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Susana Barrios
From:REC <4smallworldx3@att.net>
Sent:Monday, 45 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] Deer Canyon, Anaheim Hills
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Hello, I moved to Anaheim Hills in 1998 and live off of Serrano and Canyon Rim. Back then, Serrano ended at Nohl
Ranch and this area was peaceful, quiet and safe. Sadly, Serrano was extended and now meets Cannon and with
that hundreds of cars zoom by treating Serrano as a highway instead of a residential area. This has made it very
challenging to make left hand turns and resort to hunkering down between 3:30-6:30pm Monday through Friday to
avoid being stuck in traffic in my own neighborhood. There have been too many accidents and deaths on Serrano
due to the increase in vehicles. Then there is the fire season with its own challenges and concerns. I have lived
here long enough to have needed to evacuate 3 different times over the years due to fires with the 2017 being the
scariest. At first, I wasn’t aware of the danger as I was at an appointment in Fullerton. Once outside I saw the black
plume in the sky and received a text message from a friend alerting me that the schools my kids attended were
being evacuated. As I raced back to Anaheim Hills making a mental list of the items I was going to load into my car,
the sky was getting darker, ash was flying and I could see the fire raging on the hill. I couldn’t see any houses, just
the fire. I thought everything had been consumed by the flames. My kids were on the bus being evacuated so I went
straight home knowing I only had time to save my dog, everything else would be left behind. I opened the garage
door and my dog came running towards me and jumped in the car. I left immediately. The air was thick and hard to
see through to drive safely, but I was grateful to be on the road driving away from the flames. Little did I know it
would take me 3 hours to drive from Serrano and Canyon Rim to our meeting spot at Corner Bakery on Santa Ana
Canyon and Imperial Highway. We were sitting ducks on Santa Ana Canyon. I was concerned about my vehicle
overheating idling that long with the a/c on to keep my dog cool as she was panting heavily but I had no water to
give her. We were at a dead stop for so long, residents that lived off of Santa Ana Canyon and Fairmont were
walking between the cars offering bottles of waters and snacks for anyone that needed it. My dog would not have
survived if it hadn’t been for those good samaritans. That was seven years ago when there were less vehicles on
the road. Now, on any given day, Santa Ana Canyon gets backed up solid with all the commuters using the side
streets to save a few minutes off of their freeway drive time. Every year we have a fire season. The routes for
evacuation mean nothing to the active fire, it will burn through those routes and everyone will be driving away from
the fire regardless of the signs and the street congestion will be worse than 2017 with the amount of vehicles that
are on the roads now. Deer Canyon in East Anaheim is not the place to add more units, it is a death sentence to all
who live east of Serrano if there is another fire in the hills. Here is a photo from today 10-28-24 taken at 3:17 pm on
Santa Ana Canyon showing the side going east on Santa Ana Canyon is backed up solid from Anaheim Hills Road.
Every day there seems to be more and more commuters passing through in this area, please do not build any more
units in this area.
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Respectfully,
Esther Conser
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