Neighbors Fight Against Multi-Home Development on Marquette

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

Neighbors of a proposed project on Marquette Street that is set to bring eight new homes with swimming pools to the area arrived in troves to the public hearing to refute the project on Monday, Oct. 1.

Close to 20 residents, all opposed to the project, gave public comments at the hearing in hopes of stopping the development that they say will cause damage and potential landslides on a street that has no sidewalks and only has room for one vehicle at a time.

Developer Cosimo Pizzulli has proposed to build eight new “two-story, single-family residences with attached garages, basements and swimming pools.” Existing sewer lines will also be extended by up to 100 feet, according to public records on the project.

Linda Deacon, a Marquette street resident, argued that “six of the eight houses in the proposed development sit closer than 10 feet from the bluff edge”—a distance that is not in compliance with the California Coastal Commission’s Interpretive Guidelines.

Other residents cited a geological report done by the United States Army Corps of Engineers that showed the area to be at high landslide risk. But a report done by the applicant suggests the soil was strong enough to support such a project, according to Pizzulli’s attorney.

“The geology report here is based on direct tests of the site, the army corps report is based on aerial photographs, not direct result testing,” said Neill Brower an attorney at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, a law firm known for its land use lobbying.

Len Nguyen, Councilmember Mike Bonin’s planning deputy, was also in attendance and informed the city official that he had toured the site and had weighed many of the concerns raised by neighbors, but informed the public that Bonin’s office had not taken an official position on the matter.

Opposing neighbors now have several weeks to submit further supporting documents as the applicant is also expected to submit the required paperwork. The city is not expected to issue a determination letter until early 2019