The 30 day comment period for Legacy is now open. Opposition Letters are being drafted.

Thank you for your patience while we get our wheels in motion. This is a long one,  Please read this email in its entirety. For background information, please visit www.savecoto.com.

We have been advised by OCPW, that our best opportunity for politically opposing this project, is to wait until the comment period opens and specifically address our comments towards flaws outlined in the proposal. It is imperative that we DO NOT approach our comments with a dramatic “not in my backyard” approach. We must specify details to their proposal that goes against ordinances, laws, rights etc.

In early 2020, Legacy filed for a building permit with the County (Orange County Public Works [OCPW]) with their proposal for a 101 unit, multi story, Senior Housing Complex planned to be built behind the Coto Valley County Club. On June 26, 2020, the County deemed the proposal “complete” and concluded that a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) is the proper environmental document for the project.and officially opened up the plans for public comment. We have until 3:30pm on July 31st to submit our comments! (Please note the OCPW website says July 13th- we have confirmed with Mr. Canning that this was a typo and has been corrected. Also, please note that the closing of comment period is 3:30pm not 3pm).

OCPW Legacy documents can be found here:
https://www.ocpublicworks.com/ds/planning/projects/5th_district/pa20_0022_legacy_at_coto_senior_living_project
We will also make them available on the Save Coto Village (SCV) website (soon!).

On July 2, 2020 the Village HOA Board announced that they have secured  Connor, Fetcher & Hedenkamp, LLP law firm and  Whittaker Planning Services to support our legal opposition. Legal counsel is reviewing the proposal and MND documents. They hope to provide us “opposition points” by early this week.
Once we receive these points, we propose to build a letter writing campaign around them.

At this time, we are asking anyone who is knowledgeable with building, permitting, environmental, traffic…etc and is interested in assisting draft opposition letter(s) please reach out to us.

Once letters are prepared, we will set up a table advertising SCV and offering pre- prepared letters for signing at the parking lot across from the General Store location. Be on the look out for out Save Coto Village Banners on the corner of Coto deCaza Drive and Vista del Verde. We are working with our tech crew about having laptops where individuals can digitally sign and email the documents directly to the decision making  individuals (CPAC, OCPW, Board of Supervisors and Legacy contacts).

In addition to the letter writing campaign, we are still floored by the number of Coto residents (and even Village residents) who have never heard about Legacy. We are preparing a direct door mailer to be distributed by the USPS to deliver the flier to each homeowner in all of Coto. We hope to have this circulated by weeks end.

We hope to hold the letter signing booths July 15(wed), 16, 18(sat), and again the following week July 20 (Mon), 21, 24(Fri). Ideally we have 2 shifts each day 11am-2pm and 5pm- 7pm.
We will need volunteers to run the booth. I’m thinking 2-3 people per day/shift. I have created a Sign up Genius if you are able/interested in volunteering, please sign up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090844AFAB2DA4FE3-letter

Finally, the mailers and banners for advertising our presence is a costly endeavor. There have been website costs, domain fees, printing costs, mail chimp subscriptions and more! I’m so humbled to hear a resounding request for an avenue to make financial contributions to our SCV efforts! A GoFundMe page has been created:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-coto-village?utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=p_email%2B3201-24hr-reminder-v5

Please note there is a 2.9% processing fee and $0.30 per donation fee that GoFundMe charges, if you prefer, you can contribute to  Venmo @SaveCotoVillage. Also feel free to share these links.

I’m incredibly proud of all of you who have worked so hard to date! This is a marathon, we need to be persistent and diligent. There is power in numbers- it’s time to rally our neighbors and get everyone involved!

Thank you all for all your support, encouragement, kindness, patience and most importantly your understanding that with out each of us, and all of us, this project would be a done deal. This is our community and this is not the right project for that location!

Much gratitude, love and respect!
The Save Coto Village Team

What happens next with the Use Permit application?
Procedural “next steps” following the CPAC meeting are summarized here: https://savecoto.com/2019/11/09/legacy-proposal/

If you haven’t already, please email Kevin Canning, a contract planner with the County, and ask to add your email to the “Legacy at Coto Project Notification List.”  Kevin’s email address is Kevin.Canning@ocpw.ocgov.com.  We suggest the following language:

Save Coto Village will continue to keep you appraised of any updates we learn about the project.  But we encourage you to sign up for emails directly with the County because we believe it will send a strong message to the County that homeowners in the Village are active, engaged, and are not going to let Legacy steamroll their way into our neighborhood.

Thank you so much for reading all of this information!  It’s a lot to digest!  But we are happy to engage directly with you if you have any questions or concerns!

Best wishes,

The Save Coto Village Team