Rezoning Opposition Sample Letter

Here is sample letter that can be customized and used to e-mail/send to City Council, Planning Commission, and LUZ (Land Use and Zoning Committee Members.

Dear Council,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to 2019-0317, the proposed rezoning at the northwest quadrant of Hodges Blvd and Butler Blvd. While the local community may be unable to prevent development, that in itself will be detrimental to the area, nearly all residents in the Glen Kernan neighborhoods are completely opposed to the addition of multi-family housing that will cause traffic and safety problems, create even more problems with schools that are already over-capacity, destroy local wildlife habitat, and potentially lower the property values of the existing community.

Traffic and safety of pedestrians are major areas of concern. Traffic jams north of Butler Blvd already spans the distance between Butler Blvd deceleration lanes and the Glen Kernan/Sutton Drive intersection, and the intersection is routinely blocked by traffic turning onto Hodges toward Butler Blvd during rush hour. The PUD lawyer indicated that the existing PUD will make traffic worse than the proposed PUD. While the traffic may be lighter on average, the local neighborhood traffic will disproportionately surge during morning and evening rush hours, causing traffic issues during critical times for the existing four Glen Kernan neighborhoods. The traffic surge during morning rush hours will also negatively impact safety for children, since students walk to school in the mornings. In general, the area traffic is continuing to increase, and heavy traffic is already common at times from Butler Blvd to Beach Blvd, which may not have been anticipated during the last rezoning approval.

Schools in the area are already reported at overcapacity, and the council should not approve multi-family dwellings that creates or exacerbates a situation that will cause school concurrency to fail for this proposal and/or other approved plans.

Wildlife has been observed in the area, and any development will destroy their habitat. Any planned development of the property should consider the continuing impact to local wildlife habitat. During the planning commission meeting, a speaker indicated that the proposed planning area has several endangered species, which should be investigated by the appropriate agency prior to approving development.

Property values are likely to go down in the area if multi-family apartments or condominiums are built. Multi family dwellings are inconsistent with the neighborhoods developed in the area. I was disappointed that only 75 or so notices were mailed. There was no indication of where the notifications were sent, but I suspect none were delivered into our neighborhood, Riverbrook at Glen Kernan.

I urge you to disapprove the proposed rezoning, and from recent meetings and discussions with my neighbors, I know my opinions are shared by many who have not managed to attend meeting or write letters and emails.

Thank you for your continued service and support of our communities.

Best regards,