Safer Evacuations, Smarter Growth

Dear Council Member,

I am writing to you as a resident of Anaheim to ask you to please vote "No" on the proposed apartments at the Anaheim Hills Festival Center. I lived here during the Canyon Fire 2 in 2017, and I will never forget the feeling of being stuck in my car, watching the smoke get closer, and literally not moving for over an hour. It wasn't just "traffic"—it was a total standstill. The thought of adding hundreds of new apartments and about 1000+ more people to that exact same escape route is terrifying to those of us who have actually been in that situation.

The reports for this project say that adding these cars will "only" add about 7 minutes to the evacuation time. But when you're already stuck for three hours and the fire is moving toward you, 7 minutes is a lifetime. We don't have extra roads or "secret" ways out of the Hills; we all end up on the same few lanes. Adding more people to a neighborhood that is already a bottleneck during a fire just feels like a tragedy waiting to happen.

I understand that the city needs housing, but it shouldn't be built in a place where people are already struggling to get out safely. Please don't make an existing danger even worse just for a new development. We are asking you to prioritize the lives and safety of the people who already live here and pay taxes here.

Sincerely,

Dear Council Member,

I moved to Anaheim Hills because it is a beautiful, family-oriented community, but I am very concerned about the proposed Shea/Festival Center apartment project. Since moving here, I've learned that our neighborhood is in a high-risk fire zone with very limited ways to get out. I was shocked to read that it already takes over three hours to evacuate this area during an emergency. Adding over 1,000 more people and their cars to our streets seems like a huge risk to everyone's safety.

The project's environmental report admits that these new apartments will make evacuation times even longer. As a parent, I think about what would happen if a fire broke out while I was trying to get my [kids/pets/elderly parents] to safety. If the roads are already failing, adding hundreds more cars into the mix will make a bad situation impossible. It feels like the city is hoping for the best rather than planning for the worst.

I am not against new housing in general, but it has to be built in the right places. Putting high-density housing at a known bottleneck in a fire zone is not responsible. I am asking you to please put our safety first and vote "No" on this project until we have a real solution for getting people out of the Hills safely.

Sincerely,

Dear Council Member,

I am writing to ask you to vote "No" on the Anaheim Hills Festival Center apartment project. You don't need to be a traffic expert to see that Santa Ana Canyon Road is already at its limit. Most days, just getting to the store or work is a challenge. The idea that we can add over 400 apartments and about 1300 people to this area without creating a disaster during a wildfire evacuation just doesn't pass the "common sense" test.

The city's own reports admit that it already takes residents over three hours to get out during a fire. To then say that adding another 7 minutes of delay is "not a big deal" is incredibly frustrating to those of us who live here. If a bucket is already overflowing, you don't keep pouring more water into it and say it's fine. By approving this, the city is basically admitting the evacuation plan is broken but choosing to make it even more crowded anyway.

We need our leaders to look at the reality of our streets, not just the numbers on a developer's spreadsheet. Please do the responsible thing and protect the residents who are already here. We need better ways to get out of the Hills, not more people trapped in them. Please vote "No" on this project.

Sincerely,