HomeMy WebLinkAbout516 DEINES COURT, EXTRA OCCUPANCY RENTAL HOUSE - PDP - PDP120005 - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-HEARING (32)Page 1 of 2
Seth Lorson
From: Erin Brandy [erbrandy@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 4:1 S PM
To: Seth Lorson; City Leaders
Subject: Re: 516 Deines Court - Extra Occupancy Rental House - Management Plan
Seth,
I'm not sure if I ever sent you an email expressing my opposition to the extra occupancy rental at
516 Deines Court. I'm doing so now so that it can be included in the file for the hearing officer's
review.
I am adamantly opposed to the approval of an extra occupancy rental at 516 Deines Court.
Allowing such a number of unrelated people to live in that house would unquestionably change
the character of our quiet neighborhood. I understand that the Cooks have good intentions with
appeasing our concerns as neighbors, but ultimately they are out to make as much money as
possible on this property, evidenced by Debra Cook's comment at the neighborhood meeting that
she would not have bought the property if she didn't think it could be converted to an extra
occupancy rental. One big concem of the neighborhood is the fact that the front yard will
become, in essence, a parking lot. One only need walk down the street to the Parker and Stover
intersection to see what that kind of modification would do to the character of a property. Debra
Cook claims she will enforce routine lawn maintenance, but honestly there won't be much lawn
to maintain --almost half of it will be concrete.
I think it is misguided for City of Fort Collins to rule in favor of someone who lives out of town
over several local residents (and I don't really think the Cooks plan on ever living in that house --
as someone said at the neighborhood meeting, they wouldn't pave the front yard if they planned
on living there). She has nothing invested in this neighborhood but money, but we live here,
want to raise families here, pay taxes here, support the local economy, work here, etc. Another
concern of the neighborhood is what this will do to our property values; inevitably they will
drop.
As indicated by the nature of the people who have looked at the house to rent so far, Debra Cook
intends to rent to college students. In fact, if she wanted to rent to a family, she would not need
to get approval for an extra occupancy rental. I think most of our concerns as neighbors involve
the possibility of five college students living on such a small cul de sac. As I said in the
neighborhood meeting, five unrelated people living together provide little accountability for each
others' actions, including noise, speeding, property maintenance, and civility. I know that we as
a neighborhood are resigned to the prospect of three college students living there. In fact, we
would probably rejoice if it were only three and not five.
An excellent point that someone brought up at the neighborhood meeting was that this provision
will persist even when the Cooks sell the property. They may enforce all the provisions in their
lease, but who is to say if the next landlord would be so accommodating.
Honestly it seems as though the decision has already been made to approve the extra occupancy
rental, and we are all just going through the formalities. Indeed, I think it was presumptuous of
Mrs. Cook to buy the property assuming this would get approved. According to the letter you
sent out on May 4th, no applications for extra occupancy dwellings have been denied based on
considerations for neighborhood harmony. I think we as neighbors feel that our concerns are
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falling on deaf ears, and as long as Mrs. Cook meets all of the technical requirements, this approval is
automatic.
Thank you for your time,
Erin Brandy
528 Deines Court
On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 8:08 AM, Seth Lorson <slorson(a fc og v.com> wrote:
Greetings,
Please find attached the management plan for the proposed extra occupancy rental at 516 Deines Court. This
management plan is proposed in an effort to mitigate the perceived impacts of an extra occupancy rental
house.
Best regards,
Seth
Seth E. Lorson, AICP I City Planner
City of Fort Collins
281 N. College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.224.6189
slorson(C)fcaov.com
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