esrosedotblog

DOWNSIZED!!

We won!!

No two story monster next door.

The final City Council hearing on the appeal of our neighbor's proposed MiniMansion was held last night.

They voted 3-2 to sustain the Planning Commission's denial of his application.

We all trooped up there again and made little speeches.

There was a good turnout.

That is the end of the current project. The guy can build within the code without seeking a variance or he can submit a new plan.

I presume that would take another year.

The best we can hope for is that the current housing slump will engulf the entire project and, for now, delay any further plans.

If we are lucky we can play the clock out and never have anything over there in our lifetime.

But that conflicts with my 'live to 90' plans.

This has been a long march.

The first applications were made over a year ago.

There have been 12 hearings.

We submitted letters to every board with detailed photos, data runs and graphical information.

In most hearings we stood and spoke against the project.

There have been as many as 20 neighbors engaged with a hard core of 10-12 people who have shown up for all events.

There has been little support from the Planning Department or any other public body.

Indeed, the project was approved on the first bounce.

The Architectural Advisory Committee made up of developers and architects have always OK'd it.

We have pushed back.

And back. And back again.

Finally, the Planning Commission went our way. Twice. Once on the original proposal and, then again, on the revised edition.

The City Council was not sympathetic in the first hearing, got more so in the second and finally went our way in the last go around.

Persistence.

A lot of credit goes to John. Most of it actually.

I have never wanted to bother with it much. Too inconvenient to go to hearings and all.

And I really can't stand the bullshit there.

Nevertheless it feels good to have the issue resolved and in a way that meets our objectives.

Another side benefit is that it has drawn the neighbors together.

There has never been much of that kind of spirit here. People are friendly but pretty much go their own way.

That has changed. There is a much stronger bond with each other and a greater sympathy for other issues.

One of the neighbors is having trouble with anothers' dogs. The dog guys aren't part of the network. Guess who we are rooting for.

On a broader front, this matter has engaged a wider following in the area which is known as The Mesa.

A year ago, we were one of the few areas in the City that did not have a City sponsored neighborhood organization.

This issue aroused the others to see that the same thing could (and has) happened to them.

So today, there is about to be a chartered Mesa Neighborhood Organization which can represent our interests more forcefully in the various City departments.

Not a bad result for all the effort.

We stopped an egregious project, got tighter with our immediate neighbors and stimulated a larger neighborhood movement for self protection.

Labels: neighborhood