Dear Council Members,
First, thank you for your dedication to seeking opportunities for new
development in our city that benefits the community.
I have resided in the Burgess Park neighborhood for over 15 years and care
deeply about the community. We as a neighborhood worked closely with SRI
and Mark Murray/Lane Partners on the prior plan to result in a proposal
that allowed for important progress in development while accommodating key
concerns of the surrounding community.
Unfortunately, the latest plan is an extreme divergence from years of past
discussions and frankly is a slap in the face for our community
that has made significant effort to collaborate.
Like many in our community, my property borders the SRI campus. We enjoy
peace and quiet behind our homes especially on evenings and weekends. We
have privacy with no close structures to our properties and minimal light
pollution at night. These were important attributes in our purchase
decisions and ones that impact home values. The prior plan maintained
those benefits by including a wide buffer of green space behind our homes
and a new parking garage about the same distance away as current
structures. While the construction period would have been noisy, the
resulting situation would have been akin to our current quality of life and
maintained home values. This was very much appreciated.
The new plan shows zero regard to our privacy and security and will
significantly reduce the value of our homes - in fact, just having this
extremely divergent plan on the record has diminished my home value and
potential for sale. Please see the attached diagram.
In the new plan, multiple homes are packed into the previously designated
buffer/green space eliminating our privacy, leading to new security
concerns and adding significant traffic, noise and light pollution. Houses
taller than ours in close proximity will tower over our homes. This may
sound like taking away a luxury however, it is a situation that was
factored into our home purchases and value that is now at risk of being
stripped away.
I support the new housing! The entire development is abundant with new
housing of many types which is a huge win for those wanting to join our
community. This is also a tremendous win for Mark Murray/Lane Partners -
the prior plan included ZERO homes for sale and now includes 328 market
rate residences for sale (122 single family, 98 small lot, 108 townhomes)
AND 154 affordable homes for sale along with the upside for building the
apartments and commercial development. They will and should profit on their
endeavor.
My only ask is for your support to maintain the previously agreed to buffer
around our community. Considering the entire scope of the project, this
really isn’t a big ask. It only means 8 less homes out of over 1082
residences and commercial development! Lane Partners is creative and I
imagine can find other areas to make up the difference. We’d just like to
maintain some of the attributes of our investment.
Thank you sincerely for your dedication to safeguarding our privacy and
security while working to build our community.
Kind regards,
Susan Stimson
Burgess Classics resident
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