17-75 Special Exception for 806 Howard St.

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Carolyn Henry From: Thomas Mustillo <tmustillo @gmail.com> Sent: Monday, December 04, 2017 5:28 PM To: Carolyn Henry Cc: 'Sarah Mustillo' Subject: opposition to 806 Howard expansion and change of use Dear Ms. Henry, We are writing to express our strong opposition to several of the petitions for variance at 806 Howard Street filed by Alliance Architects,on behalf of Pandora Partners, LLC. We own and occupy(with our three children) the adjoining lot, immediately south of the Pandora property, at 926 North Saint Peter Street. Indeed,the structure will stand only about 6 feet from our property line, and only about 12 feet from our own two-story, 2,300 square foot house. Please pass our concerns on to the members of the board for their consideration. The proposed 9000+square foot building will loom more than twice the height of our house. Its repurposed function will create two floors of more than 6000 total square feet of office space, one floor of more than 3000 square feet of residence(larger than our finished living space), and another 3000 square feet of basement. A building this immense will diminish the value of our home, and injure the safety,comfort, convenience and general welfare of our family, as well as the neighborhood at large.An expansion and change-in-use of the existing building will create two adverse impacts for US. First, it will diminish the value of our homes.We have created a neighborhood of mostly owner-occupied single family homes. On the 900 block of North Saint Peter Street,where%of the available land is devoted to a neighborhood park (Kelley Park),8 of the 9 residential lots are 2-story owner occupied permanent residents. On the contiguous residential lots contained between ND Ave and Saint Peter, all ten are 2-story owner occupied permanent residents. Under the Pandora Partners proposal, a Special Exception Use allowing an 3rd story dwelling unit will undermine the value of our home because we become exposed to the liabilities of 3000+square feet of potential rental units, with insufficient parking.Our own home has a covenant preventing non-owner occupancy, as do many of the homes around us that were part of the revitalization plan.Thus, this variance is exceptional; as an adjoining lot, it will negatively impact the value of our home and the tax value. We would not have purchased this house at the price we paid if we had known that Pandoras would be expanding and incorporating potential rental space. Also,we have been reassured by the petitioners that variance request numbers 3, 5,and 7 are required only to maintain the existing arrangement for parking and exit/entry on the east side of the building. Nevertheless, we would like to note that a grant of easement has been recorded with the county on 4/21/2017 which allows all adjoining parties of the former public alley to retain mutual access to that part of the now private alley.These variances,which request reductions in the setbacks to 0' at east, should they allow for any construction within the easement or change of use, would eliminate the only access we have to our garage. If they could be construed to permit such a use,they would violate the easement agreement and could devastate the value of our house; they must be rejected. Second,the redevelopment of this property as the owner's business offices, plus rental offices,will bring many additional cars to the North West sector of our block and to the alley,which we share via a private easement. During the years we have lived here,Steve Raymond and his assistant, Patty, turned on the lights and the "open"sign every day from noon to five until the summer of 2015.There were never more than 2 or 3 cars at a time. Until Mr. Raymond sold the property,the UPS truck pulled up to the door almost every day.That was the extent of the traffic. Under the Pandoras Partners proposal, the request to reduce the off-street parking by 31 spaces (from 35 to 4)is extreme. By the architect's own estimate (conveyed at a meeting in their offices on 10/19), the 2 floors of office space alone will draw 24 cars. During the ND home football game against Navy,on 11/18,the block of Howard street between ND Ave and Saint Peter Street was filled to capacity with 24 cars. Of course, on a regular day,cars will distribute themselves around the area less densely, leave little or no room for us and our guests,for the two or three homes-to-be on the north side of Howard,and for the patrons of Kelley Park,which the city and neighborhood residents have invested in at considerable cost and effort. Moreover, traffic on Howard Street is already quite aggressive and the addition of so many cars will limit