Uptown Project, 570 Munras Avenue
September 11, 2006
Kim Cole, Senior Planner
City of Monterey Planning Division
City Hall
Monterey CA 93940
Re: Uptown Project, 570 Munras Avenue
Dear Mrs. Cole,
Thank you for sending us the Environmental Checklist and drawings for the above pro-ject. The League of Women Voters supports city-centered growth and Monterey’s plans to add housing downtown through mixed-use and in-fill projects. The 570 Munras site offers an exciting opportunity to serve downtown residents, as well as others who want to shop downtown and reduce driving. We have the following concerns about the project as presented.
The specialty grocery store, Trader Joe’s, is surrounded by nine other “shops,” with no uses specified. More information is needed about these in order to assess all possible impacts, e.g., compatibility of uses, planned hours of operation, and delivery times for their suppliers. This site, and particularly theTrader Joe’s store, should have convenient access for those who walk to it, or use taxis or transit, as well as those who drive.
Monterey Salinas Transit should have been included in distributing the Checklist and consulted in preparing the traffic plan. Their comments are needed with regard to the proposed single entry/exit onto Munras and its interface with buses turning onto it from Tyler Street. We would like to know also what effect the Safeway store closure has had on their ridership, if any has been noted. The parking lot appears boxed-in and crowded. Two-way right-angle parking can create more congestion as drivers wait for clearance in both oncoming lanes. There are relatively few spaces that will be easily accessible to r.v.’s, or even Monterey fire trucks, which often pulled in to the Safeway for provisions. It is not shown how pedestrians enter the site from Hartnell Street to get to their desig-nated walkway through the parking lot. Those who come to shop will have to walk back through the lot.
No one remembers when, if ever, the driveway between this site and Hartnell Street was two-way. There are sufficient safety reasons why it has been an entrance-only, in-cluding, its narrow width; the large number of pedestrians going to and from the post office, either crossing this driveway or the street to their cars parked on the south side; competition with mail trucks exiting the Post Office lot on the left and cars leaving the Hartnell Professional Center across the street. Removing parking spaces along Hartnell to improve visibility would simply reduce the available spaces for post-office patrons, who are often carrying heavy packages and need more than 12 minutes to mail them.
There is no space in front of the Trader Joe’s store for a taxi to pull in, stop and pick up a customer with groceries.
The Aesthetic and Cultural Resources sections include mitigations proposed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation related to lighting on the site and possible impacts on views from the Cooper-Molera garden. These mitigations should not preclude requiring good outdoor lighting of the parking lot for safety after dark.
We will appreciate your considering these comments.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Maxner, President
