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Residents and a traffic engineer praise commission’s prior rejection of Sweetwater/Orange commercial project
Summary
Multiple public commenters thanked the commission for opposing a previously proposed Sweetwater Road/Orange Street commercial project, calling it a public‑health nuisance and citing traffic, air and noise concerns; a civil engineer said he will deliver an investigative report on the project's impacts.
Several residents and one professional engineer used the meeting’s public‑comment period to praise the Planning Commission’s earlier handling of a commercial project proposed near Orange Street and Sweetwater Road and to ask that the Dec. 2 meeting minutes be amended to reflect opposition.
Alicia Morrison told commissioners she appreciated their work on Dec. 2 and said the proposed project "was not a good fit for the residential neighborhood" because of increased air, noise and light pollution and added dangerous traffic. Louisa McCarthy requested that the Dec. 2 minutes be edited to record a firm opposition rather than a neutral notation, and she described the project as a "public health nuisance" for the nearby community.
Michaela Planco, who said she had been listed as neutral on the agenda, said she strongly opposed the project and thanked specific commissioners for voting against it. Francisco (Frank) Rivera, a state‑licensed professional civil and traffic engineer with four decades of experience, told the commission he believed the project would create significant negative public‑safety and traffic impacts and said he would be submitting an investigative report explaining why the project should not have been approved previously.
The commission subsequently approved changes to the Dec. 2 minutes to note that two speakers (Michaela Planco and Louisa McCarthy) made strong opposition comments; the minutes were approved with a recorded 4‑yes, 1‑abstain vote (Commissioner Valenzuela recorded an abstention for that vote). These public comments were recorded as part of the meeting record and did not themselves constitute a new planning decision.
Quotes from the public record: "Thank you for doing your due diligence in carefully evaluating the project that was not a good fit for the residential neighborhood and the impacts it would have done to us," Alicia Morrison said. Francisco Rivera said the project "was unlike anything I have ever considered in my entire career" and described it as too much development for the site.
Next steps: those public comments are part of the planning record for any future actions related to the project; staff and commissioners noted where the public’s concerns were reflected in the minutes.
