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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> SAN MATEO, SANTA CLARA & SAN BENITO COUNTIES <br /> <br />April 11, 2025 <br /> <br />Mayor Saballos and City Council members <br />City of Redwood City <br />Via email: council@redwoodcity.org <br />Re: Redwood Life Project, Consent Item 6.E on April 14, 2025 City Council meeting <br />agenda <br />Dear Mayor Saballos and Redwood City Council Members, <br />On behalf of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Sustainable Land Use Committee and Bay Alive <br />Campaign, which advocates for the ecological health of San Francisco Bay and for community <br />resilience to sea level rise, we respectfully submit the following comments regarding initiation of CEQA <br />review for the Redwood Life project. We have actively engaged on the Redwood Life project on behalf <br />of thousands of members in and around Redwood Shores and have participated in all related public <br />meetings since the process began. <br /> <br />We appreciate that the proposed Alternative 2 takes some initial steps toward reducing the impacts <br />of this large scale development on this fragile, housing-adjacent dump site. However, substantial <br />concerns remain regarding the project’s impacts on the local environment, community well-being, <br />and public safety. <br />Given the constraints of the site and its location alongside the sensitive habitat of the Redwood <br />Shores Ecological Reserve, our strong preference remains to avoid large scale construction impacts <br />and retain the original Westport Specific Plan. Nonetheless, we supported the City Council’s prior <br />direction to develop a “Community Alternative” through a robust, city-led community engagement <br />process prior to the possible repeal of the existing Westport Specific Plan. <br />Unfortunately, that inclusive process came to a premature end. In the rush to initiate the CEQA <br />review process, community discussion was cut short after Alternative 2 was revealed and <br />inclusive participation was abandoned, calling into question the credibility of private data used to <br />suggest support for Alternative 2 at the Joint Session on March 4, 2025. This artificial <br />curtailment of the process to create a community-developed alternative is deeply troubling. We <br />strongly urge you to complete the community process to arrive at an alternative that is <br />more aligned with community concerns and responsive to the impacts identified in the <br />City’s Sensitivity Analysis before advancing into an EIR. <br />We respectfully request that the City Council take the following actions: <br />sierraclub.org/loma-prieta ~ 3921 East Bayshore Road, Suite 204, Palo Alto, CA 94303 <br /> 1