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PD119-NR 911002Kent M. Moore October 2, 1991 Secretary Hunterwood Homeowner Association 436 Dillard Lane Coppell, Texas 75109 cc: Mayor M. Wolfe Council Members HI-lA file Gary Sieb enclosures Director of Planning and Community Services P.O. 478 Coppell, Texas 75019 Dear Mr. Sieb, Further to our telephone conversation today, please review the comments enclosed regarding ~mr objections to the emrorcement of fl~e required stipulation rcconamend~,xt by the Planning and Zoning Committee to alter Tim House's plat proposal by requiring alley access to the five properties that will face Bethel School Road. We understand the intent of the stipulation is to maintain compliance with the current development ordinances that call for alley access for all single family dwellings in Coppell. We further understand that it is supposed that the addition of the alley will promote safer access to Bethel School Road from the five houses affected by requirement. However, after review of these and several other important topics outlined in the enclosure we maintain that the alley access to the five houses, while procedurally correct, would be functionally incongruent with the surrounding neighborhoods, the remainder of the proposed neighborhood, and the future development planned on the East side of Bethel School Road. We therefore request that the stipulation to require alleys for the five properties in question be rescinded and that the properties be allowed to be front entry homes as desired by the developer Mr. House. We will make our position 'officially' known at the forthcoming City Council meeting. We enclose our reasons here to allow you to review our arguments and to save time. HHA President Clay Pereson and other members of HHA will make a brief appearance at. the meeting to state our position, but the reasons and notes to our discussion are contained in this letter for your review. We will ask that this letter be included in the minutes of the City Council meeting. We therefore solicit your support in this matter but we understand that we may not possess the total of the relevant information that may affect your decision. Please consider our viewpoint. Thank you. Sincerel , Kent M. Moore Secretary Listed Concerns for Required Alley Access In a meeting held with Developer Tim House On October 1, 1991, the Executive Committee of Hunterwood Homeowner Association reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of having an alley access to the five homes proposed to face Bethel School Road in the proposed development of Big Cedar. It is the opinion of the Executive Committee that the houses should be allowed to have front access and that the requirement to add alley access should be rescinded. Discussion 1. The neighborhood will have limited and predictable traffic flow, Forty one homes planned at 2.5 cars per house leads us to assume that an average of 90 cars will be using the road to gain access to the neighborhood entrance. If 60% of homeowners in Coppell are single income households, it follows that at peak drive times a maximum 54 cars will use the road. I Front entry homes will not pose a significant driving hazard. [ 2. One of the P&Z's concerns is: "Without an alley, cars backing out of the five home's driveways may cause a safety hazard." a. Visibility will be satisfactory from the vantage point of both oncoming traffic and cars backing of the driveway. Visibility from an alley driveway is obstructed by the high fences. It is safer to back out into the street. b. Cars leaving the neighborhood will be travelling at a reduced speed because of the close proximity of the five houses to the exit of the neighborhood. Cars entering the neighborhood will be travelling at an enforced speed limit of 30 M.P.H. c. The maximum number of cars backing out of the driveways would not exceed 12.5 cars with an assumed drive time peak of 60% of 12.5 = 7.5 cars. Therefore we do not feel it is advantageous to have alleys simply to lessen the likelihood that at any one time 7.5 cars will be in a unsafe driving predicament. Note: The proposed properties are 85 feet in width therefore qualifying them for circle driveways that would allow front-first exits. The '"monotony" of ad0ing more concrete in front of the homes, and of having similar entrances, could be made aesthetically pleasing if significant landscaping (using berms and additional trees) were required of the developer. [ Conformity with other homes in the Hunterwood area takes precedent I 3. All other homes in the Big Cedar development will be front entry. 4. All homes in Hunterwood are front entry. Therefore: P & Z's concern that the 5 houses must conform with the city's most recent plan to have "all single family housing have alley access" to promote a more consistent appearance does not apply in this case. a. While planning conformity is important we believe that conformity with other homes in the area takes precedent. Rear entry homes would not be compatible with the other homes in our area, both existing and those planned for future development. achievable property improvement would affect the value of the property and perhaps the resalability of the home. Beauty Alleys experience more landscape deterioration and thus age to an unacceptable asthetic level. Alleys with containers and cans, trailers and sundry items age into a receptacle for eye sore collectibles. Fences age and are rebuilt with no consistency--the alley becomes a view of inconsistent repairs and maintenance. The view of the entrance of the alley also is displeasing to the eye. For example, consider the view of the alley behind the F&J homes recently completed at the bend in Bethel Road. The observer looks down an alley of concrete, no lanscaping, and monotonous lines of fences. Certainly homeowners pay more attention making their front yards look good. If not for personal reasons, maybe only to please their neighbors. But the back alleys are "out of sight--out of mind". Perhaps this is a generality--but we feel the alley will deteriorate in time. There are many examples of neglected alleys throughout the city. One final concern is the front-facing homes proposed for the future east side development of Bethel School Road. Since that development plat has not been approved we see no reason to include it in our discussion at this time other than to say that we will continue to seek front entry conformity in planning for all new developments adjacent to Hunterwood. You may know that the devaluation of the property in Hunterwood has been significant. There is a high level of lease property in our neighborhood, because residents that have moved can not afford to sell their homes for a loss. Our homes in Hunterwood are appraised based on the market value of similar homes in the area. Ironically there are no similar homes in this area. Therefore Hunterwood prices have spiralled downward as the devalued price brings the overall market value down. For this reason the Hunterwood Homeowner Association has great concern over decisions affecting this side of town. The proposed developments in time, will saturate this side of town with preferential development and we are hopeful that that will cause our property values to increase. However, we are concerned over every aspect of development that may tend to be disadvantageous or destructive to the quality of life that we enjoy in this area. We have limited traffic, low crime, easy access, limited population, and our children are safe. We want to maintain our current standard of living. The alleys will have an adverse affect on our neighborhood. We suggest that rigidly adhering to general city management guidelines will, upon occasion, hinder the progress we seek. Such is the case with the alleys. We ask that you consider the points above and make an exception to the current procedure to add an alley behind those five houses. The alley proposal serves only to inconvenience existing homeowners with no clear significant benefit to future homeowners or to the city other than to comply with a city development guideline that has significant disadvantages. Thank you for your consideration. We will abide by your judgement. Signed: Members of The Executive Committee of The Hunterwood Homeowner Association 4 b. The alley in question will only service 5 homes, (the houses directly behind the five homes, which will back up to the alley, will be front entry homes). It is questionable whether or not alley accessed homes are preferred for any area of Coppell--but especially in the case of the Big Cedar development for the topics listed below. Trash pick-up Trash will accumulate in the rear alley. Access to the garbage truck will be difficult. We see no advantage other than to keep trash containers off the main road on trash days. We feel this is an insignificant disadvantage to front entry homes. Safety a. Children play in alleys. We feel this creates an unsafe environment for children, especially at night. Children playing basketball (or some other activity) may dart out in front of a car. b. The alley must accommodate two way traffic. We feel this indicates less than convenient access to any home. Crime Crime occurs significantly more frequently in homes that have rear access. Hunterwood enjoys one of the lowest crime areas (if not the lowest) in Coppell. We feel the addition of the alley would therefore affect the quality of life we presently enjoy on this side of town, and in the neighborhood of Hunterwood. Tree Removal At this time there have been no Tree Surveys done on any of the proposed developments for our area. We are skeptical that the developers have a sincere commitment to assure that no unnecessary tree removal will occur in the new developments. However, by our own examination we conclude that the proposed alley will cause unnecessary tree removal. Noise Cars using the alley will create increased noise after 11:00 p.m. and before 6:00 a.m. for the residents in the adjacent homes in Hunterwood, and for the homes directly behind the 5 homes in the Big Cedar development. Ecology We see no advantage to adding more concrete at the expense of less greenery. Property value Without an alley the 5 homes would have larger backyards allowing for swimming pool construction or other facilities that would enhance utilization of the backyard. The level of 3