Dear Editor,
In reply to Carol Churchill’s May 17, 2023, letter to the editor.
Ms. Churchill’s long letter to the editor attempts to convolute a straightforward situation. The State of California has mandated that the City of Los Alamitos build 769 more housing units. Since most residents live within Katella Ave. and Los Alamitos Blvd., a housing project on Lampson Avenue minimizes the impact to Los Alamitos residents.
Since the Los Alamitos City Council’s primary focus should always be on improving life in the City of Los Alamitos, they should maximize the total number of units built on Lampson Avenue to reduce the load in other parts of our city, which are more saturated. This would alleviate the immense overcrowding should the County of Orange’s proposal to build 671 units on the southwest corner of Katella Ave. and Los Alamitos Blvd. move forward. Therefore, most or all of the 769 state-mandated housing units should be moved to Lampson Avenue where there is more acreage available.
Allegations or insults against current or former Los Alamitos public servants do not change the fact that complying with the state’s housing mandate on Lampson Avenue is good for Los Alamitos residents.
All Californians are impacted by Governor Gavin Newsom’s housing mandate, not just Rossmoor and Seal Beach residents. The Los Alamitos City Council is doing their best for their constituents given the state’s mandated housing element. The best thing for the anti-Lampson side to do is fight Sacramento with the same fervor that they are fighting our small town of Los Alamitos.
Also, the sites that have been approved by the State of California could accommodate up to 1200 units. However, there are no projects to utilize all the approved sites and to build 1200 units in Los Alamitos. This is why Los Alamitos should encourage a developer to maximize the space on Lampson Avenue to meet our housing element numbers, to lighten the load in other parts of the city, and to help mitigate the impact of the development the County of Orange is proposing on the southwest corner of Katella Ave. and Los Alamitos Blvd.
If Ms. Churchill does not want Los Alamitos City Council to promote more or any build on Lampson Avenue, which Los Alamitos properties would she choose instead? I suspect that any opponent of a Lampson Avenue development would gladly build on one or more of the other state approved sites in Los Alamitos. All of which happen to be near Katella Ave. and Los Alamitos Blvd.
“Where in Los Alamitos should we build if not on Lampson?” is a question Lampson Avenue project opponents won’t answer. My guess is that no one will answer because most Seal Beach and Rossmoor residents would be happy to move it out of their neighborhood. For Rossmoor residents, overbuild at the Los Alamitos Blvd./Katella Avenue location will probably impact you more than your neighbors in Seal Beach.
City of Los Alamitos residents, please contact your City Council, and encourage them to put their constituents first and to stand firm against the barrage of negativity from Rossmoor and Seal Beach residents.
Mayor, Tanya Doby: tdoby@cityoflosalamitos.org
Jordan Nefulda: jnefulda@cityoflosalamitos.org
Shelley Hasselbrink: shasselbrink@cityoflosalamitos.org
Emily Hibard: ehibard@cityoflosalamitos.org
Trisha Murphy: tmurphy@cityoflosalamitos.org
Finally, the Event-News Enterprise should also note that Rossmoor residents also share the 90720-zip code with Los Alamitos.
Sincerely,
Frank Marchese
