10 (316)You don't often get email from rabasu10@gmail.com. Learn why this is important
Date:3/3/2026 3:01:48 PM
From:"Annesha Basu" rabasu10@gmail.com
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] Safety: Why the Festival Center Project is a Mistake
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Dear Council Member,
I am w riting to ask you to vote "No" on the Anaheim Hills Festival Center apartment
projec t. For those of us w ho live nearby, it is evident that Santa Ana Canyon Road is
already extremely congested. Most days, even driving less than a mile c an be a
c hallenge at c ertain times. Adding over 400 apartments and about 1300 people to this
area would be disastrous during a w ildfire.
You voted no on the Deer Canyon project, in part due to conc erns that adding so many
c ars to the roads here would inc rease evacuation times during fires. The proposed
development would add a similar number of c ars to the same road, so I’m not sure w hy
w e should c onsider it. I heard some arguments during the February c ounc il meeting that
the development w ouldn’t add significantly to evacuation times because not everyone
returns home from work to pack in the event of an evac uation. That is an impossible
thing to predict w ith any degree of c ertainty, bec ause w ildfires don’t break out only on
w eekdays during w orking hours. Also, as the fire c hief pointed out during one of the
meetings w hen the Deer Canyon projec t was under disc ussion, actual evacuations
always take longer than models predict.
In addition, Mayor Aitken mentioned that there are other more suitable sites w here additional
housing c ould be built in Anaheim – let’s please c onsider other options before c hoosing a
loc ation that would c ertainly endanger current residents and also the people who w ould
move into this apartment c omplex if it came to pass.
Sinc erely,
Annesha Basu