IMPORTANT Update:

Hello everyone, 
We did it!! NO roundabout! On Tuesday, an approval required a 4/5s vote. The board of supervisors did not have the votes needed because Supervisors Peschong and Moreno clearly voiced they would not support it.  They voted to use the grant funds for the temporary roundabout in another area of the county. Hopefully one that does not require taking of private land.  

On behalf of myself and my family, thank you so much to each of you that spoke up about this and signed this petition! This is testimony that when we speak up then great things can happen! This was ALWAYS ABOUT MORE than our own property. Eminent domain does not belong in Templeton, especially when the proposed "solution" did not match the "problem". It’s been a fight and we can finally relax.  Thank you Supervisors Peschong and Moreno for listening. Thank you ALL for celebrating with us!! 

Thank you to TAAG and their president, David Leader for their efforts against this roundabout. David was key in this and worked closely with us to stop this. Thank you David, for caring about your Templeton community and all your time and energy to this! You are a great community advocate. Thank you, TAAG for advocating for what your residents wanted. When we work together, we can do great things. 

To learn more about TAAG please visit: https://www.taaginfo.org/

Best always, 
Susana & Emiliano and our three beautiful daughters.

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Dear Templeton Neighbor, 
San Luis Obispo County received a grant to make a temporary roundabout in the intersection of Bethel and Vineyard. While this initially seems great, this is full of problems. We are requesting that the county return that money and not build a temporary roundabout that will not fit all vehicles, and that might result in an unnecessarily costly permanent one (over 3 million dollars) that takes away private property. Our properties. This letter is written by the three homeowners who would be directly impacted by eminent domain. This roundabout, as part of the Vineyard corridor project, would most likely require eminent domain. Eminent domain is not something to be taken lightly, and pieces of our properties are not for sale. School-hour traffic is inconvenient, but it can be solved by other non-million-dollar solutions if needed (e.g. buses, traffic lights, larger gaps in start times, and having the school district guide traffic). If this were a larger issue, we three homeowners would consider this project for the benefit of the community. Five additional minutes of traffic in the morning and afternoon is not a good enough reason. This street is very low traffic otherwise. 

In July, at the TAAG meeting, many community members spoke about the roundabout.
All but one speaker was against it. It was an overwhelming amount of support against
the eminent domain of our land for a minimal problem. The minutes are available for
your review. The TAAG committee letter describing the community's response was also
sent in. 

In summary, using eminent domain to build a roundabout is not okay because it
forces property owners to give up their land for a project that IS NOT 
essential, violating their rights and disrupting their lives for questionable public
benefit. Below, on the following page, you will find more specific reasons why we do not support
a roundabout, along with the direct link to the Vineyard project proposal.

PLEASE SUPPORT US BY SIGNING THE PETITION TO TELL THE COUNTY OFFICIALS WE DO NOT WANT A ROUNDABOUT HERE IN TEMPLETON.

Thank you for considering,
Bethel and Vineyard homeowner:
Emiliano and Susana Lopez- S. Bethel Rd, Templeton, CA 93465
Richard Maheu and Nancy Keys- S. Bethel Rd, Templeton, CA 93465
Dan Encel- S. Bethel Rd, Templeton, CA 93465

Here are additional reasons why we are asking you not to support a roundabout:
- It is wasteful spending of more than 3 million (plus) dollars for a permanent roundabout.
That is a lot of money. This tax money could go to other things Templeton citizens need,
such as the fixing of roads that need repair, a new playground, and other city
improvements.
- This is a huge government overreach for a minimal problem. There has not been
an eminent domain situation in Templeton as of yet, and this absolutely should not be
the first. This is a slippery slope, and this opens the door for future situations. I would
like to ask whoever is leading this project why they are ok with proposing to take the
land of three families' land for a project that the community does not want. We hope that
after reading this, you will not agree with that either.
- Roundabouts have their place and can work nicely in some areas. However, here
there is minimal traffic on Bethel and Vineyard most of the time. The only time that there
is traffic is approximately 7:40-8:10 am and 2:20 to 3:10 pm for 9.5 months of the year;
otherwise, you can count the cars driving by. The added commute traffic is 5-8 minutes
at most. This is a costly and unethical solution to a minimal problem. The report that
suggested a roundabout is based on the busiest times of the day data only; therefore, it
is skewed and incorrect. You cannot base your results and recommendations for a
whole community using skewed data. A light that is cued to traffic might be a better
solution. It is less costly, does not require eminent domain, and addresses the concern
of drop-off and pick-up.
- If it is put in place, those coming from Bethel rd, will not be able to get into
Vineyard during these times. If we already struggle to get to work, this will be worse.
Many of the people are coming from the vineyard housing development projects.
- It is unsafe. This plan proposes having cars closer to our children’s play area in
the front yard. They will most likely be speeding from the vineyard entrances and the
vehicles can and will fly into private property and risk harming the families that live
there. We cannot always control speed, but we can control how far away vehicles are
from our children.
- Not only do we not want it. The vast majority of the community does not want it.
KSBY did a small report stating that the community was “mixed” in their response to
this. This is false and misleading. The Templeton community do not want this. Just
check out the Templeton Proud facebook page posts and see how the vast majority do
not want this roundabout. You even have parents on there stating they have some traffic
but they know this is not necessary and costly. A neighbor also spoke to over 40 neighbors to ask them about their opinion on this, and only 1 of the 40 was in agreement with the roundabout.
- Larger vehicles will not be able to use the roundabout. Those with trailers, school
buses taking kids on fieldtrips, and more. This is a residential area with a school down
the street so these types of vehicles are common. More land would have to be taken via
eminent domain if it were made larger for these vehicles.
- We acknowledge speed in this area is an issue, and we have seen two
accidents. There are other ways of slowing drivers down that do not require eminent
domain.

Check out the Vineyard corridor plan here. You can see a visual representation of the
eminent domain (forced land grab) (might need to copy and paste the link to your browser if the link doesn't work) 

Vineyard corridor plan

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/departments/public-works/forms
documents/transportation/corridor-plans/completed/vineyard-drive-corridor-plan-with-appendix