HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.3 - Chris Rauen - Public Comment - FW_ Written comments for agenda item 5.3 - Board of Supervisors.ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening
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From:Clerk of the Board
To:BOS
Cc:Daneluk, Paula; Nuzum, Danielle
Subject:Public Comment - FW: Written comments for agenda item 5.3 - Board of Supervisors
Date:Monday, May 12, 2025 11:22:54 AM
Attachments:Strategies - Overview.pdf
Upper Ridge Community Plan - Magalia Center.pdf
Planning Commission - Analysis.pdf
Magalia Center Map.pdf
Public Comment for 5-13-25.pdf
Please see Public Comment received below for item 5.3 on the agenda.
From: c_rauen@comcast.net <c_rauen@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2025 8:17 AM
To: Clerk of the Board <clerkoftheboard@buttecounty.net>
Subject: Written comments for agenda item 5.3 - Board of Supervisors
Hi Melissa, please confirm that you've received this. Many thanks for your help,
Chris
To the Board of Supervisors: Written Comment for Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Item 5.3 – Rezone of Magalia Center / Lakeridge Parcels
There are several things within this rezone and land use recommendation that you are
being asked to approve. I want to voice my opposition to one item: the request by the
Paradise Recreation and Park District to change the zoning of parcel # 066-340-005, the
1.26 acre parcel referenced in your agenda packet, from Mixed Use (MU-2) to Public.
This is located on Lakeridge Circle, in the Magalia Center area referenced in this item.
First, the process with this request was poorly executed. The Planning Commission
meeting on February 27 was intended to recommend for your approval, a zoning change
of many parcels on Lakeridge Circle and Old Magalia from the old designation of
Retail/Commercial to Mixed Use or MU-2, to meet the strategies set forth in the Upper
Ridge Community Plan to permit greater opportunities for affordable housing, retail or a
mix of both, which you adopted as part of the overall General Plan 2040. Those of us who
worked on and gave input to this plan support this zoning and land use change.
On February 26, *one day prior to this meeting,* the District Manager at PRPD submitted
a letter to the Planning Commission to include the rezoning of this one parcel from MU-2
to Public. There was no notice of this change to the agenda and no public outreach, and
should not have been placed on the agenda in that manner.
To correct this, the Planning Commission did schedule a re-hearing for the entire item on
March 24, including the District’s request with it, and it was duly noticed, however such
notices are only mailed to property owners within 300 feet of the site in question. No one
lives within 300 feet of this location, therefore very few people who actually reside in
Magalia received the notice which limited the opportunity for residents to speak in favor
or against this agenda item.
This request from PRPD should never have been included in this rezone
recommendation – it is an incongruity and does not belong in a package with a
completely separate focus in mind.
This brings up the second point of opposition: does the recommended rezone of the 1.26
acre parcel from Mixed Use to Public actually meet a specific strategy outlined in the
Upper Ridge Community Plan? Does it meet the goals and intent of the hundreds of
Magalia residents who participated in the process? The Planning Commission states
that all of the changes recommended in item 5.3 support the land uses anticipated
under the Upper Ridge Community Plan. In the case of 066-030-005, it does not.
When I worked with the consultant and other community members to provide input on
the URCP, at no time did any of us state that we were in favor of rezoning any parcels
in Magalia, from its current zoning & land use to Public, and no such consideration
would ever have been given to Magalia Center. Nor does any such strategy appear in
the plan, or in the documentation that has been supplied to you by the Planning
Commission. Many of us did express a general desire for greater recreational
opportunities, and all existing and proposed recreation projects at the time were
included in the plan.
PRPD purchased the parcel on January 1, 2022. The Upper Ridge Community Plan was
adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2023. If the park district was planning to use the
parcel for park amenities, why did they wait 3 years to request a rezone, after the final
URCP plan had been approved and incorporated into the General Plan 2040?
Attachments:
1. Please refer to the attached overview page from the Planning
Commission, which shows that the zoning and land use change from
Commercial to MU-2 does align with Strategies LU-2.5 and LU-2.6 in the
Upper Ridge Community Plan. However no strategies are cited for the
redesignation and rezoning of land from MU-2 to Public. Only a broad
reference to supporting “the creation of additional parklands.” I support
this as a broad goal, but this was not asked for by the participants in URCP
who desired to have the Lakeridge Circle parcels specifically be set aside
for retail and housing. The park has been in design stage for years utilizing
land that was previously owned or leased by the district, with most
versions excluding the 1.26 acre parcel.
This type of request runs counter to the will of the people who participated in the
Upper Ridge Community Plan process and approving this will set a bad
precedent. It sends the message that it’s OK to amend a plan after it has already
been approved as fixed and final.
2. Please refer to pages 3-4 through 3-11 of the Upper Ridge Community
Plan. These pages show the community supporting the rezone of the
parcels on the east side of Lakeridge Circle to Mixed Use to accommodate
and encourage new types of housing and retail. The proposed Lakeridge
Park is already accounted for here and the proposed site is already zoned
Public, just east of the parcels on Lakeridge Circle, in addition to one
single lot the district purchased in 2010 to gain access to the new park.
The plan does NOT refer to the 1.26 acre parcel that is the subject of this
proposed rezone from Mixed Use to Public. That parcel was designated for
housing & retail, along with many other parcels on the east side of
Lakeridge Circle, not additional parkland.
3. Attached is a map showing the proposed zoning and land use changes.
The brown shaded parcel outlined in yellow is the 1.26 acres in question,
which should remain mixed use to be consistent with the zoning of the
property around it and the Upper Ridge Community Plan.
4. The 1.26 acre parcel was also the only lot that had active retail and
housing prior to the Camp Fire. Photo attached as it appears today.
Retail and mixed use properties are of great value to us in Magalia, as there are few
buildable sites on the Upper Ridge where this type of development would work. Magalia
Center is the heart of our “downtown” where we are working to help promote &
stimulate economic & housing recovery. Rezoning a parcel in this region from MU-2 to
Public makes it very difficult to ever have the property re-zoned back to MU-2 again, and
Public zoning will significantly decrease its property value (the parcel was purchased by
the district for $100,000).
Further, based on the latest park design the intended use of this parcel has been for a
parking lot. A land use change & zoning change is not required for a parking lot. This land
currently has a parking lot and three septic systems of unknown condition. There have
been multiple versions of the park design, all of them excluding this parcel except the
most recent one. There is no evidence in any of the documentation provided by the
district or the planning commission that park construction cannot move forward if the
zoning is left as is.
I respectfully ask that the Board of Supervisors vote “no” on this resolution, or if
possible, an amended version approving the re-zone and change of land use of all
parcels as recommended with the exception of # 066-340-005, which should not be
rezoned from MU-2 to Public.
Regards,
Chris Rauen, Magalia Resident & Participant in the Upper Ridge Community Plan