Dear Mayor and Town Council Members,
Speaking as a private citizen and owner of a home at 6922 Yount St. we are directly affected by the project at 1980 Yount Cross Rd. I would ask you to consider a few things; When Washington Park was being designed the developers worked to make it a part of the community, with paths and parks for everyone to enjoy. I am sure they would have rather built more houses, or bigger houses, but they didn’t. They worked with the town to create a new community and to fit their homes into the entire community.
This developer has made statements like “building family homes”, “walking and biking paths”, “providing needed housing”. But in reality, they have referred to the houses they are building as “products” and they are not working with the town in providing anything to the community in return for all the waivers and concessions they are taking.
Yes, this developer is creating two moderate income homes on this property, but only to be able to distort the California Housing Laws with their waivers. Will these two homes really be made available to the appropriate residents as they are ensconced behind their private gate? Who will own Lot 1 and who will manage them?
Looking specifically the houses on Lot 4 and Lot 5, they are designed in such a way as to be detrimental to the people that actually live in the Cross Roads Condos that back up to the north fence of this project. By creating long narrow lots, they are orienting these two houses so that they can make the two walls of these two houses only 5’ from the shared fence with the homes at Cross Roads. Two tall imposing homes with tall imposing walls just 60” from the backyards of the condos. This project, with these two-story walls, against our fences, will greatly affect our ability to enjoy the outdoor space in our backyard. Requiring obscure glass in the windows of the second story will not in any way make this imposing wall any less invasive. It would be a neighborly gesture to redesign these two houses to be elegant one-story homes. One story homes, that are so highly sought after in today’s market. It would be a change that would mean that they have listened to the community and chosen to work with the community, instead of against it.
Legal precedent has been quoted as the reason this project has been given permission to bypass so many of the Town’s Codes, the codes that have been so carefully developed over time to create the character of the Yountville. The character that we all love. Is it time to take a legal stand against this?
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Steve & Kimberly Cook
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