Dear Council members,
        I understand that Sunset magazine would like to apply for a permanent
Use Permit for its annual Sunset Celebration Festival. I am a big fan
of both Sunset Magazine and it's annual Celebration, and I applaud it's
use of shuttles and other measures to help alleviate neighborhood
traffic congestion associated with it's festival. However, I must
respectfully ask that you decline their request for a permanent use
permit at this time. I would ask that Sunset continue to seek short
term use permits until such time that the plans for the proposed
parcels nearby on Willow Road, Linfield Drive, Middlefield Road and
Homewood Place are clearly delineated and implemented. Then, with the
impacts more clearly understood, it makes more sense to revisit
Sunset's proposal.
        The aforementioned parcels at Middlefield and Linfield, Willow and
Homestead, the area immediately adjacent to Sunset, are currently up
for sale or lease, and some are actively under examination for
rezoning and rebuilding. As such, the future of the immediate vicinity
of Sunset is uncertain. It may be that those parcels remain
professional offices, and Sunset can continue to use their parking
facilities for their festival and not increase their impact on the
neighborhood. However, if these parcels change to housing, and some of
them are already deep in the planning/permitting process for higher
density housing, then there will be a significant portion of Sunset's
immediate neighbors that will have been excluded from the Use Permit
process by virtue of it's "permanent" status. This excludes public
comment and input of the people most affected, and gives a permanent
permit without consideration of the expected changes in area in the
short term.
        I would ask that the Council encourage Sunset to continue with the
arrangement it has now (rolling 2 year permits I believe) , and if it
wants to apply for permanent status, do so after the major plans for
those parcels are completed, so the full impact of such a permit can
be discussed and examined using concrete information, in a neighborhood
setting that may be dramatically different in the next five years.
                                                                Thank you for your consideration.
                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                Nancy Hosay
                                                                325 Linfield Place
                                                                Menlo Park, CA 94025
Received on Thu Jan 20 18:04:19 2005