[Summit] zoning variance for Clarke's Florist location

[Breslers]

We live one block from Seven Star and although the bakery seems a pretty
cooperative neighbor, it is NOT a residential area use! The coming of the
bakery and the ballet school effectively extended the Hope Street active
commercial zone another block. They both have very busy times. There was
almost NO traffic from the previous gas station and funeral home (except the
occasional funeral)  Now the overflow of cars park on our block and side
streets, and there is constant parking, pulling in and out on both blocks of
Hope, plus a steady flow of U-turns on our corner of Hope & 6th, when
previously they were rare.  It is not horrible, but it is definitely NOT
residential traffic.  I am glad to see successful businesses, especially in
this economy, but I am NOT glad of all the noticably more car exhaust and
road dirt that comes in my first floor apartment, which I am breathing in
and well as washing up off the window sills.

I have not said anything about Clark's so far, because I don't live in that
stretch, but actually I do know a little about it because my husband
occasionally goes to the Chabbad House there. That area already can be busy.
Chabbad itself causes very little traffic (~5-6 cars come) once a day in the
evening, but there are two eating establishments on the corner which can
have quite a bit of cars, to the point of disturbing the flow of traffic.  I
don't think adding another place, just a block away, on that narrow street
would be a good idea.  It would definitely make a real active commercial
zone in that area.
North Main makes more sense, or maybe down in the college commercial zone.

Mrs B

On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 9:51 AM, Kate Sanders <katesndrs at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks for informing us about this! I also oppose this variance. North Main
> needs businesses, and this sort of business would be very appropriate there,
> but it's a bad idea in Clarke's current location and would set a very bad
> precedent. A business like the one they propose would be a great addition to
> North Main. In their current location, if they want to close down and sell,
> replacing them with residential property would make the most sense.
>
> The only positive argument I've seen in this thread is that we already have
> a lot of traffic at Seven Stars Bakery and that's okay. First -- Clarke's is
> in a very different neighborhood from Seven Stars. The whole stretch of Hope
> Street from Olney to Rochambeau is almost entirely residential; you can
> count the retail businesses there on the fingers of one hand (maybe two, if
> you include medical offices).
>
> Second, I like Seven Stars and am glad to see a neighbor succeed so well --
> but the level of traffic there is not okay. Even in a neighborhood full of
> businesses that pull in car traffic, Seven Stars is the most problematic.
> How to deal with it is another issue for another thread (it's not entirely
> Seven Stars' fault, and they have tried), but let's not make that kind of
> traffic the threshold for acceptability, especially in a predominantly
> residential area.
>
> Third -- does anyone remember when Domino's Pizza was in the same area as
> Clarke's, near Tortilla Flats? Their delivery cars were a real hazard in
> that residential area. Domino's move to North Main was an improvement for
> both Hope Street and North Main. Allowing this new drive-through proposal
> would erase that progress.
>
> Finally and most importantly, if Clarke's closes, where will we be able to
> buy their pies? :-)  Could they perhaps combine forces with Seven Stars and
> sell pie there, as well as coffee and bread?
>
> Kate Sanders
> Sixth Street
>
>
>
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