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back of the home specifically. Applicant is proposing a second story addition which etctririd&entirely <br />from the left side of the home to the right side of the home. <br />From a factual perspective, what makes this situation unique and problematic, is the proximity of the <br />applicant's home to its two rear neighbors, as well as the fact that the Eastern side next door neighbor's <br />living room and kitchen views would be directly impacted by applicant's second story addition. <br />The applicant's home sits at the end of a court (Homer Court) and backs up to two other homes which <br />also sit at the end of a parallel court (Robin Court). Because of the original developer's need to make <br />the home layouts work in these awkward, end -of- the -court, lot configurations, the applicant's home <br />was set back significantly. In fact, the applicant's home sits back to such a degree that the actual <br />structure is less than 10 feet from the two rear neighbor's fences. This creates a situation where a <br />second story addition would be much more impacting than usual on both the privacy, sunlight, and sky <br />views of both rear neighbors. There is no other two story home in the Val Vista development which was <br />"revised" under similarly impacting (to all surrounding neighbor) circumstances. <br />The Eastern side next door neighbor's (the Perry's) living room (front of the home view) looks out <br />directly at the applicant's proposed second story addition. Moreover, because of the layout of the <br />Eastern side neighbor's home, their kitchen view, which is located just around the corner from their <br />living room, would also be directly impacted by the applicant's proposed second story addition. (Please <br />see the Perry's objecting letter as to the impact the applicant's second story addition would have on <br />their daily lives.) <br />One of the distinctive features of our Val Vista neighborhood is its quaint, simple, and relatively old <br />fashioned nature. This development was designed to be one of single story homes on reasonable size <br />lots. It was not designed to resemble so many newer home developments which, to leverage the <br />decreasing availability of land, are building their homes higher and closer together. We do not want to <br />see the "style" of our neighborhood compromised in this fashion. Nor do we want to see our own <br />lifestyles in the homes we have been living in for 41, 15, and 5 years respectively dramatically altered <br />when there is simply nothing we can do about it. <br />The Hoehnes are retired and the Persins will be retiring in the next five years. Our families have spent <br />considerable time and money upgrading both the interiors and exteriors of our homes. We intend to <br />live the remainder of our lives in our wonderful Pleasanton homes and we would like to continue to <br />enjoy the privacy and outdoor views we have come to expect and which provide such a wonderful <br />quality of life for us and our families. In this instance, we do not have the option of going back in time <br />and recreating our homes and our lives. (Please see the Hoehne's objecting letter as to the impact the <br />applicant's second story addition would have on their daily lives.) <br />We realize the City tries not to get involved in disagreements regarding property valuations as this is <br />generally a subjective area. Nevertheless, every real estate agent we have spoken to has told us there is <br />a strong chance the appraised values of our homes would be reduced. Again, this is because of the <br />proximity of our property lines to the applicant's home structure and the increased impact the <br />applicant's proposed second story addition would have in this unique configuration situation. <br />• <br />