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31 (374) Susana Barrios From:Kristen Karpow <kristen.karpow@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, October To:Nicholas J. Taylor; Public Comment Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] 10/29 Council Mtg Agenda Item 31: Please OPPOSE the Hills Preserve Project Some people who received this message don't often get email from Learn why this is important Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message. (Sending again with the Council Meeting Agenda Item number in the subject line, for clarification) Begin forwarded message: Date: October 29, 2024 at 11:04:59 PDT To: publiccomment@anaheim.net Subject: Please OPPOSE the Hills Preserve Hello, I am writing, as a resident of Anaheim Hills, to urge you to OPPOSE the proposal to approve the Hills Preserve Project. I am raising my family here in Anaheim Hills, and I serve this very community as a County of Orange employee. As a Chief for the Orange County Health Care Agency - Emergency Medical Services Department, with experience working as an ER/Trauma Registered Nurse in a densely populated OC area for 10+ years, I know first hand the risks and dangers of increasing human population in an area that does not have the infrastructure to support this. My reasons for urging you to oppose this proposal are as follows: 1. Unsafe traffic delays in the event of a mandatory fire evacuation  The Anaheim Hills community is just that. A community of neighborhoods built among small hills with a single road to access/exit those neighborhood hills. My family has lived here for 40+ years, and has been through several mandatory fire evacuations. The most recent evacuation saw vehicles, and the families inside them, stuck on these single roads for HOURS while fires raged in the surrounding canyons, hills, and green belts - getting closer and closer. The Hills Preserve, with its nearly 500 dwelling units, will add hundreds if not over 1000 new vehicles to the area. This would cause a dramatically increased delay in evacuation times, putting existing Anaheim Hills residents’ and families‘ lives at risk.  On the Hills Preserve’s website FAQ, their response to the concern of gridlock was, “our development heavily promotes a sustainable working environment that 1 reduces the need for commuting altogether.” First of all, there is no way they can guarantee that the majority of their renters will work from home. Second of all, this answer does NOT at all address the concern I mentioned above in the event of a fire evacuation, with the Hills Preserve potentially adding hundreds of cars to a small community with single roads that already take HOURS for fire evacuation the residents we already have. 2. Overcrowding of local schools  Anaheim Hills only has ONE public High School and ONE public middle school for all of its residents. The public elementary schools that serve Anaheim Hills are already overcrowded as well. My husband has been a school teacher with Orange Unified School District (including Anaheim Hills public schools) for over 10 years, and will be the first to say that our classrooms are overcrowded. My daughter’s Kindergarten class in our local Anaheim Hills elementary school last school year had 30 children in it, which her teacher had to manage without an aide. I volunteered regularly in the classroom, and witnessed how difficult it was for one teacher to maintain classroom management and provide adequate attention to each student. The Hills Preserve, with its nearly 500 units, has the potential to add hundreds more children to our already crowded school system.  The Hills Preserve’s website FAQ states, in response to concerns on school overcrowding, that “this project will have very few school-aged children. Our target demographic is young, working professionals without children.” This statement is an insult to our community’s intelligence, and purposely does not address the true concern. According to California State fair housing laws, housing providers CANNOT discriminate against families with children. As such, there is no realistic way that The Hills Preserve can guarantee they won’t overburden our already crowded public school system in Anaheim Hills. 3. Disruption of community environment  My husband’s family chose to raise him in the suburbs of Anaheim Hills for a reason. My own family chose to raise me in the suburbs of neighboring Orange Heights for the same reason. My husband and I chose to return to Anaheim Hills (from a more densely populated area) back in 2018 to start a family, also for the same reason. The reason? A quiet, peaceful, safe, and family-oriented community environment.  The Hills Preserve, with its 7 STORY building, will disrupt this environment by introducing noise and light pollution from a rooftop bar, bowling alley, and other such on-site amenities. The Hills Preserve claims that their “target demographic” is young working professionals without children. Established families with children are what enrich this community. If we wanted to live near a rooftop bar, we would have chosen to live elsewhere. The families of Anaheim Hills who CURRENTLY reside, and have resided in this community for years, do not want rooftop bars or any type of urban development near where we are raising our children. 2 In summary, my family and I are long-term residents of Anaheim Hills and beg YOU, our representatives, to hear our voices. The Hills Preserve is UNSAFE, will cause OVERCROWDING of both roads and schools, and will DESTROY our small community environment. Please support the current residents of Anaheim Hills, and OPPOSE the development of The Hills Preserve. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, Kristen 3