Trinity Leads the Charge With Over 580 Signatures Submitted on Petitions Against High Density Condo Units

Folsom, CA

Just as Trinity fought the bad guys in "The Matrix", she is now leading an entire community of advocates who are fighting for what is right and just. Over 580 concerned citizens have signed petitions against high density (in this case 141) condo units at East Natoma and Golf Links, and these petitions were delivered to Lisbet Gullone, City Staff Planner this afternoon, Wednesday October 17, 2007. The cover letter requested that Gullone send copies to each member of the Architectural Review Commission, Planning Commission, and City Council, which she committed to do prior to the Architectural Review Commission meeting scheduled for Thursday morning, October 25th at 07:30 A.M.

You may be asking, "Who is this Trinity?" Well, now you can meet Trinity (at least see her picture in her new western garb) on the right, at the top of this page, and on the home page of our newest addition to the internet - our newest partner website: folsomtalks.blogspot.com where you will be able to look at what people are saying in their e-mails and letters to City Staff and Folsom public officials. We even have some interesting e-mail replies from some members of City Council.

Click on this Folsom Talks link, or on Trinity's picture in the header of this page, and read many of the e-mails and letters that people have sent to City Staff and officials expressing their opposition to this proposed Trilogy Condominium Project. In the interest of protecting our readers privacy, private names and e-mail addresses have been eliminated and only initials used. However, all public officials who comment will have their responses shown in full, including their names.

In our charter membership group to Trinity's Folsom Talks pages, you can see copies of e-mails and/or letters sent to City Staff and officials by concerned Folsom citizens. In two cases where I have been copied, we had a response back from City Council members. One response was from our Mayor, Andy Morin and the other response was from Kerri Howell. Be sure to read these responses on the website as they give an interesting indication of where each of these people may be leaning on the issue.

Remember our three keys to successfully winning this battle:

1.) Keep getting more petitions signed. Numbers do count. Even though we turned in 581 signatures this afternoon, we still want to collect more to make an even larger impact with City officials, and ultimately with City Council who may eventually have to vote on this proposal - unless we can get Pacific West Homes to withdraw their application, as did Elliott Homes for their Mirabella Condominium project on this same parcel back in February 2007.

2.) Attend all public meetings. First one is the ARC meeting on Thursday MORNING, October 25th at 07:30 A.M. in City Council Chambers, followed later that afternoon by the Traffic Safety Committee Meeting at 4:00 p.m. in the Public Works Department Conference Room. Again, numbers do count. Tell friends and neighbors and carpool to the meetings.

3.) Keep sending more e-mails and letters to City Staff and officials. Simply copy the following list and paste it into your e-mail "To" field:

themayor@folsom.ca.us; andy@themorins.com; eric@ericking.org; corrprincess@ardennet.com; smiklos@folsom.ca.us; jstarsky@folsom.ca.us; admindept@folsom.ca.us; lgullone@folsom.ca.us; etscott@sbcglobal.net; john.arnaz@comcast.net; mgordon@cwnet.com; Greg.Eldridge@ch2m.com; robin@robinkaplan.com; c_vanderveen@yahoo.com

Please copy Patrick Warholic in the cc field at: pwarholic@calhomenet.com so I can include them in Trinity's Folsom Talks pages.

Then, also please remember to copy me on any response that you get from any City official, so we can show where they stand on the issue and hold them accountable to Folsom voters. Trinity may not be able to react quite the same way as she did in The Matrix to those who may be against us, but the power of the voter remains as strong as ever and Folsom voters by and large do not want to see Folsom homeowners being taken advantage of by large builders and developers.

(NOTE: Please be aware that this is a Community Forum, written as a Blog, so as to allow as many people as possible to provide their own comments. To comment, please click on Post a Comment either here or at the bottom of this posting.

AUTOMATIC E-MAIL UPDATES: If you are not already getting automatic e-mail notifications regarding late breaking news on this website and want to, please click on this title or go to the upper right hand corner of this home page and register. Pass this information on to your friends and neighbors as the more knowledgeable people we have expressing their objections to Folsom officials and Council Members, the better chance we have to keep out two and three story condos from our beautiful neighborhoods.)

Thank you again for your help and assistance. It's a good life here in Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Lets all help to keep it that way. Make it a good day.

Best regards,

Patrick Warholic
Realtor, and Home Marketing Consultant

Contact Patrick

Website: California Home Network
The Internet Home Marketing Center

Website: House Payment Free
Contact Patrick for information on to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 11 years without refinancing nor changing your budget or lifestyle.

Petition Drive Sets Stage For Passionate Objection to High Density Trilogy Condos During 7:30 Morning Architectural Review Commission Meeting on 10/25

Folsom, CA Marie Bodeman and a good friend Kristel Mahmoud, both concerned Empire Ranch residents, along with scores of other volunteers have initiated a petition drive and have been collecting signatures for submittal to City Staff prior to the Architectural Review Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday Morning, October 25, 2007 at 07:30 A.M. in City Council Chambers.

THREE ACTION ITEM STEPS NEEDED TO DEFEAT THIS PROPOSED CONDO PROJECT AT EAST NATOMA AND GOLF LINKS:
Step 1, Sign petitions and get more signatures

For those who have not yet had the opportunity to express your objection to this project by signing a petition, please download a copy of the petition at this link: 2007 Petition Against Condos Our goal is to deliver, to City Staff, as many voter signatures against this project as possible by Wednesday, October 17th. That way, all petitions will be included in the official Staff Report to the Architectural Review Commission in preparation for their public meeting on Thursday morning, October 25th at 07:30 A.M.

Therefore, please download a petition, sign it yourselves and at the minimum have your neighbors on each side of you sign it, along with asking the owners of the three homes across the street from you to sign it as well. If 50 people download this petition and all twelve homeowners/voters sign each petition as described, we could have an additional 600 signatures to present to City Staff, in addition to those signatures already collected.

Please send, or deliver, all signed petitions to the attention of Patrick Warholic, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 605 Coolidge Drive, Suite 100, Folsom, CA so as to arrive in my office no later than noon on Wednesday, October 17, 2007.

Step 2, Attend all public meetings

Our next big rally point is to get as many people as possible to attend the Architectural Review Commission meeting at City Council Chambers scheduled for Thursday morning, October 25, 2007 at 07:30 A.M. Please understand and recognize that this is where YOU can make a difference. NUMBERS of homeowners/voters do count and this is a prime example of where a real grass roots effort will pay us all many dividends.

Please note that with the Architectural Review Commission, they ONLY are able to take comments regarding architectural issues - and can not discuss zoning issues, or even if condos vs. retail/commercial is the right thing to do. Therefore, we need to direct the discussion towards what we WOULD agree to having in our neighborhood - IF the Planning Commission and City Council would ultimately rule in favor of rezoning from Retail - Light Commercial (current zoning) to Multi-Family.

Recognizing that perhaps retail/commercial may not be economically viable for the entire 10 or 11 acres, we might eventually be able to make a case with the Planning Commission for mixed use, with possible some retail right on the corner and perhaps single story luxury condos on the rest of the property.

Thus, our unified presentation to the Architectural Review Commission should be demanding a maximum density of 40 to 50 single story luxury condos on this property, if we can't have our originally planned neighborhood retail center or single family detached homes. This is something where we CAN make our voices heard with the Architectural Review Commission. In fact, we should press them hard to ONLY APPROVE 40 to 50 single story luxury condos, with steep pitched roofs, multi-faceted roof lines with dormers, stone facades, and other architectural design features that would make a project of this nature FIT in our current community. Any project with more than 50 units just would be too dense (i.e., 141 two story units) to blend in with our current single family residential communities of Empire Ranch and The Parkway.

Be careful to not get off track trying to talk about zoning or traffic issues, as the Architectural Review Commission members will quickly remind you that they can only address and make recommendations on ARCHITECTURAL ISSUES. Single story vs two story, roof pitches and roof lines, facades and exterior finishes, club house, swimming pool, green areas, etc. If they point out that we already have two story homes in our neighborhood (which they will, I guarantee it), then acknowledge we would gladly accept a mixture of two story and single story SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED homes in this area - but not all two story condos packed in to allow 141 units. That is just too dense for this location in the middle of Empire Ranch and The Parkway.

When you arrive for the meeting, please try to arrive early and fill out a card requesting time to speak on the record at the podium. Everyone who requests time, will get their two minutes or so to present their feelings on this proposed project.

Our GOAL for the 07:30 October 25th meeting is to present a unified position, from enough people, so as to cause the Architectural Review Commission to reject the two story project and send it back to the Applicant with a request to revise the project to be more in line with the citizen's/voter's concerns. We must make it clear, that our unified position is to accept nothing less than a minimum of 40 to 50 housing units built on this parcel. Any more than that, is just too dense. Period. Paragraph.

After this meeting, as many of us as possible should then plan on attending the Traffic Safety Committee Meeting scheduled for the same day, October 25th at 4:00 P.M. This is the place to express all of our concerns about the adverse effect of having 140 to 250 additional cars trying to negotiate that intersection, even though the City is planning on installing traffic lights at Golf Links and East Natoma by the end of this month or next.

Step 3, Send e-mails and letters to City Staff, Architectural Review Commission, Planning Commission, and City Council Members

Here is the latest list of e-mail addresses that I have been able to put together for the Mayor and City Council Members, City Staff associated with this project, Architectural Review Commission members, and Planning Commission members. Please write to them all and express your strong objection to having a dense (141 units) multi-family residential project stuck right in the middle of two very nice communities of single family homes - Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Let them know that if we are unable to keep the zoning as it is now - Retail/light commercial, then we would prefer just to have additional single family homes on this property. However, if that is not a viable project, then the most units we would find acceptable would be to build 40-50 single story luxury condos, complete with steep pitched roofs, multiple roof lines, dormers, stone facades, and complete with club house and swimming pool.

The following e-mail address list is set up so all you have to do is copy the entire list and paste it into your e-mail program as you are composing a new e-mail message:

themayor@folsom.ca.us; andy@themorins.com; eric@ericking.org; corrprincess@ardennet.com; smiklos@folsom.ca.us; jstarsky@folsom.ca.us; admindept@folsom.ca.us; lgullone@folsom.ca.us; etscott@sbcglobal.net; john.arnaz@comcast.net; mgordon@cwnet.com; Greg.Eldridge@ch2m.com; robin@robinkaplan.com; c_vanderveen@yahoo.com

Also, please copy me in the cc field at: pwarholic@calhomenet.com . Thank you everyone, as all of this activity will help us get our point across and hopefully defeat this proposed condo project.

Folsom Architectural Review Commission pdf file
Folsom Planning Commissioners pdf file
Folsom City Council pdf file


Please do volunteer to help us get the word out to all our concerned neighbors. We need petition circulators, announcements distributed, and general grass roots workers to be successful with stopping this project.

Also, please feel free to record your comments at the bottom of this posting. Thank you and stay tuned for more details as they develop.

(NOTE: Please be aware that this is a Community Forum, written as a Blog, so as to allow as many people as possible to provide their own comments. To comment, please click on Post a Comment either here or at the bottom of this posting.

AUTOMATIC E-MAIL UPDATES: If you are not already getting automatic e-mail notifications regarding late breaking news on this website and want to, please click on this title or go to the upper right hand corner of this home page and register. Pass this information on to your friends and neighbors as the more knowledgeable people we have expressing their objections to Folsom officials and Council Members, the better chance we have to keep out two and three story condos from our beautiful neighborhoods.

Thank you again for your help and assistance. It's a good life here in Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Lets all help to keep it that way. Make it a good day.

Best regards,

Patrick Warholic
Realtor, and Home Marketing Consultant

Contact Patrick

Website: California Home Network
The Internet Home Marketing Center

Website: House Payment Free
Contact Patrick for information on to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 11 years without refinancing nor changing your budget or lifestyle.

Pacific West Homes Proposes 141 Unit Trilogy Condominimum Project in Middle of Single Family Home Neighborhood

Folsom, CA - Last week, on Thursday, 09/06/2007, Camille H. Courtney, President of Rancho Cortina Properties and Pacific West Homes held a community meeting at Hazel MacFarland Park to show concerned Empire Ranch and Parkway homeowners their new proposal for 141 condo units on the corner of East Natoma Street and Golf Links Drive.

Approximately 20 to 25 people attended the meeting and a significant number of them clearly expressed their displeasure with someone else once again trying to build a high density housing project right in the middle of a beautiful single family residential community of Empire Ranch and The Parkway.

In the last posting, it was noted that Pacific West Homes had purchased this land from Elliott Homes. This is not entirely true. While Pacific West Homes has made an offer to purchase, and it is currently in escrow, the entire sale is contingent on the buyer being able to get this parcel rezoned and then get approval from the City to build these 141 condo units. A unified opposition to this project will be needed to convince City Staff, the Architectural Review Commission, the Planning Commission, and ultimately City Council, that the residents of Empire Ranch and The Parkway do not want high density housing of this magnitude built in this neighborhood.

The common thread heard all evening from the surrounding home owners was that no one has any objection to high density housing - in the proper location. This is NOT the proper location. It just does NOT fit. It did NOT fit when it was 154 units called Mirabella and it still does NOT fit with 13 fewer units called Trilogy.

Today, Tuesday 09/18/2007, I met with Lisbet Gullone, Associate Planner for the City of Folsom. She is the central contact for Pacific West Homes and for anyone from the general public who wants to get additional information regarding the project. Anyone who wants to register their opinion of this proposed project should send e-mails to her at lgullone@folsom.ca.us along with sending copies to members of the City Council. Please see the automatic e-mail links to City Council members under "Reference" in the menu section on the right hand side of this blog.

So far, this project is steaming right along as if there was no opposition at all. According to Gullone, the first public meeting is already scheduled for Thursday, October 25, 2007 at City Hall. She said it will be a meeting of the Traffic Safety Committee and is open to the public. If we are going to be successful in getting this project ultimately denied by City Council, we need a LARGE turnout at each and everyone of these public meetings so our collective voices can be heard. Mark Rackovan, Traffic Engineer, Public Works Department, is the Chairman of this Committee.

Lisbet also told me that she expects to schedule the Architectural Review Commission public meeting BEFORE the Traffic Safety Committee meets, so we will have to monitor that date closely and make sure we have a large turnout here as well. For those who may not have been present during the Mirabella Condo Architectural Review Commission meeting, we had about 20 or so very vocal people who expressed their opposition to this project. (See earlier archived editions of this blog for reports on that meeting.) That strong opposition was instrumental in our getting that project cancelled. In a public forum like this, numbers do count. The numbers of voters, if large enough, who object to a project of this nature can make a difference between silent acceptance and loud vocal objections. Remember, silence is a vote for acceptance. So, if you are part of the majority of homeowners who do object to this project, please make yourself SEEN and HEARD at these public meetings.

On thing to keep in mind, with the Architectural Review Commission, is that they ONLY are able to take comments regarding architectural issues - and can not discuss zoning issues, or even if condos vs. retail/commercial is the right thing to do. Therefore, we need to direct the discussion towards what we WOULD agree to having in our neighborhood - IF the Planning Commission and City Council would ultimately rule in favor of rezoning from Retail - Light Commercial (current zoning) to Multi-Family.

The general opinion seems to be that perhaps retail may not be economically viable for the entire 10 or 11 acres. However, ideas were presented at our last community park meeting regarding mixed use, with possible some retail right on the corner and perhaps single story luxury condos on the rest of the property.

Most people so far that I have talked with seem to be comfortable with the idea of maybe 40 to 50 single story luxury condos on this property, if we can't have our originally planned neighborhood retail center or single family detached homes. This is something where we CAN make our voices heard with the Architectural Review Commission. In fact, we should press them hard to ONLY APPROVE 40 to 50 single story luxury condos, with steep pitched roofs, multi-faceted roof lines with dormers, stone facades, and other architectural design features that would make a project of this nature FIT in our current community. Any project with more than 50 units just would be too dense to blend in with our current single family residential communities of Empire Ranch and The Parkway.

If we are going to be successful again, we will need to have another strong turnout. Please pass this information on to every person, neighbor, or interested voting citizen who is against placing high density condos right in the middle of beautiful residential neighborhoods of Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Let them know that we will do our best to keep this website current so everyone can be informed of the latest activity.

Please do volunteer to help us get the word out to all our concerned neighbors. We need petition circulators, announcements distributed, and general grass roots workers to be successful with stopping this project.

(NOTE: Please be aware that this is a Community Forum, written as a Blog, so as to allow as many people as possible to provide their own comments. To comment, please click on Post a Comment either here or at the bottom of this posting.

AUTOMATIC E-MAIL UPDATES: If you are not already getting automatic e-mail notifications regarding late breaking news on this website and want to, please click on this title or go to the upper right hand corner of this home page and register. Pass this information on to your friends and neighbors as the more knowledgeable people we have expressing their objections to Folsom officials and Council Members, the better chance we have to keep out two and three story condos from our beautiful neighborhoods.)

Thank you again for your help and assistance. It's a good life here in Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Lets all help to keep it that way. Make it a good day.

Best regards,

Patrick Warholic
Realtor, and Home Marketing Consultant

Contact Patrick

Website: California Home Network
The Internet Home Marketing Center

Website: House Payment Free
Contact Patrick for information on to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 11 years without refinancing nor changing your budget or lifestyle.

New Owner Proposes Rezoning For 141 Unit Trilogy Two Story Condo Project

Folsom, CA - Camille H. Courtney, President of Rancho Cortina Properties and Pacific West Homes will be conducting a community meeting at Hazel MacFarland Park on Thursday, September 06, 2007 at 6:30 P.M. to present their concept for this new project called Trilogy. She is planning on bringing her architect and civil engineer. The Folsom City planner will also be present.

Pacific West Homes has purchased the property from Elliott Homes and has built two other communities in Folsom, both on Iron Point at opposite ends of the road, Vissona at Oak Avenue Parkway( sold out) and Madrone in Empire Ranch (selling now).

This Empire Ranch parcel located at the corner of East Natoma and Golf Links is directly across from the Empire Oaks Elementary School and backs up to Smith Way in the Parkway. Currently it is zoned Retail - Light Commercial but the argument is being made that a retail center, although originally planned for this location, would probably not be a viable venture with the new development of the Raley's center at Blue Ravine and East Natoma.

The options for any land owner of this parcel would be to either ignore the probable economics of an out of place retail/commercial center or propose to the city a rezoning option. On the rezoning side, there are really only two options: single family residences or multi-family residences. Personally, I would prefer to see single family residences built here to be consistent with the overall look and feel of this section of Empire Ranch and the Parkway. However, being pragmatic, that option would not "pencil out" nearly as nicely for the property owner as would a much denser two story condo project with 141 units.

Since traffic is a main issue with any proposed development for this parcel, and we already have more traffic at the corner of Golf Links and East Natoma than we need - especially with the elementary school across the street and the new high school at the top of the hill, my recommendation to Pacific West Homes would be to propose a single story, luxury condo project targeted to empty nesters. Yes, this would still give us more density than a single family home project, but it would certainly be much more desirable than having 141 two story condos shoehorned into this location in the heart of our community. Besides, a single story luxury condo project targeting empty nesters would not be putting an additional load on an already over crowded elementary school.

Stay tuned for more details as they develop.

(NOTE: Please be aware that this is a Community Forum, written as a Blog, so as to allow as many people as possible to provide their own comments. To comment, please click on Post a Comment either here or at the bottom of this posting.

AUTOMATIC E-MAIL UPDATES: If you are not already getting automatic e-mail notifications regarding late breaking news on this website and want to, please click on this title or go to the upper right hand corner of this home page and register. Pass this information on to your friends and neighbors as the more knowledgeable people we have expressing their objections to Folsom officials and Council Members, the better chance we have to keep out two and three story condos from our beautiful neighborhoods.)

Thank you again for your help and assistance. It's a good life here in Empire Ranch and The Parkway. Lets all help to keep it that way. Make it a good day.

Best regards,

Patrick Warholic
Realtor, and Home Marketing Consultant

Contact Patrick

Website: California Home Network
The Internet Home Marketing Center

Website: House Payment Free
Contact Patrick for information on to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 11 years without refinancing nor changing your budget or lifestyle.