Proposed hotel project fails Folsom

One of the worst projects I have seen proposed in Folsom in the past 30 years is scheduled to be heard by the city's Planning Commission on March 17. Speaking as both an advocate for historic preservation and a retired Folsom city planner, I have come to this conclusion primarily because the hotel project proposed at the Highway 50/Folsom Boulevard entrance to Folsom is designed to maximize a developer's profits by sidestepping too many of Folsom's regulations and standards for quality. The project also threatens the historic Natoma Ground Sluice Diggings site (aka the Chinese Diggings) — which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.Besides condemning the land-locked Chinese diggings to obscurity, perhaps even destruction, the project fails to meet City standards for environmental review, tree preservation, building height, parking, design guidelines, open space and landscaping setbacks, bicycle master plan, fire protection, signage, Scenic Corridor, and historic preservation. This project wipes out virtually all the trees and mass grades the slope along 1000 feet of Folsom Boulevard — a declared Scenic Corridor — to build an ordinary hotel with no landscape buffer and a huge retaining wall. It is completely out of place as a development on the first parcel you see coming off Highway 50 onto Folsom Boulevard.In an economic climate that has the City Council squeezing every dime, it is tempting to approve any project that promises development fees and the prospect of transient occupancy tax revenues. However, even in difficult economic times, we need to protect the quality of life — both financial and intrinsic — that we, as residents, have chosen for ourselves.Developers have always been welcomed in Folsom, but we have also always insisted that they provide top quality in their projects. As residents we will live for a long time — way beyond these difficult economic times — with the negative results of this substandard project, if it is approved as is. The city of Folsom has an obligation to all its residents to approve a development on this site that not only meets its stated standards and regulations but also continues to enhance the overall quality of life that draws so many to Folsom.This proposed hotel project fails on more levels than I can cover here. To see the letter sent to the Planning Commission by the Heritage Preservation League of Folsom, visit FolsomPreservation.org and click on "Chinese Diggings."If you agree with me that this proposed hotel project compromises too many of Folsom's regulations and standards, plan to attend the Planning Commission meeting at 6:30 p.m. on March 17. The meeting is held in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 50 Natoma St.Before you go, make sure to check with the city that the hearing of the project has not (once again) been postponed. And, make your voice heard by e-mailing the Planning Commission and the City Council in care of City Planner Gail Furness de Pardo at gdepardo@folsom.ca.us. Loretta Hettinger is the president of The Heritage Preservation League of Folsom.