ITEM04 C15-2022-0086 LATE BACKUP-IN SUPPORT — original pdf

Backup

11/16/22, 11:11 AM Gmail - Support Letter Ryan McElroy Wed, Nov 2, 2022 at 12:57 AM Support Letter 5 messages To: " 11/02/2022 To Whom It May Concern: My family and I own and occupy 5214 Evans Avenue, which is directly next door to 5212 Evans. We've lived here for decades. Ryan McElroy, the owner of 5212 and our longtime neighboring property owner, is seeking a variance to disaggregate his lot into 2 lots, as was originally platted in our neighborhood. He shared his plans with us and we are fully in support of his variance request. We believe that building 2 side-by-side dwellings will allow for a better neighborhood feel and increased walkability, as well as occupying less parking spaces on Evans, since the parking for his proposed project will be along the alley versus the street. Thanks, Alex and the Mondragon Family 512-536-028 This is perfect. Thanks so much Alex! > Ryan McElroy The very best, Ryan [Quoted text hidden] Ryan McElroy To: Alex Finnell https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=8019dc46a3&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1748362723711540254&simpl=msg-f%3A1748362723711540254… 1/2 , Dan Fields Wed, Nov 2, 2022 at 8:14 AM ITEM4/1-LATE BACKUP/SUPPORTNorth Loop Neighborhood Association Board of Adjustment 301 W. 2nd St. Austin, TX 78701 Subject: North Loop Support for Applicant Variance Request at 5212 Evans To the Members of the Board of Adjustments this evening, the 11th of November, 2022. My name is Brian Bedrosian and I am currently serving as the Vice President of the North Loop Neighborhood Association (NLNA), a post I have held since 2019. I am writing this letter on behalf of the NLNA to provide support in favor of the disaggregation of two platted lots that were originally combined to form the property 5212 Evans Street, allowing for the construction of (2) single family homes on the resulting small lots. We have been engaged extensively with both the owner, Ryan McElroy and his architects, RAVEL ARCHITECTURE over the last several months and have met many times with both parties. Our neighborhood is unique in how it was platted where most of our 50’ wide lots were aggregated from originally platted 25’ lots. The ability to disaggregate these properties would provide a new housing type in the neighborhood unlocking a more affordable lot size while maintaining a housing typology that will be attractive to families. We have long supported ADU’s in our neighborhood, and many neighbors have made use of that currently permitted format. The disaggregation that Mr McElroy is pursuing would allow for an additional option that achieves several longstanding neighborhood goals: 1. Creating a more compact, human scaled land use with an urban character: central to this is denser housing pockets which will allow for more open community spaces. 2. Encouraging a variety of housing types outside of the traditional full lot single family residences: these townhouse style homes are specifically called out in our Neighborhood plan as a preferred means to soften the transition from the commercial area of North Loop to the more residential areas to the south. 3. Encourages housing for folks of a variety of incomes: We understand that these are not truly affordable homes, but the high cost of land in Austin can be at least partially ameliorated by the reduction of some of our lots to the original platted dimensions. 4. Up-zoning of this property: 5212 Evans is shown on our FLUM as being proposed to transition away from a single-family zoning to a mixed use zoning making this a unique lot from the ITEM4/2-LATE BACKUP/SUPPORTneighboring lots to the south. On the evening of November 2nd of this year, during our regular November Neighborhood Association meeting, Mr. McElroy and his Architect presented their project to the neighbors in attendance. After some discussion we there was a motion to support the project which resulted in a unanimous vote to support the project. While unrelated to this specific request for variance, the NLNA would like to encourage the Board, and ultimately Council, to consider unlocking this disaggregation option for our entire neighborhood for the reasons mentioned above. This is certainly a unique property due to its proximity to the commercial heart of our neighborhood on North Loop as well as the very successful Home Slice Pizza to which it backs up – and is the reason we are supporting this request at this time. We believe that in the fullness of time, as our city struggles with the challenges of housing and affordability, that making this option available to all land owners will help to enrich our neighborhood, and provide a greater mix of housing options for all people. As a representative of the North Loop Neighborhood Association, I request, on behalf of the members of the NA, that you consider approving Mr McElroy’s application for variance to disaggregate his property allowing him to build the homes that he is proposing. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this request. Brian Bedrosian Vice President of the North Loop Neighborhood Association ITEM4/3-LATE BACKUP/SUPPORTFrom: To: Subject: Date: Ryan McElroy Ramirez, Elaine Fwd: 5212 Evans Variance Email Sunday, December 11, 2022 5:42:08 PM *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Hi Elaine, Here’s the final neighbor support letter that came in for the 5212 Evans variance. I’m hoping it’s not too late to submit. Thanks very much, Ryan ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Ashley Lane < Date: Sun, Dec 11, 2022 at 4:51 PM Subject: Re: 5212 Evans Variance Email To: Ryan McElroy <r James Storey and I (Ashley Lane) own and occupy 5208 Evans Avenue 1, which is directly next door to 5212 Evans. Ryan McElroy, the owner of 5212 Evans next door, is seeking a variance to disaggregate his lot into 2 lots, as was originally platted in our neighborhood. He shared his plans with us and we support his variance request. We believe that building 2 side-by-side dwellings, similar to how our own lot had been divided, will allow for a better neighborhood feel and increased walkability. These are the very features that drew James and I to the North Loop neighborhood to begin with. Although this project will by necessity result in the displacement of our current neighbors who are renters— a situation we are deeply sympathetic to because it happened to us just last year— the community wide benefit of doubling the housing on existing lots at a time when more housing is so sorely needed in Austin outweighs that cost by our calculations. “ Sincerely, Ashley Lane James Storey On Tue, Nov 29, 2022 at 6:55 PM Ryan McElroy <r > wrote: ITEM4/4-LATE BACKUP/SUPPORTHi Ashley, Thanks very much for the support. It means a lot to me. It's really simple. All you need to do is send me an email separately from this one that says something like the below: "I own and occupy 5208 Evans Avenue, which is directly next door to 5212 Evans. Ryan McElroy, the owner of 5212 Evans next door, is seeking a variance to disaggregate his lot into 2 lots, as was originally platted in our neighborhood. He shared his plans with me and I am fully in support of his variance request. I believe that building 2 side-by-side dwellings will allow for a better neighborhood feel and increased walkability, as well as occupying less parking spaces on Evans, since the parking for his proposed project will be along the alley versus the street. Something like that. Please feel free to tweak it here and there. Thanks, Ashley Lane" Thanks! -- Ashley Lane (214).924.5453 CAUTION: This email was received at the City of Austin, from an EXTERNAL source. Please use caution when clicking links or opening attachments. If you believe this to be a malicious and/or phishing email, please forward this email to cybersecurity@austintexas.gov. ITEM4/5-LATE BACKUP/SUPPORT