Danielle and Dan Snyder Email, April 22, 2014

April 22nd, 2014

Dear Mayor and San Luis Obispo City Council Members,

A few weeks ago we were disappointed to learn of a development plan for the open space known as Sunny Acres. In 2008 my wife (Danielle) and I (Dan) purchased our home on Johnson Avenue just three properties away from Sunny Acres, and over the years we have fallen in love with the open space. During the day my wife enjoys the land as she takes our two daughters on nature hikes and after work I often exercise our yellow lab on the trails. One really nice part of hiking around Sunny Acres is the opportunity to meet our immediate neighbors as well as residents from the Flora street neighborhood across the open space. We are thankful to have such wonderful trails right in our backyard.

Initially we had mixed emotions regarding the Transitions Mental Health Association (TMHA) plan for developing Sunny Acres. Any form of development of Sunny Acres would be a disappointment for the reasons stated above, but we have historically respected the TMHA and their mission statement. We volunteer for the local women’s shelter and donate to similar organizations, and have seen a glimpse of the fragility of mental health and safe living arrangements.

After researching the proposal we are extremely concerned for our immediate neighborhood and the impact on the City of San Luis Obispo. According to the article posted in The Tribute on April 4th, the plan is to erect 13 studio units plus the option to add 66 additional units. TMHA’s executive director, Jill Bolster-White is quoted saying that “Most people we have in our programs are people who have a substantial impairment with mental illness.” As a father of two girls, ages two and four (plus a third girl due in August), my main concern is their safety and well-being. Having such a concentration of the county’s mentally ill in my backyard is incredibly alarming.

A while ago Danielle, who stays home much of the day with our young daughters, called me at work frantically having just had a derelict man pounding on our door, staring in the front window of our home. Just up Johnson Avenue from our home are the County Mental Health and Probation offices. Daily we see troubled individuals walking to-and-from downtown and these buildings. My concern is that adding a campus of mentally impaired will greatly increase encounters like this.

The approval of this plan demonstrates a great lack of thoughtful planning and/or a great disregard for the well-being of the families of the surrounding neighborhoods. We ask that you, our local leadership, instead consider smaller-scale projects with locations distanced from family-filled neighborhoods for the rehabilitation of our county’s most mentally ill.

Sincerely,
Dan and Danielle Snyder