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Citizen Communications re Kress Rezoning at Old Hwy Road~_ q - v~' _ (11 ~„ _ c°m..., 0 Inn ..._.I ... __-- _ _ _ G ~ ~~ ~~ 1 a :t } ~~~ „~..P ~ z ~a ~ ~ ~.R. t ~~,,;... 4,, J~ A~,...: d ~ ~~- ~.~,.:~1. ~, ~. ate,, ~,, ~.~P. ',/~~/ hv.+- a... ~+. a~w ~ ~,~~ ~`~ ~ ~~~ ~~ c ~,.~ _ ~ ~ ~ _- -~ .. - _ _ _ ,-n // ,. :. _ _ __ ~ ~_ L~ Dear City Council Members, ~rter artenamg the oil meetmg, i stiii reel it wouia De oeneIiciai ror all oI you to actuaiiy view the property from our land so you can make a more informed decision. I invite you to come out anytuiie. t~pproxunateiy yu% oi- the view is or the city ana countryside ana would be perfect land for residential development. The existing industry is only a small ponion of the view. ivir. iLress aiways stresses that no one wants to ioox at industry and therefore it should be zoned industrial. This is truly not the case. Actually, at one of the county zoning meetings he stated that he was going to build a $500,000 home on the site for himself. T'he land has not changed. Hriotner concern i nave is the gas pipeline that runs the entire iengtn or the property. How does he plan to excavate down 35 feet and not disturb it? I would like to know what plans the engineers have come up with in regazds to this issue as this is a concern of mine. ii you do annex it into the city, i would iiice to de reassured that my property values ana the surrounding neighbors will be protected. What measures will be taken to assure this? i trunx tnere are many existmg mdustriai parks in the ciryicounry that azen~t tilled or being utilized yet. Do you really need another site and especially one that can have such a huge effect on the current residents already in the area? nRr. press says tie wants to ue a good neight~or, However we neazd ttus same thing from Alter Scrap. Their building isn't even completed yet and they already have destroyed ~acic tsrenm~s ability to access one of His rieids on His farm. rie Has asked them to rix it and so faz nothing has happened. We don't want any more of these types of problems in our area. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I urge you to vote no at the 3`d reading. Bev Metcalf 1 Jby.3 MCl;iain Lai?e Peosta, IA 52068 bl `~~~ngnQ d~~~~n ~, `~1~1'~ ,~~i~ 9 I ~Z fed 01 t~(1(' 8(? ~~:n~E~/F!~ ~8 JU'~ I Q P~ 2~ l 6 Dear City Council Members, City ~f~i , ~ Uff ice In regards to the Toby Kress property rezoning and annexation, I wou~llf~~! lk~~bu to vote no in the 3rd reading. As I stated in my first letter, I know the City of Dubuque has to grow and I fully support that. However, I still feel that the area Mr. Kress is trying to develop has too many residents to make it a viable area to add more industry. I know there is a small amount of existing industry in the area but housing has grown and definitely outnumbers the commercial sites. I know he still maintains that he can't sell residential lots because in his opinion it is commercial land. Why is it zoned residential then? Dubuque County must have a different opinion as do the current landowners. Whenever he talks about the land he almost portrays it as almost being like a wasteland. If I wasn't so familiar with the property, after listening to him, I would think it was only good for industrial use also. This most definitely is not the case. I just went for a walk along my parents (Jim & Bev Metcalf) property line. It adjoins the entire western border of Toby Kress's land and the view is spectacular. When I was growing up I often thought that area would be a beautiful place to build homes someday. I still have that feeling today. Yes, you can see the small area of commercial buildings. However the very large view of the city and the countryside far outweighs that small area of industry that you see. Homes in the city of Dubuque that overlook the city have this exact same type of view and they sell easily because of it. When Mr. Kress first purchased the land he even told my husband and I that he was going to build a home on this land almost directly across from ours. What made him change his mind? Leaving this land as County R-1 would be a win-win situation. He would make his return on his investment and our existing properties wouldn't lose their value. Residential development would actually raise our values. Industrial development will hurt all of the homeowners to the point we may not be able to resell our homes. That is the case with the home on the corner of Olde Highway Road and Seippel Road. It has to be rented out because they can't sell it. Mr. Resnick read a passage from a letter written by a county zoning board member as to whether this development would be injurious to the neighbors. He was asked Mr. Kress if his development would fit the model and therefore not hurt the present homeowners. He still maintained that basically it wouldn't. Maybe the people that own the homes on Olde Highway Road would be better ones to ask as to whether his Seippel Road development has been injurious to them. I think homes that can't be sold is very injurious. I don't think anyone can dispute that. We all did our homework before we built out here. If it had been zoned industrial, we would have built elsewhere. We followed the rules and so should he. As Mr. Jones stated, Mr. Kress's return on his investment is not the cities problem nor is it the existing homeowner's problem. Mr. Lynch also made the comment at the June 2nd City Council meeting that he sees the disappointment in our eyes over the cities decision. It's not only disappointment but despair because I may have to postpone retirement if I can't eventually sell my home or have to take a huge loss on it. I'm sure this may also be the case of many other homeowners in the area. I am still of the opinion that if he had prepared the land for residential development he would have sold lots by now. It is residential land! He also stood before you and said that he will be a good neighbor to us. Rezoning this residential property is already not being a good neighbor. We have 51 signatures on a petition, the Dubuque County Zoning Board, the Dubuque County Supervisors and the City of Dubuque Zoning Board that are against this. What will he ask for next? How long will the buffer zones be in place before he needs more property and that protection is taken from us? I know the city needs industrial land but I think there are much better options out there that won't cause this clash of residents versus developers. It would also alleviate the huge expense that the city will incur to run sewer and water lines to this property and to maintain this island of land that is surrounded by county. Once again, I thank all of you for taking the time to read this letter and hope that you will consider what I have said. I truly appreciate the fact that you have addressed the residents concerns at the 6/2 meeting and will be holding him to a higher standard. Hopefully, this will minimize the damages/losses that this potential change will cause to the homeowners if you decide to pass it. I also appreciate the fact that you are requiring him to have a site plan completed by an engineer so you know what his true plans are. His actual plans have been an issue in the past and sometimes have even changed during the course of a meeting. That has been very frustrating for us as well. Restrictions that the homeowners would like to see are as follows: • Only light industrial will be allowed and the industry should be built on the Olde Highway road side of the property near the existing industry (Addoco Pallet). • The industry will only have daytime M-F hours of operation so as not to disturb the residents. • Make sure buffer zones are in place for all residents that border the land • Outline how the Metcalf boundaries will be maintained so their property isn't destroyed by erosion due to the extreme drop in elevation of this property • How will the ponds and waterways South of the development be protected from increased runoff. • How will increased traffic on Olde Highway Road be handled so the roadways will remain safe Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this and please reconsider your decision. ~~ ~ , Deb Vize 12055 Cottingham Road Peosta, IA 52068 C7 ~ ~~ c cs r ~ ~-n ~ ,~ _~ - o '7 ~ ~ ~ Dear Mayor and City Council Members, ~' D N c, I am writing to you because I am restricted from contacting you in any other way. The land that Toby Kress is trying to rezone to light industrial with the cities pay back being that of voluntary annexation has many issues. The City of Dubuque will have to provide water, sewer, police and fire protection to this area. Who will maintain the street when there is no city street connecting this new island of city land? I'm not sure that it is legal to annex an island according to the State of Iowa City Planning Department, but apparently the railroad must provide an umbilical cord that can be used to make this attachment proper. Who will be responsible for the runoff that will fill in my pond that is South of this development. I have incurred great expense to put this in and would like to see it remain as it is. The proposed buffer zones are just pacifiers to satisfy the current residents. As the city zoning board members stated they are not binding. This was one of their reasons for denying Mr. Kress's rezoning because it has just happened to the residents near Medical Associates West. They didn't want that scenario repeated again. I have spoken with engineers from the railroad and IIW in Dubuque and although this land is adjacent to the railroad, it will never be cost effective for a rail spur. Therefore, the railroad becomes a non issue in regards to rezoning. I don't believe that annexing an island is the correct way to do this. When the time is right, the city should annex the whole area. This would include the Jecklin farm, the Metcalf farm, the Brehm farm and up both sides of Olde Highway Road. This way the entire area could go to long range planning at once instead of a small piece at a time. This would help avoid many of the headaches and opposition and hopefully provide a better arrangement of industry and residential. Mr. Kress has made many changes over the course of the 9 different zoning, supervisors, and city council meetings. He seems to try to change the rules in the middle of the game. This doesn't seem fair to the people that it affects most. The only thing that seems to matter to him is what will give him the best return on his investment. And last, but not least, Mr. Kress told me he planned to build his own home on about 10 acres of this land and then lot the rest off. He said it would be a great place for a house and a nice pond. I don't know what changed his mind. Then he turns around and says that putting industrial in will improve my view. Last night (June 9`}'), I took a picture from my back yard. It overlooks Mr. Kress's property. Please view the picture I have enclosed. If you don't thing industrial will improve our area, please think long and hard and vote to deny. If we let Mr. Kress rape this land, we won't get it back. Thank you for your time. /~' e Vize 12055 Cottingham Road Peosta, IA 52068 Mayor Buol and City Council members, My name is Gary Johnson and I live at 12089 Cottingham Rond. I've lived there since 1974. The residents of the wren are against rezoning. The plan, in various forms, was turned down by both the County Board of Supervisors and the Zoning Advisory Commission. These are people entrusted with the power to approve or disapprove changes to the zoning. They are the watchdogs of the county zoning. If it isn't right, they wi II turn it down. They didn't think it was the proper use of the property. Most, not all, city counci I members have evidently decided to ignore the various county boards recommendations. I don't know if a visit was ever made to the property in question. A flat piece of paper with colored areas drawn doesn't show the property as n visit would. en ~~ ~- ~1 ~ rn _ ':~ ~~ _- ~~ r ~ C! ~ G Zyr, o m ~ ~ Q a- ~ ~ nv~ Noise would be n problem. Lawn mowing before 8 AM isn't allowed in the city, Monday to Friday and before 9 AM on the weekends. No such limitations for industrial areas evidently. Addnco runs machinery that sounds like a heavy excavator before 8 AM. Generally it's before 7 AM and I have to close the windows to block out the noise. Sounds as if they are in my backyard. They're surrounded by fully grown trees so there won't be anything to help with noise pollution from the Kress property. Depending on how the wind is blowing, I hear the stock curs and the sounds of the fair but they were there before I was. Same with the smell of manure from a farmers field. They were there first. I can accept that. Besides, that odds to the country living. Railroad switching in my backyard is a noise I don't want. Are there any noise limitations? Times allowed for working i n industrial areas? Middle of the night noises a possibility? 3 S~ d w/ ~~ t~ If this is allowed for light industrial, what are the plans for heavy industrial? I'd think heavy industrial would open up more types of dirty/noisy businesses. Light industrial wouldn't justify the investment to put in a rai I spur. What are the plans toward heavy industrial? Wi II the counci I ask that question? At our first rending, the question was raised regarding traffic count. Alter is still under construction but nt earlier meetings, they thought 350 curs/trucks n day. This is in an area more residential than industrial. A county resident, asking a city board is going to have an answer with n biased edge. Personally, I believe a decision should be made by people without a stake in the answer. Otherwise it just becomes a waste of time for all parties involved. The city makes the needed three readings. The motion passes and the county people are out of your hair. 4 .~ ~ W/ ~~~ I have add a DVD to watch if you have the time. Thank you for your time.