HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/2019 Item 2, Martin
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Jean Martin <jmartin535@charter.net>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:Scott, Shawna; CityClerk
Subject:Architectural Review Commission, 545 Higuera
Dear Architectural Review Commissioners,
I have read the revised plans for 545 Higuera Street, next to my Master List Robert Pollard House, and I needed help from a
friend to find any difference.
I am still faced with a block-long, four-story glass wall and two-story glass sky bridge looming over my house, my renter’s
cottage, and my front and back yard.
I will have terraces and balconies along my entire property where people can (and will) have parties, make noise, and look
down into my house, my renter’s cottage, and my back yard any time of day or night.
I will have a public plaza next to me with the probability of diners and transients, just like living in a shopping mall. A public
plaza is not my idea of a buffer for a private house and yard.
Thirty-five feet is not very far away for a 29-foot wall with people standing on top of it having a party. Forty-one feet is not very
far away for a 41-foot wall with more people having another party. And there is a 50-foot wall only 45 feet away.
But that is only the Higuera part of the building. The Marsh Street part of the building will be 40 feet tall, with a communal
terrace on top, and looks to be about 10 feet from my yard. That wall runs 150 feet, with a 50-foot wall on top of it. There goes
my morning light and warmth. The “solar shading” shows 10 am, and maybe that’s when developers get up, but I’m a retired
schoolteacher and am up and about at dawn to enjoy the morning.
The guidelines say that residential developments should be compatible in scale with adjacent buildings, and the height should
be consistent with surrounding residential structures. The guidelines say “an infill structure should set back upper floors from
the edge of the first story to reduce impacts on smaller adjacent homes, and to protect solar access.” The guidelines say “new
development should respect the privacy of adjacent residential uses,” and windows do not overlook our indoor or outdoor
living space. The guidelines say this building should be set back from the street to the prevailing setback of the neighborhood,
should be broken up into groups of structures, “should incorporate significant wall and roof articulation,” and should
"incorporate the traditional architectural characteristics of existing houses in the neighborhood." I hear you talking about water
towers and railing colors, but I don’t think you have read these guidelines. I’m a retired schoolteacher, so I can help you find
them if you’re lost.
I have sat in your meeting and heard you deal with big walls and noisy balconies in fancier neighborhoods. I have lived in this
house for 84 years and my family for over 100. Sojourner Truth had a speech, “Ain’t I a woman?” Well, I want to ask, “Ain’t I a
resident?” And the young woman who rents my cottage? And my friends in the apartments next door? Which my grandfather,
E. D. Bray, converted from Logan Hay and Feed, and which was Tom Barrett’s racing stable before then. You seem to think
nobody lives here and is affected by this big glass building with terraces all over the top. I would like you to think about it being
next door to you, and read the guidelines, and apply them as you are supposed to.
Jean Martin
Owner, Master List Robert Pollard House
535 Higuera Street
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