>Can anyone shed any light as to why this house was included in the M-UTC area?<br><br>The owner asked that it be included. If I recall correctly, the M-UTC Zone initially included the parking lot, but not the boarding house itself. At the time there were several area property owners that sought inclusion within the Zone. A few were rejected, but those that were ultimately included were the boarding house and the three boarding house/rental units that face Natoli.
<br><br>In the case of the boarding house, the argument expressed was the following:<br>- the property is old and beat up and not a likely candidate for historic rehab<br>- you can't do anything with it to make it profitable in its then-current zoning (which was single family residential)
<br>- the business owner at the time said that he would like to expand the Dumm's Corner Store to double the floor space by moving across the street to the site where the boarding house is located.<br>- Even if you wanted to tear down the building and rebuild it, the single-family residential zoning would not allow for it. The boarding house is grandfathered-in. Single family-R zoning would require a greater set back and smaller building than the present boarding house.
<br><br>If I remember right, inclusion of the property within the Zone was a council vote, not a committee decision. But there was plenty of discussion with the committee of volunteers at the time. As a citizen participant, I voiced opinion against inclusion because it would provide opportunity for commercial encroachment close to Oliver St, which is the historic entrance to the mansion. The compromise ultimately negotiated by the Town, through Michael Herman's effort, was that the Boarding House property would be included in the MUTC zone, in exchange for a 20 or 30 foot undevelopable buffer backing the Oliver Street property line.
<br><br>Why would the town include this in the M-UTC Zone? Because Dumm's and the Spiropolouses are valued and vital businesses in our otherwise empty town center. There was a lot of support for inclusion because it created opportunity for the business to grow and thrive and provide more services in the community. Also, there were a lot of people who didn't particularly like the boarding house in its present use- so keeping it locked into SFR was not that popular.
<br><br>I agree that it could in theory be a neat B&B - but none of us know the costs of that or the potential for making or losing money on that. Seems to me that if a B&B were more profitable than a boarding house, the owners might have already made the switch.
<br><br>- Alice <br> <br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/16/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Rob Oppenheim</b> <<a href="mailto:rob.oppenheim@comcast.net">rob.oppenheim@comcast.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Despite rumors that the condos are a "done deal", they are not. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> No approval has yet been granted. </font></div>
<div> </div>
<font face="Arial" size="3"> </font><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Citizen input can and does matter. They require an exception to the rules </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> to build what has been proposed, so it may well not happen. In my talking to </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> people during the campaign, sentiment was strong and it ran about 10 to 1 </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> against this project (as it is now proposed).</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> I still have a bit of "wait and see" in me. Since they are still proposing changes. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Yet I am deeply concerned about the impact of this on the historic core of the town.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> And I am worried that if people wait too long to get involved it may be too late.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<font face="Arial" size="3"> </font><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> I urge everyone to attend the April 5 M-UTC meeting.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> The house at 6009 Lafayette Ave appears on the 1904(?) map that hangs in the Town </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Hall conference room, so it is at least 102 years old. The outside of the house appears </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> in good shape. I would guess the interior is in bad shape. But with a solid foundation and </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> good exterior it could be restored to its former glory. Wouldn't that be wonderful.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Can anyone shed any light as to why this house was included in the M-UTC area?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> The building that holds the Dumm's corner store and the adjoining pizza and sub</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> shop is a delightful old building, and is exactly what M-UTC seems to want for this area. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Now it has some ugly stuff added to it, like boarded up windows and giant beer </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> posters in the windows, and empty boxes piled behind the posters, but most</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> of the actual building is charming and appears solid. There is a junk addition tacked </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> onto the back corner of the building, but the rest appears to be good and solid and </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> quality built with charming accents.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> I would like to see the rest of the block go away. That is, the empty lot that is </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> piled with junk, and the cinder block walls of the old credit union. The glass bricks </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> on the front of the credit union are interesting, but I do not find it charming.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> But then, what do I know?</font></div></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="sg">
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Rob</font></div></span></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="e" id="q_10a06361cbcf779e_2">
<div> </div>
<font face="Arial" size="3"> </font><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:36:16 -0500 (EST), Andrew Farrington wrote:</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> >Is it too late to save that gorgeous old house? I'm very into your ideas</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> >and grateful for them, but I don't know if we actually have any options in</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="3"> >the matter. Do we?</font></div>
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