Neighbors are speaking out against the Near North project. Here are some excerpts from recent letters to Planning Commission. (For the entire letter, click the "read more" link.)
Lois F. Brinkman: With great pleasure, my husband and I recently moved to our new home on North Fourth Avenue from Alpena, where we had lived for almost 40 years. Our new home puts us in a neighborhood that we truly appreciate; we are close to Kerrytown, the Farmer’s Market, within walking distance of downtown and the University and all of the wonderful benefits of small city living. While we like our house, it is not the reason we moved here—it is the neighborhood that made us choose this location. . . . And so, it is with great concern that we learned in December of this proposal about the “Near North” project that Three Oaks is planning or hoping to build on Main Street. Frankly, the size of the building proposed appalls me!
read more
Kelly Fitzsimmons: We decided the way we wanted to raise a family was in a neighborhood—a real neighborhood where you knew the people around you and talked with them daily; a neighborhood that you could walk to get groceries, a coffee, a bite to eat, or an ice cream; a neighborhood where there were parks with kids and parents and grandparents playing; a neighborhood that our children would be among all the generations and all the people that make this community one of the richest communities in the State; a neighborhood that I felt comfortable and safe going for a run or walk alone or with a young child. We found that place when we moved to 608 North Main Street in late October of 2002 just a couple months before our first son was born.
read more
Cindy Pomerleau: Given the history of the proposed project—namely, that it is a “downscale” version of a very similar for-profit condominium project proposed and rejected four years ago—it is difficult to avoid concluding that the present proposal is a cynical attempt on the part of Three Oaks to recoup their excessive investment in the North Main property by capitalizing on the goodwill that Avalon has built up over the years. This is not a good basis for urban planning!
read more
Margaret Schankler and Steve Glauberman: The only rationale the developers offer for this inappropriate building is that the city needs “workforce housing”. Yet the North Central Area already provides a wide mix of housing, including a good number of units that would be considered workforce housing under the criteria they identify. That includes the houses that they would demolish to build this project.
read more
Share your own comments with the City Planning Commission and Staff by mail (PO Box 8647, 100 N Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8647), or by email to planner Matt Kowalski. We'd appreciate a copy by mail (608 N. Main St., Ann Arbor, 48104), or by email to John Hilton.
Lois F. Brinkman: With great pleasure, my husband and I recently moved to our new home on North Fourth Avenue from Alpena, where we had lived for almost 40 years. Our new home puts us in a neighborhood that we truly appreciate; we are close to Kerrytown, the Farmer’s Market, within walking distance of downtown and the University and all of the wonderful benefits of small city living. While we like our house, it is not the reason we moved here—it is the neighborhood that made us choose this location. . . . And so, it is with great concern that we learned in December of this proposal about the “Near North” project that Three Oaks is planning or hoping to build on Main Street. Frankly, the size of the building proposed appalls me!
read more
Kelly Fitzsimmons: We decided the way we wanted to raise a family was in a neighborhood—a real neighborhood where you knew the people around you and talked with them daily; a neighborhood that you could walk to get groceries, a coffee, a bite to eat, or an ice cream; a neighborhood where there were parks with kids and parents and grandparents playing; a neighborhood that our children would be among all the generations and all the people that make this community one of the richest communities in the State; a neighborhood that I felt comfortable and safe going for a run or walk alone or with a young child. We found that place when we moved to 608 North Main Street in late October of 2002 just a couple months before our first son was born.
Cindy Pomerleau: Given the history of the proposed project—namely, that it is a “downscale” version of a very similar for-profit condominium project proposed and rejected four years ago—it is difficult to avoid concluding that the present proposal is a cynical attempt on the part of Three Oaks to recoup their excessive investment in the North Main property by capitalizing on the goodwill that Avalon has built up over the years. This is not a good basis for urban planning!
Margaret Schankler and Steve Glauberman: The only rationale the developers offer for this inappropriate building is that the city needs “workforce housing”. Yet the North Central Area already provides a wide mix of housing, including a good number of units that would be considered workforce housing under the criteria they identify. That includes the houses that they would demolish to build this project.
Share your own comments with the City Planning Commission and Staff by mail (PO Box 8647, 100 N Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8647), or by email to planner Matt Kowalski. We'd appreciate a copy by mail (608 N. Main St., Ann Arbor, 48104), or by email to John Hilton.
No comments:
Post a Comment