Following is an update from Wednesday (May 4) Zoning Hearing:
The Board of Adjustment upheld TMAPC's recommendation NOT to change residential zoning to ''Office Light'' on the second house in from the dentist office at 45th and Harvard. (North side)The other property's case was continued until June. So we need to be ready! Th Several board members suggested that they might be able to vote to change the zoning it if the projects are put into a PUD format.
Seven or eight neighborhood people spoke against the change. Points that were made against rezoning include:
Further encroaching of businesses into the neighborhood is harmful to many
and helps only a few. The domino effect is alive and well, and threatens
the ambience of an historic, well developed neighborhood, which is seeing
new and expensive ($300,000 plus) homes being built.
The area continues to suffer with water run-off problems from existing businesses
on Harvard - Lack of trust for changes being unharmful to homeowners.
Photos of the newer OL development on 46th St. show that the resulting
changes are greatly negative for the adjacent homeowners. (fences which do
not screen the ugly backside of a taller building, water run off ''management
which consists of ''detention ponds'' in the yard, which are dangerous and
unsightly.
Other Office Light properties sit empty - use them before sacrificing residences.
These two properties have been irreparably damaged by Harvard
development. It must stop!
The homeowner who spoke for the rezoning is tired of looking at a vacant property which has not been kept up.
After the hearing, I met with the couple who have bought the property next to the dentist office. They intend to use the house as their office, if the zoning is changed with a PUD. If it is not, they intend to rent the house out. Their attorney, Mr. Levinson, indicated that when they come up with the plan for the PUD, he would like to run it by interested neighbors before taking it to the board of adjustment. The owner couple is committed to keeping the property up to neighborhood standards. Code enforcement has been notified about the upkeep problem of the other vacant house's yard appearance.
Issues which seem to call for action from the homeowners association are:
Storm water management
Get Villa Nova ''historic neighborhood'' designation
Get Neighborhood name signs made and posted
Better communication - regular meetings to discuss concerns and recruit workers to
deal with them. If we spread the work out, it is not just a burden for the few.
I fielded many phone calls from interested neighbors. A few of which indicated an
attitude of interest only if it affected them directly. We must be concerned for
all areas of the ''hood''. We have strength in numbers and talents!
By Penny Tipton
The Board of Adjustment upheld TMAPC's recommendation NOT to change residential zoning to ''Office Light'' on the second house in from the dentist office at 45th and Harvard. (North side)The other property's case was continued until June. So we need to be ready! Th Several board members suggested that they might be able to vote to change the zoning it if the projects are put into a PUD format.
Seven or eight neighborhood people spoke against the change. Points that were made against rezoning include:
Further encroaching of businesses into the neighborhood is harmful to many
and helps only a few. The domino effect is alive and well, and threatens
the ambience of an historic, well developed neighborhood, which is seeing
new and expensive ($300,000 plus) homes being built.
The area continues to suffer with water run-off problems from existing businesses
on Harvard - Lack of trust for changes being unharmful to homeowners.
Photos of the newer OL development on 46th St. show that the resulting
changes are greatly negative for the adjacent homeowners. (fences which do
not screen the ugly backside of a taller building, water run off ''management
which consists of ''detention ponds'' in the yard, which are dangerous and
unsightly.
Other Office Light properties sit empty - use them before sacrificing residences.
These two properties have been irreparably damaged by Harvard
development. It must stop!
The homeowner who spoke for the rezoning is tired of looking at a vacant property which has not been kept up.
After the hearing, I met with the couple who have bought the property next to the dentist office. They intend to use the house as their office, if the zoning is changed with a PUD. If it is not, they intend to rent the house out. Their attorney, Mr. Levinson, indicated that when they come up with the plan for the PUD, he would like to run it by interested neighbors before taking it to the board of adjustment. The owner couple is committed to keeping the property up to neighborhood standards. Code enforcement has been notified about the upkeep problem of the other vacant house's yard appearance.
Issues which seem to call for action from the homeowners association are:
Storm water management
Get Villa Nova ''historic neighborhood'' designation
Get Neighborhood name signs made and posted
Better communication - regular meetings to discuss concerns and recruit workers to
deal with them. If we spread the work out, it is not just a burden for the few.
I fielded many phone calls from interested neighbors. A few of which indicated an
attitude of interest only if it affected them directly. We must be concerned for
all areas of the ''hood''. We have strength in numbers and talents!
By Penny Tipton
