Letter: What do you want in HP-1 Old Town
Letter: What do you want in HP-1 Old Town
Marlene Saadia Piriz
St Augustine, FL
Dear Editor:
What happens if Planned Unit Development (PUD) application #2015-0021, Cordova Inn is rejected? The owner will exercise his right to convert or retrofit the seven remaining museum buildings to apartment units, 24 in total.
This property is a uniquely arranged cluster of buildings, facing interior courtyards and gardens, and has only six parking spaces. Four parking spaces are on Bridge Street and two are located on St George Street. They all back out onto narrow streets.
City code does not require owners to provide parking spaces for tenants or their visitors in the Old Town subdivision. Therefore, tenants and their guests will find temporary or overnight parking on the nearby streets.
The lack of designated parking for tenants will be unappealing to professionals and young families and therefore increases the possibility of student rentals.
Those of us who have had the unfortunate experience of living within proximity of college students know the unruly behavior and lack of respect for buildings and community, many of them have.
Our city’s system of oversight is complaint driven. Therefore, the responsibility of oversight falls on concerned neighbors who may be directly affected by unruly behavior, illegal activities, or code infractions.
- The city’s occupancy regulations state that no more than three unrelated persons may reside in one unit; there are no minimum requirements for those who may be related. The 24 apartments could result in up to seventy-two unrelated tenants with their cars, their belongings, their deliveries and their friends, adding congestion, and traffic to our worn and narrow streets.
- We can also expect quick fix repairs, rapid deterioration, low aesthetics, additional fire and safety risks affecting pedestrians and neighboring homes, increased noise, and late night parties.
- Lastly, we lose any hope of accessing or safeguarding this historic site.
We would like to have some control of our residential quality of life by limiting the options for the Dow Property from today forward.
Mr. Corneal, the new property owner, has demonstrated a willingness to hear the communities concerns and has altered his PUD application to reflect many our demands.
A PUD approval would give the residents who live within hear-shot of the complex the opportunity to control our environment and our quality of life. It would also grant St. Augustine, as a whole, a viable mechanism for ongoing maintenance, preservation and continued sharing of this historic site with citizen and tourist alike.
Is this what you really want for HP1?
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