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Jay Cheste r
1251 Vista del Lag o
San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 5
Tel :805-591-0587
MEETIU AGEND A
TE / / /i - ITEM #,P/
1/11/1 2
Members of the San Luis Obispo City Council :
Thank you in advance for your time and considerations in this matter . Also, I would lik e
to thank and commend the City Planning Staff and Brian Leveille for thei r
professionalism and tireless efforts to provide a solution to a problem that has turned a
quiet and friendly neighborhood into an unhappy battleground .
Once again I find myself writing official letters to official people to provide me wit h
some relief from the nightmare I have had to endure . So many letters and reports by th e
City Planning Department, my neighbors and myself have already been writte n
discussing this situation and pointing out all the reasons why Mrs . Marcus' permit shoul d
be revoked . Rather than restate what has already been said, it is my hope to provid e
some better clarity with a little more information about the history of the situation befor e
the City had to get involved .
I moved into my new home in October of 2008 and it was one of the happier experience s
of my life . I had found a beautiful and peaceful home in a wonderful part of the country .
This was all shattered when Mrs . Marcus and her students started to play her gran d
piano ...
Mrs . Marcus had moved from the east coast with her two pianos and purchased her hom e
a couple months before me . However, due to major renovations Mrs . Marcus was doin g
to her unit, we ended up moving in about the same time . In all the time I spent shoppin g
for my home and involved in the escrow process, not once had I heard any piano noise o r
witnessed pianos being moved into her unit . Never would I have purchased my home if I
had . My escrow review of the HOA regulations and documents provided to me state d
that no home-based business could operate without permission from both the HOA an d
the City. There was no documents stating that there was a piano school operating out o f
1247 Vista del Lago . I thought I had done my due diligence to find a quiet home in a
peaceful neighborhood . It was soon that I found out I was very wrong . Mrs . Marcus had
by now installed her pianos and created a commercial enterprise ... No city permits wer e
applied for or required permission requested of the HOA . She just opened up shop wit h
no concern whatsoever for the noise and traffic that is associated with the operation o f
her business .
From the first notes that Mrs . Marcus played on her grand piano, I have been consistentl y
bothered by chronic barrage of noise coming through the common walls into my hom e
and outdoor living space . After giving a few weeks to assess the situation and what I wa s
dealing with, I called Mrs . Marcus about the problem . At first, I was met with an unusua l
disbelief that her piano playing and that of her students was bothering me . She was very
dismissive of my plight . When asked what sound-proofing measures had been taken o r
planned, Mrs . Marcus replied "None". Pressing the issue, I explained that something ha d
to be done, since my right to quiet enjoyment was being violated . Mrs . Marcus told m e
that she would consider installing an acoustic wall if I paid for half! My refusal to pa y
and desire to know how she planned to alleviate the problem, was met with screams t o
"shut up" and then I was hung up on . We continued to battle for months over the constan t
and chronic noise as I worked to seek whatever recourses were at my disposal .
Then a little more than a year ago, I find out that Mrs . Marcus and the Man she had
bought her unit with had split up and the unit was sold . Soon after, I see her outside as I
went to get my mail and she told me "We can stop fighting, the unit is sold and I'm
moving ." A few days later, I hear that instead she had signed a lease with the new owne r
and was staying as a tenant . The new owner of the property never contacted any of m y
surrounding neighbors or myself to inquire about the combative situation that had bee n
occurring . Mrs . Marcus knew there was a problem with her piano and commercia l
operation and had the opportunity then to move on and find a suitable location for her
business . Instead, she decided to stay and fight . Allow a bad situation to get worse .
The rest is all history now ... As a new tenant, Mrs. Marcus was forced to apply for a
home occupation permit from the City and permission from the HOA . Unbelievably, th e
Laguna Shores HOA decided to let the city's decision decide the matter for th e
Association, even though doing so meant breaking its own CC&Rs concerning rights t o
quiet enjoyment, nuisance noise, common areas, loss of property value and additiona l
liability! The City worked incredibly hard to broker an agreement and tried to be fair t o
all parties in the granting of a conditional home occupancy permit . However, in so doin g
rules were bent relative to the requirement for a private driveway . In the end, all th e
efforts of the city and complainants to make a deal were ruined by Mrs. Marcus as sh e
consistently broke the conditions of the agreement and continued to make my near -
neighbors and myself miserable from the unbridled playing of her grand piano an d
operation of her school . Irrefutable picture and video evidence was provided to the Cit y
and in an administrative hearing, it was decided that Mrs . Marcus' permit should b e
revoked and recommended that her business would be best suited in either a commercia l
studio or single family residence with proper setbacks .
Many would have thought that at this point, a reasonable individual and business perso n
would have accepted that they may have made a mistake and move on . Not Mrs .
Marcus! She appealed the decision to the Planning Board where after another length y
hearing the decision was upheld and her appeal denied . At this point, one would think a
reasonable individual would accept that they might have made a wrong decision and i t
was time to move on ...
Now we are here . Once again Mrs . Marcus has decided to continue to fight and waste th e
time and resources of the City, my co-complainants and myself to verify a decision tha t
has already been verified . The amount of hours and people's lives that has been sucke d
up by this situation is unbelievable! It is a simple case of protecting an individual's righ t
to quiet enjoyment being violated by a professional musician and piano teacher that felt i t
was OK to place a concert instrument in a shared family residence with common wall s
with no sound-proofing .
I ask you . What reasonable business owner with an ounce of common sense woul d
continue in this manner? Accept so many conditions on the operation of their busines s
and restraints on their clientele . Drag their customers through the mud with them as the y
inexhaustibly fought a wrong decision made about where to locate their business . Decide
to stay and fight when it was easiest and best to just move on . Questions such as thes e
make one wonder as to the true motivations of Mrs . Marcus !
I honestly hate to beg, but please uphold the City Planning Staff's decision to revok e
Mrs . Marcus' business license . Do not consider her request to continue with a n
unenforceable promise not to play her Grand Piano till I no longer live here . This just
does not make sense since I own my home and not going anywhere . Allowing such a
situation to occur will only provide Mrs . Marcus with an incentive to try and drive m e
out . This situation has now spun wildly out of control, as it has been featured as front -
page news and on a popular radio talk show! The level of duress that this all has cost m e
is immeasurable . I wish to apologize in advance if I am unable to attend the meeting du e
to certain health concerns and the very public forum that this situation has evolved into .I
am in the process of trying to find an attorney to represent me . Please stop this insanity
and restore my home and neighborhood to the peaceful and friendly place it was befor e
being damaged by the noise, traffic and hostility created by Mrs . Marcus and her pian o
school operations .
Sincerely,
Jay Chester