included in the following link to the City’s web site.
The CSUC Master Plan 45 day comment period is scheduled to begin in January after the EIR is completed and the plan released to the public. Of concern to CANA is the proposed 4500 seat Yolo Fields arena and 900 space parking garage on Warner Street to be located in the Bryce Neighborhood west of Warner Street where the University bought and demolished about 25 homes. With the only access being from Warner Street via either West Sacramento or West 2nd Street this would seriously and negatively impact traffic throughout all of the area surrounding the CSUC Campus. The amount of traffic generated by events at an arena of this size would seem to run counter to the idea of reducing vehicular traffic impacts in Chico’s urban core.
If you are interested and have not already had the chance to look into the CSUC General Plan Update, please see the link below to view the plan and scheduled scoping sessions at CSUC Planning’s website at https://www.csuchico.edu/fms/announcements/mp-eir.shtml.
Regarding the Enloe Parking Project, the City has hired Dixon Resources Unlimited to do the work but the plan is still in its rough draft stages.
Avenue Neighbors,
Through the years Avenue residents have become involved in CANA for a variety of reasons. Initially, and probably most importantly, it was because of the Enloe Hospital Expansion, which, by the way, is still not finished. The CANA website hasan article and rough timeline on the park. Click here.
That said, there many other reasons to stay engaged with CANA…issues that include 2nd dwelling unit problems, parking and traffic, and infill development in the E. Avenues between the Esplanade & Mangrove. The greater the participation of the Avenue’s residents, the greater the impact that you will have on your neighborhood and its quality of life. As a recognized neighborhood organization, the City of Chico has given CANA a voice so we should use it.
With the goal of improving the Avenues neighborhood, the CANA Board of Directors is seeking additional board members who are interested in shaping our future. If you are interested, you can submit your contact information our website or email John Whitehead, CANA Board President, at president@chicoavenues.org.