28 December 2016 <br />Erik Berg Johansen <br />Associate Planner <br />City of Eugene <br />Dear Erik Berg-Johansen, <br />I have been a property owner in Southeast Eugene since 2004. 1 take good care of my home. I replaced <br />the sidewalk in front of my home last year, a new roof just a few years ago, and I grow my own food <br />during the long growing season. I love my home and the peaceful neighborhood. I am grateful that we <br />have schools, churches, a bakery and grocery within walking distance. I do not need nor want a <br />behemoth apartment complex to be built near us, changing the tenor of where we live. 1, and many of <br />my neighbors are opposed to the construction of an apartment building on the site of what had been a <br />quiet church. I recently went door to door in my neighborhood, and out of more than 30 residences, <br />found only one person with tepid support for the project. <br />Already, at least one young couple on Alder Street has moved out of the neighborhood, describing the <br />development noise as outrageously loud and "pounding hour after hour." They just want to live a quiet <br />life here in Southeast Eugene. They were not willing to stay and experience more disruptions from a <br />proposed development on the other side of their back yard fence. They have put their house up for sale, <br />but it has not sold. So, even before the apartment project is approved and built, it is driving people <br />away, economically tainting our neighborhood, and we may have a hard time finding new home-buying <br />neighbors. <br />When people begin to move out of their own neighborhood because of the impending destruction and <br />disruption of their everyday lives, you know something is wrong. The proposed apartment building does <br />not fit at all with our neighborhood. It would change our environment from sleepy to bustling. It would <br />introduce more renters with no stake in the betterment of our community. It would introduce potential <br />for crime in an area that has thankfully escaped a lot of burglaries and assaults - by attracting people <br />with no investment in our community. <br />This fall, I attended a meeting at which one of the developers spoke about the proposed project. It was <br />clear that my fellow Southeast Neighbors also do not invite this kind of destruction of our <br />neighborhood. Not everyone voiced the exact same objections, but I did not hear welcoming voices for <br />this project. The developer, who spoke to us, lives in the Fox Hollow area, and mentioned that he would <br />not want such a project in his back yard. Why should we be subject to his bad idea in our back yards? <br />He mentioned that unless the apartment density is very high, profits won't pencil out. So, his yearning <br />for profit - not community - is driving the size of the project. It is not my responsibility, nor the <br />responsibility of anyone living in this neighborhood to help him make his profit by degrading our homes <br />and sense of place. <br />