ITEM03 C15-2024-0007 LATE BACKUP-SUPPORT LTR_MAR11 — original pdf

Backup

From: To: Subject: Date: Attachments: Ramirez, Elaine Re: Variance for 1503 Rover Weaver Ave Monday, March 4, 2024 1:23:07 PM image.png You don't often get email from mrschofieldesq@gmail.com. Learn why this is important External Email - Exercise Caution Ms. Ramirez, Sorry to write again, but I just noticed that in the City's permit portal the owners put in their variance application that the variance is related to the driveway being an emergency vehicle turnaround. This is not true AT ALL. Like I said in the previous email, this was previously a sidewalk and was converted to a driveway by the previous owner. This is not a fire lane or emergency vehicle turnaround and never has been. In the 12 years we've lived in our home, there have been ambulances, 2 fire trucks, street sweepers and weekly garbage trucks that pull into our cul-de-sac and use the street space to loop around and leave. Emergency access or egress has never been an issue and it's troubling that the owners of 1503 or framing this as an emergency hardship for them. We were not planning to fight this variance at all, but it's troubling to see them making these untrue arguments in their request. It's also troubling to see the application says that this variance will "add to the character of the neighborhood". It's pretty self-serving to say that our neighborhood (which has had a great character for many years) will have a better character if they can build a garage within the setback. Thank you again for your consideration. Carmen and Mike Schofield 1502 Robert Weaver Ave On Mon, Mar 4, 2024 at 1:02 PM Mike Schofield wrote: Hi Ms. Ramirez, We are neighbors of the 1503 property and live at 1502 Robert Weaver Ave. My wife and I wanted to make sure that you have the attached letter that we provided to the owners of 1503 (Joel and Joe) asking for a variance for their setback. We asked them to submit this letter with their application to make it clear that our signature of support was tentative and that we would want more information about the plans. Hopefully they already submitted this with their variance request. For context about our concern and what we said in our letter, please note that the area in front of 1503 is not typical street ROW, it is parkland dedicated when LBJ donated this land for these homes in 1968. See screenshot below. The outlined area in green is the park area shared with the public. This is from the plaque outside the cul-de-sac. Members of the public often stop by in this park area because it is one of the listed stops on the City's Tejano Historic Walking Trail, with discussion about these homes' in the context of this desegregation project. In the pamphlet at this link, we are stop #9. The previous owners of 15030 were already dishonest with their application for a driveway permit and told the city that they were replacing an existing driveway. In fact, no one previously had driveways and we all park out front in the lot. What they claimed as their driveway was previously a wide sidewalk in the park space and it has since been much less comfortable for the public to walk. Our main concern is that approval of a garage within the setback area would further encroach towards that park space and make it less usable for us neighbors and the public to walk. Note that none of these 10 homes have garages because it wasn't intended for any vehicles to pull in past the curb of the parking lot area. The city arborists have frequently stopped by here and said they are concerned about the heritage live oaks in the cul-de-sac because of cars pulling up onto their root zones. Michael Embesi at DSD used to be the contact for this, but I believe he has since retired. Note that the tree survey in the applicant's variance site plan does not show one of the two large (over 50") heritage oaks. The planned garage would be inside of the CRZ of that oak. Thanks you for hearing our concerns. Carmen and Mike Schofield 1502 Robert Weaver Ave Joel and Joe, Thanks for stopping by last night. It was nice to meet you both. Apologies I wasn’t more engaged- I was recovering from an illness when you stopped by (and the stove was on for dinner). Carmen and I have had some time to think about your request for our support for your project and we want to clarify that we provided our signature in good faith that you will be building what you said you plan to build -a small garage with no impacts to other properties or access to other properties. Without having seen a planset, we are not comfortable consenting full support until we understand that is what you’ll be building. The City will send us a letter when the variance is submitted and we will tell them the same- that our support is contingent on the nature of the impacts from the proposed structure. We’ve talked with the neighbors today and primarily we would be concerned with the following: ● Attempting a vacation of the public space. The previous owner attempted this and was not approved. ● Building in a way that blocks access to the public space by any of the other nine homes. ● Demolishing the historic homes. This cul-de-sac was one of the first desegregation projects and it would be a shame to demolish any of them. We do understand the desire to have a garage space and we hope the design/plans are ones we can support. In regards to parking- the community has gotten by fine with the current parking situation for 56 years. There was talk several years ago about getting permitted residential parking for the cul-de-sac. The City even performed a study and evaluated usage of the parking lot- however the data did not support a need as there were always available spaces in the lot. In the 13 years that we’ve lived here, there has never been a day that we’ve been unable to park in the shared lot. I hope we can talk more and get to know you both. We will have a copy of this letter on file for when the variance request comes through from the City. Please include this letter with our signature of support if you submit the signatures as a condition of our support. Thank you. Mike and Carmen Schofield 1502 Robert Weaver Avenue