According Lake View City Administrator Scott Peterson the city
Andy Meredith, who was in attendance, spoke at length about what his plans for the property. According to Meredith. What he proposes is a one story L-shaped triplex. Each unit will include a double garage with paved access to the street. Meredith indicated that he chose that particular lot because he recognized the need for more of that kind of housing in that area. Said Meredith, “everybody is familiar with what happened on Blossom Street and also on First Street when some properties [which were] old and past their usefulness were replaced by duplexes.”
Meredith made the point that this lot is considerably bigger, and that the L-shaped structure will fit into the footprint of the lot while meeting all setback requirements. Meredith shared his opinion that the structure would be in line with the new construction that’s been going on in the community, it would be a “super plus” in valuation, and would not be a detriment to the neighborhood.
The room full of future neighbors disagreed with Mr. Meredith’s notions.
The first thing those gathered wanted to know is if the structure would raise taxes on the property surrounding it. According to the city administrator that structure should have no effect on anybody’s individual property values.
Next they asked if the structure would be in line with all of the other structures in the neighborhood.
According to Meredith, the other structures in the neighborhood are all not exactly in line but it would be in line with the houses that is considered the point of reference for setbacks in that neighborhood.
Many citizens in attendance voiced the opinion and offered examples supporting their argument that the multifamily dwelling would lead to congestion on an already narrow street. Council person Schrader made the argument that these types of homes have not led to congestion in the neighborhood in which he lives on Blossom Street, but nobody else seemed to agree.
As the hearing wore on the following letter from a group of citizens protesting the rezoning was read aloud:
“City of Lake View Planning and Zoning Board, Lake View Mayor and City Council,
As neighboring property owners to this property located at 112 South Lake Street, we would like to formally object to the re-zoning of the above listed from R2 to R3 residential.
Although we are not opposed to building a duplex in this area we are opposed to rezoning the area to allow a triplex, fourplex, or any additional multi unit dwelling. We want to keep both the integrity of the residential neighborhood and feel that if the rezoning were to occur it could open up the area for other structures and such as condominiums resulting in more people and therefore more congestion and parking problems in this area.
In the near past the City of Lake View conducted in a complete and thorough inspection of the current zoning regulations that resulted in new zoning regulations to foster orderly development and to protect the property owners of Lake View from overcrowding of the land, to conserve the value of the buildings, and to encourage of the most opportunistic use the land throughout the city.
Re-zoning this area from R2 to R3 would not be in keeping with the city’s overall comprehensive plan for the City of Lake View.
In conclusion we ask that the zoning board deny the proposed zoning request.”
31 people signed that letter, and the citizen who read the letter allowed indicated that 27 of the people who signed the letter were not in attendance at the May 17, 2011 Lake View P&Z meeting. *
The other main concern of those gathered in opposition to this rezoning was that this action if approved may set a precedent which may see more of the same kind of structure crowding into Lake View’s streets in the future.
It was reiterated several times that there is no opposition to allowing the Merediths to build a duplex at that location, inspire the fact that, as a city administrator pointed out, that lot is big enough to divide it in half and still have enough room to build two duplexes on that site, (in terms of meeting the minimum lot size.)
The last major concern that citizens voice before the issue is went to a vote was concerning snow removal. According to one gentleman, there is already at this time no place to go with the snow. It was said that it is already piled so high that is “unbelievable”.
After closing hearing but before going to the vote, members of the board expressed that it is hard making this kind of vote because they want to encourage progress if they also want to represent the property rights of the people that already live in the area. In the words of one board member, “somebody’s not going to be happy.”
On motion the Lake View Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend to the City Council that the request for re-zoning be denied.
Due to the fact that more than 20% of the adjacent landowners have voiced their objections in writing, should this issue be pursued with the council they will have to have a 4/5 vote to rezone that lot.
* By my count there were 26 people present who were not members of the government or media. The claim is that there were four in the room who had already signed leaving 22 people that still had the potential to sign the letter.
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