[Rathji]

Ok, where my mother lives she is on the north end of a street with an apartment building with retail space in the ground floor to the north of her. A couple days ago she received a letter from the City saying that there has been a request to tear down 4 houses to the SOUTH of her and replace them with an office building that the application says it is for a printing office.

Now this concerns me, that they would let this fly. She lives in a residential area, and has owned the home for 13 years, putting considerable time and money into renovations, which has made her infill home worth a decent amount more than the average for property in the area. The way I see it, this is why they are going to build on the 4 lots south of her and not on her lot, since they are lesser-maintained homes that can be purchased for far less per sq ft of lot than my mom's place.

They say that she has untill Dec 6 to submit a statement that will be considered in the hearing that is supposed to occur, or alternately she can appear before the committee and make the objection in person.

What I am asking is pretty much, how do we get this stopped? I don't want my kids (or my brothers kids) to go to grandma's house in the middle of a commercial development. I don't want all the hard work my brother and I put into that house to make it a nice place to live be cheapened by this office building. I don't want the property value to drop like a rock because of all this.


If it can't be stopped, is there any other course of action? Seeking restitution for inconvenience, property value decrease, living in freaking construction zone for who knows how long? Imagine a strip mall suddenly being built around your house....