Minutes - Planning Commission - 09/07/2006

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Mr. Wolens expressed concern with the substandard lot on the south. He stated all of the trees on this lot would need to be clear-cut in order to fit a home on the site, and there would be a very cheap home on the lot. Mr. Thor Heinen, 6731 137th Avenue NW, stated he owns the property next to the lot that would be built on. They own four businesses; one is an advertising agency. Many things have changed; they have lived here for 30 years and have seen Ramsey grow from a heartland that is rich and feeling like home to just being sold out. Mr. Heinen stated one time he opened up the door to 15 to 20 lower income kids all together, wanting to go out at night in a group, and asking if his son would join their group. That was the first time he had seen this out here. They have seen crime escalating. The homes coming in are lower income homes. He wants to be fair, but the neighborhood maintains their yards, cleans up and obeys the traffic speeds. Now they have to shut their garage doors because the people from the low income homes have been rummaging through their garages and stealing their kids' bikes. They do not take care of their yards and . everything is getting run down. Mr. Heinen stated he would not have purchased a $420,000 home next to a six-plex; to him that is not a home, it is how many people they canfitinto this area. He would never have known about this meeting tonight if it were not for Rich Wolens. Now that he knows he will play close attention and will try to get the rest of the neighborhood involved. He works with a number of businesses, and knows a number of them have been pulling out because of all the things that have been changing. Mr. Steve Blakemore, 13659 Dolomite Street NW, stated he was here the last time this was on the schedule, and he thought the Commission felt there had to be a real underlying reason for this zoning to change from business to residential or medium density residential. He does not know what that underlying reason is. He would like to reiterate some of concerns regarding the downgrade or decaying of the neighborhood since they have added all this additional housing. He had a car drive in his yard and break the mailbox that must have been going 70 mphdown the road. He has not had that type of problem before all this stuff came in, and now they want to put more of it in. There are all single family homes in this area except the townhomes to the west of them, which was not a good thing to do. The problem is all of the people it is bringing over into the neighborhood; they have transient people, and he has seen gangs of kids walking down the street in the middle of the night. They are now adding more townhomes next to the bowling alley and single family homes, and he does not see a need for more of it. Mr. Blakemore stated this might be profit taking by the owner of this piece of property, which is good for him but not for the rest of them that live there. When he moved in here there were eight houses in a nice quiet neighborhood. He knows there has to be progress, but it should not be at the expense of the residents. On the way here there were cars going 70 mph in the neighborhood. There are safety issues with the kids and people on his street, and they are being totally ignored by the City and the Police Department. He does not think it is appropriate to add the additional high density housing in this area. Mr. Winslow Holesek questioned why this parcel was not rezoned to residential on May 1, 2003 when the other land in this area was rezoned from B-2 to residential under the protests of the residents. Planning Commission/September 7, 2006 Page 6 of 20