20

February 5, 2008

To: The Town of Chapel Hill Advisory Boards and Committees

Re: The Residences at Grove Park SUP and Rezoning Applications

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am writing on behalf of the owners of the Central Park Condominiums, which is the adjoining property directly south of the proposed development. Central Park (formerly the Northampton Terrace Apartments) was built in the late 1960s. At that time, a four foot high chain link fence was erected along the northern property line to prevent trespassing by residents of the Townhouse Apartments (the property the Applicant is seeking to redevelop).

In recent years, tenants of the Townhouse Apartments have repeatedly vandalized that fence by cutting holes to allow them to create a shortcut to town and campus by trespassing across our property. Please see the attached photos (PDF). While trespassing on our property, they have also vandalized our signage and buildings. We reasonably expect that the increased density proposed by the Applicant will only exacerbate this problem. This will result in a reduction in the value of our property.

We have asked the Applicant to install a six foot high wooden fence along the southern edge of the proposed development in order to prevent vandalism and trespassing by his residents. The Applicant has refused to do so.

LUMO requires that no SUP can be approved unless, “the use or development is located, designed, and proposed to be operated so as to maintain or enhance the value of contiguous property.” We do not believe this finding can be made unless the fence we have proposed (see attached plan) is required to be installed.

We have no objection to the project being built. We simply ask that the Applicant be required to provide adequate protection for our property. Should you choose to recommend approval of the applications, we ask that you only do so only with the stipulation that a six foot high wooden fence be installed (as shown in the attached plan) and maintained in perpetuity by the property owner.

Thank you.

Joe Patterson