Response: Note from Kerri Benedetti re: zoning

Re: Note from Kerri Benedetti re: zoning
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009 8:46:31 AM
From:
Kerri Benedetti
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to the neighbors of Florence drive,

After the flurry of letters and many questions and accusations that have circulated on our street I decided it was time to so some fact finding. I made two trips to the county building as the planning/zoning department has limited hours. I found some interesting facts that affect all of us.
I paid for documentation that Is now in the possession of the Jacksons as Don and I will not be in town for the meeting. If the Jacksons are not able to attend the meeting Norma Ebert will bring the info.

1-In September of 1926 a group of people sold the land we now live on to be developed.

2-in that documentation the roads that are in our neighborhood were dedicated as public access. Some of the roads it was decided would not be county maintained. Florence drive is one.

3-The public works department room 410 was the department I was directed to start with. This department oversees the roadways. This is where I aquired the information on when the roads were dedicated and for what. They printed the information out for 32.00. The department explained the difference between a public access road privately maintained and a private road.
Private street -homeowners are allowed prevent others from using their road. Homeowners are responsible for traffic control, maintenance and are fully liable for accidents that occur due to their negligence to keep road safe.
Privately Maintained Road- Homeowners are not allowed to prevent the public from using the road. The homeowners are required to maintain the road at their own expense. There are no rules forcing anyone to pitch into the costs. There are no rules on the type of surface. The homeowners are responsible for traffic control. There are no rules nor regulations about how to do this. Furthermore there are no permits required to upgrade,repair,maintain or add speed control bumps to these streets. There are no approved nor illegal designs of bumps.

I found this hard to believe in a society with so many rules, regulations and fees. I asked if the person in the department if he was positive about this because we had received a letter from the fire department outlining procedures for our area. The public works department said that I was given the proper information- the fire department has no power over our decision. The person I talked with said if I was worried that I should go to the Planning department to enquire they have zoning information and permit applications and requirements and of course I could speak with my lawyer to have him explain if I was still worried. I went to the department it was closing (11:30am) for the day. I returned yesterday- you have the report that the person files after the resident/customer meeting it is a computer generated form so you will see a disclaimer at the bottom that mentions projects. This disclaimer is for people that must submit permits which he would have directed me to do if it was required.

The person I spoke to in the planning and zoning department told me the same thing. He said this is a Civil issue. I asked him to explain what that meant as it pertained to this issue. He said simply it is up to us. There are no rules. I was quite shocked! No rules...we can decide to agree...or be in disagreement. It is up to us as individuals to decide how involved we want to be in maintaining and preserving our investment as well as protecting the people and animals that live on our street. There are no rules on majority will rule- nothing...

Just as the county decided that the safety of those living on Martin drive is more important than the concerns for the fire trucks having to drive over the three bumps we should put our residents and investment first. The fire department distributed recommendations. There are people that are in disapproval of the bumps on this street, these residents carry the same weight as the fire department as far as input regarding the installation and design. Those that are paying for the bumps have control over the placement and design of the bumps. The people want to honor the design request of the fire department.

Don and I figured out that there is almost enough money to pay for the entire project which includes the two bumps out of the six thousand dollars that Peter has collected. We feel that it will make people feel better if they are involved in the process. As it stands now the one end of the street (jackson,may) has collected enough funds to do the bump the same as on Martin. It has been decided that the 229 end of the street will need to collect the funds and proceed on their own. Don and I are willing to pay for the bump... it will be the one you see on Kenneth and parts of (?) Kingsbury (which are legal just not preferred by the fire department and residents). We like those best and they are what we will be able to afford. We are not going to go door to door asking for money-- everyone is aware of the costs and proposed design and the fact that Cameron Jackson is collecting the funds and organizing the two bumps that everyone agrees are the best choice.The bump we like takes up less space on the street and is of course less costly. If the residents on this street would like to pitch in or Peter decides to release the funds towards the two bump project then we will pitch in our part of the balance. We will not be at the meeting as I stated before. We felt we should let people know what we are thinking and planning. The bump edge will end at the telephone pole (between our property and mussleman's old house) as our households have agreed this spot does not make entrance into any driveway difficult.

Kerri and Don Benedetti