10 (044)You don't often get email from jfilppi@gmail.com. Learn why this is important
Date:2/27/2026 10:18:49 AM
From:"Julie Filppi" jfilppi@gmail.com
To:
"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net, "Ashleigh Aitken" AAitken@anahe im.ne t, "Ryan Balius"
RBalius@anaheim.net, "Carlos A. Leon" CLeon@anaheim.net, "Natalie Rubalcava" NRubalcava@anaheim.net,
"Norma C. Kurtz" NKurtz@anaheim.net, "Kristen Maahs" KMaahs@anaheim.net, "Natalie Me e ks"
NMeeks@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Please vote NO on the Festival Center apartments
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sender and are expecting the message.
Dear Mayor and City Council Representatives:
FACT: Many residents do not even know there is a Know Your Way Plan.
FACT: Many residents do not know their W AY as indicated in your Plan.
FACT: Many residents do not know their ZONE as indicated in your Plan.
FACT: The City has not done a survey to ask if the residents know their Plan.
FACT: The City has not TESTED the Plan saying that is not feasible to perform a test and yet our lives depend on the Plan’s s uc c ess.
FACT: The developers proposed rezoning area FAR EXCEEDS the area needed for the developer to build the res idential and parking
structures.
FACT: The developers have not allocated enough parking for this development. The developer is REDUCING and RELOCATING the
parking spaces that will be available for the existing businesses. This is detrimental to retaining the exis ting busines s es and to attracting
new businesses. Businesses in the upper and lower tiers of the Festival Center could be impacted by the overflow parking from this
development because parking is not allowed on the streets surrounding the entire Festival Center.
FACT: Syncing traffic signals is irrelevant if traffic is GRIDLOCKED. A green light is meaningless in gridlock.
FACT: Santa Ana Canyon Road (SAC) is three lanes each direction near W eir Canyon and again near Imperial Hwy BUT ONLY TW O
LANES EACH DIRECTION in the middle creating a CHOKE POINT. Traffic will be gridlocked in either direction on SAC.
FACT: If a fire is in the EAST, which is the most likely scenario, and reaches the intersection of W eir Canyon and SAC as in the
Freeway Complex Fire, we must VIOLATE how the Know Your W ay plan directs us. Zones 8 (the developers Zone), 9, 10, 11, and 13
will ALL be directed in the opposite direction on SAC. There will be no other option. See the above photo of Canyon Fire 2. W e are
headed WEST not EAST as the Plan currently directs us. W e will all deviate from the plan. The developer did not consider this s c enario.
The developer said they would not evacuate for a fire in the East.
FACT: Many residents have only one exit out of their neighborhoods and it is onto SAC. This is a m ajor infras tructure problem. The City
noted this in their Updated Safety Element. Yet, the City has done nothing other than identify the problem.
FACT: East Anaheim residents are losing their fire insurance. The California Insurance Comm issioner stated that one problem is that in
the past, builders have been allowed to build in these Very High Fire Danger areas. The Fes tival project loc ation has been designated by
the State as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ). Heavily gridlocked evacuation routes exist in the area and therefore,
high density housing should be discouraged due to this fact.
FACT: The City received a Grant from the State to do a fire evacuation study of the East hills area in the early summer of 2025. That
was a long time ago. WHERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY! The Festival project should not be approved before the study
results are known.
FACT: As Council Members in Districts 1-5, you have an ethical responsibility to protect the safety of ALL the citizens of Anaheim not
just those that reside in your Districts. If you are a Council Member from another district, pleas e c ons ider all of thes e fac ts before you
vote.
Please vote NO on rezoning the Festival shopping center for this development. The Festival s ite is not a bad s ite exc ept for the
evacuation nightmare out of there. This is a potential loss of life issue.
I would like to propose an alternative site for residential housing in District 6. The location is 411 N Lakeview Ave., Anaheim. This s ite is
known to some as the old Kaiser site. The area is ideal for housing as it is not located in a VHFHSZ. It has a large enough footprint. It is
located next to a park. It has shops, restaurants and a gas station for convenience acros s the s treet that can be accessed by a
pedestrian bridge over Lakeview Ave. Traffic is not an issue in this area. New on ramps to the 91 and 55 freeway are being c ons tructed
nearby for convenient freeway access. All reasons that this is an ideal location for more housing.
Respectfully,
Julie Filppi, East Anaheim resident since 1972.