[Sep 19]
Dear community members,
Citizens for Appropriate Coastal Land Use (CACLU) want to inform the community that the "scoping session" for the Hare Creek Shopping Center Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be September 19. It is scheduled from 6 pm to 8 pm and will take place at Town Hall in Fort Bragg. We are looking to the community in the hope that the community shares their key environmental concerns and issues in regards to this mall. We need to identify potential & significant impacts and determine the extent of those impacts. Please put this date in your calendar, show up early ready to speak and ready to turn in a written statement. We can share our concerns with the EIR consultants Michael Baker International who were awarded the EIR contract on July 25, 2016 The project entails three separate buildings totaling 29,500 sq. ft. and covers about 3.92 acres on the west side of Hwy 1 in Fort Bragg. The mall would be anchored by a Grocery Outlet, would have 99 parking spaces, and would be located at the gateway to Fort Bragg (corner of Hwy 1 and Hwy 20). The owner and developer of this project is Bill Patton who owns two other malls in Fort Bragg (Boatyard Shopping Center & Franklin Street Shopping Center where the DMV is located. There are at least 8 empty buildings in these structures and altogether the city has currently about 20 empty business spaces. It is good urban planning to fill the core, not the outlying areas of Fort Bragg with business. This creates a more livable town that appeals also to people who want to explore it by foot. The stores on Franklin Street started emptying when the Boatyard Shopping Center was built. Would the Hare Creek Center Shopping Center cause similar blight? Please attend the "EIR scoping session" and let the consultants know that there are visual & aesthetic issues and/or issues with sufficient water storage & supply. Do you believe that the neighboring shallow wells or the local rivers carrying endangered & threatened salmon and steelhead trout could be impacted? Do you think we should reserve this land for open space, or a performing arts center, or for the development of Mendocino College? Do you think that we need a new Cultural Resources Evaluation Report, and/or a new waste water, traffic, air quality and/or noise study? Do you think we need yet another corporate franchise business in Fort Bragg? Should the Grocery Outlet be located in that parcel? Is there a reason why development did not happen at that site so far even though the owner/developer wanted to develop this site since 1991? Would you like to see the new Coastal Development Permit, the new Use Permit, the new Design Review, and the new Lot Line Adjustment? Wou! ld you like to see the minutes of the Hare Creek Ad Hoc Committee? Do you have any other concerns? Please share them with the EIR consultants on September 19. There are only a few days left for candidates who want to file nomination papers in order to become city council members. Please share these news on face book, among your friends and/or any other way you can.
Thanks,
Citizens for Appropriate Coastal Land Use
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Here is the link for article about Hare Creek
It doesn’t matter what someone from out of Fort Bragg thinks.. It is private property and in Commercial zoning. The owner can develop as they see fit. Also spreading cheap rumors and lies does not help the situation. If you want it as open space then buy it from the owners, and god forbid that someone gets injured on your property.