General (05)Date:2/5/2026 9:24:15 AM
From:"Susan medart"
To:
"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net, "Ashleigh Aitken" AAitken@anahe im.ne t, "Carlos A. Leon"
CLeon@anaheim.net, "Ryan Balius" RBalius@anaheim.net, "Natalie Rubalcava" NRubalcava@anahe im.net, "Norma
C. Kurtz" NKurtz@anaheim.net, "Kristen Maahs" KMaahs@anaheim.net, "Natalie Meeks" NMe e ks@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Please vote NO on the Shea/Festival Center apartments – It's a safe ty issue
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Dear Council Member,
I am writing to you as a res ident of [Your Neighborhood] to as k you to please vote "No" on the proposed apartments at the Anaheim Hills Fes tival Center. I lived
here during the Canyon Fire 2 in 2017, and I will never forget the feeling of being s tuck in my car, watching the s moke get clos er, and literally not moving for over an
hour. It was n't jus t "traffic"—it was a total s tands till. The thought of adding hundreds of new apartments and about 1000+ more people to that exact s ame es cape
route is terrifying to thos e of us who have actually been in that s ituation.
The reports for this project s ay that adding thes e cars will "only" add about 7 minutes to the evacuation time. But when you're already s tuck for three hours and the
fire is moving toward you, 7 minutes is a lifetime. We don't have extra roads or "s ecret" ways out of the Hills ; we all end up on the s ame few lanes . Adding more
people to a neighborhood that is already a bottleneck during a fire jus t feels like a tragedy waiting to happen.
I unders tand that the city needs hous ing, but it s houldn't be built in a place where people are already struggling to get out s afely. Pleas e don't make an exis ting
danger even wors e jus t for a new development. We are as king you to prioritize the lives and s afety of the people who already live here and pay taxes here.
Sincerely,
FYI I am 75 in March. The las t evacuation took me hours to get out going over Knol Ranch road down to the 55 freeway!