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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20190770 Allen Drive Apts Correspondance City of Saratoga Springs Planning Boardim ATTN: Mark Torpey, Chairman & Plannipt,g6prOri;1 -, r71-1-1 Members ft_/_, ? 6. City Hall ,)\ VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL DELIVERY to Susan-841-den, Principal Planner (susan.barden©setrato,:a-spr:Nsorg) Dear Chairman Torpey and Planning Board Members: The Board of Directors of Travers Manor Homeowners Association (TMHOA) supports the DEW Ventures, LLC proposal for new housing on Allen Drive. TMHOA is the immediate neighbor of the Allen Drive project with many of our 106 units abutting the rear of DEW's Allen Drive project, from Route 9N southbound to the 90-degree turn of Allen Drive to the west. The Board of Directors of Travers Manor over several occasions, along with the homeowners in attendance at the Annual Meeting in early November, have been apprised of the proposed Allendale project for Allen Drive. We believe that the development team partnership of KCG Development, locally based DEW Ventures, and the nonprofit, Veterans and Community Housing Coalition (VCHC), is a strong union with a genuine community focus. We have been briefed in considerable detail on their plan to deliver attractive, quality, modern and affordable housing, along with a thrift shop offering affordable, quality products with job-training of area veterans. As neighbors to the existing property with many of our HOA homeowners backing up to the western edge of the proposed project, we are excited by the neighborhood beautification and curb appeal. Moreover, the development team, led by Bill Teator, listened to questions on very specific concerns of our Board and homeowners. Specifically, our community was assured of standards regarding: —Parking spaces [Parking stats per resident and for the store are to code. 1 .5 per apartment unit (67) = 97 spaces. For the socioeconomic demographic it appears that's an abundance. In addition, 3 prof spaces 1000 sf of commercial retail on our 11 ,500-sf leasable space = 35 required]. —Lighting proposal [To code and guidelines. DEW will add more City required sidewalk lanterns extending to Church Street. Low voltage ground lighting around the playground. Downcast lights at door entries for safety. No back sidelights in 25' setbacks toward Travers Manor] —Brush Removal & Privacy Fencing [All property lines delineated by survey. Our desire is for cleaning up the boundary areas from overgrowth and providing new, maintenance-free privacy fencing along the entire easterly border of our community. Strip brush and add rear privacy fencing with the replacement of maintenance-free vinyl 6' fencing, to agreed color as presented to City design review commission after Board of Directors indicates a preference for color.] —Green space / Rec area/ Setbacks [Plentiful minimum 25' set back from the boundary. Density is set to UR-4 residential code for our acreage available to use on the west side of Allen Drive backed up to Travers Manor.] —General comments; two-story buildings and DEW compliance with the density limits are the bare minimum to viably repurpose the decaying current buildings. The beautification, extension of sidewalks and safety/decorative streetlights, and backup privacy fencing will be improvements in addition to updated, long-lived and maintained structures. ***** We are very grateful for the development team's meetings and discussions of the intended use of the redeveloped properties, and that its planned scale and building height were respectful of our neighborhood characteristics. We even were able to post their overview and images to our Travers Manor community website for review (TraversManorHOA.org). It was welcome to see a plan for vastly improving the quality of the redeveloped properties at rents affordable to local people. We recognize that by replacing 38 units and adding 29, that this project fits within the existing neighborhood well with very limited new impacts. As a nearby walking community, we are pleased to note that required city sidewalks and street lighting will be added to complete those areas of the developed property currently lacking those improvements. We also believe the finishes are attractive, and generally kept with the look and rooflines of nearby community improvements in the area over the recent years. Again, the development team also agreed to carefully comply with lighting use guidelines to be respectful of the casting of exterior lights, of great concern to our homeowners. Thank you for your work on the residents' behalf. As a community of 106 homeowners, Travers Manor is grateful to have been continuously apprised by DEW Ventures, LLC of planning considerations and look forward to the Allendale project being approved to advance. Actually, the level of attention provided to TMHOA by DEW Ventures, LLC vastly exceeds that of any previous project over the past 25 years. It set a new and very high standard of public information for which the Board of Directors, and homeowners, are very appreciative. Sincerely, 0 1, A Dennis Hodges President Travers Manor HOA