08-02-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- . You may be impacting a future historic neighborhood. This neighborhood, especially on Whispering Lane and Crestview, are some of the best and most unique homes built in Hastings in the past 20 years. The homes are all individuals and indicators of the style of the decade in which they were built. This is not tract housing where they are all the same with differing veneer; they were built to fit the needs and personalities of the residents. In 50 years time, these homes could be examples of the best of the late 20th century. History has a starting point and the neighborhood has driven its stake down in time. Contrast this with the proposed apartment buildings. What kind of care and interest will these buildings engender? Probably not much, perhaps they will be viewed as what was wrong with large scale development. -' Specific Objections to this Project . It is ugly. There is nothing of architecturiU interest in the plan. The facade is plain and uninteresting. It is completely maximized and utilitarian. It screams apartment building, not home. It is nothing more than a warehouse for people, a barracks. It is far too large. It fills the lot and will tower over the neighborhood. It is located on some of the highest land in Dakota county. It will be like having the Government Center in our yards. It is out of scale to its surroundings, and would be more appropriate adjacent to commercial property. The current residents will have no privacy. They will be in constant view of the new buildings. This effectively takes away the use of their yards unless they are exhibitionists. These buildings will dominate the view from the neighborhood and will be visible from throughout the city. Is this what people want to see? . Parking is inadequate. I know I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. 72 garages and 72 parking stalls won't even begin to serve the residents. It will overflow into the street and be a detriment and hazard. This goes to the 2nd point, this project is too big for its space. . What about water run-off? Approximately 70% of the lot is developed or paved. The water run-off will be tremendous. There is no provision for capturing or draining the water except into the street. Will the sewer system be able to handle this? This project is at the top of a hill, will adjacent properties be flooded? Will 4th Street be flooded? . Landscaping is minimal. Although the current plan shows the lot packed with trees Gust throw them in to show they're doing something), it is just putting lipstick on a pig. No amount of trees or shrubbery will make the property more attractive or less noticeable. From my front window I will now have a direct view of 36 garage/storage units. . There is no recreational space. There is no play yard, pool, tennis courts, or even just a plain yard. A home has a place where one can enjoy being outdoors. Here there is a slab of asphalt and a green space which is so full of trees as to unusable for any purpose (if grass will even grow there). Are the children who live there going to play in the streets (if the street isn't full of cars)?