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7 <br />a <br />our main patio is. The planned window addition is overlooking right into the center of our <br />main patio. <br />Applicants have shown many photos taken from various sides of their homes. Photos <br />are sometimes not very precise on the size and clarity; some can just hide the true <br />picture that the human eyes can actually see. In fact some of the photos that applicants <br />presented during the previous public hearing, like a view showing only the roof of our <br />house or one that showed from the other area of the wall when it was opened for repair, <br />are totally misleading. A realistic visualization of how grossly privacy is impacted in this <br />case is to ask somebody to stand 10 to 20 feet away. We believed you would agree that <br />the planned window, that will allow applicants or future residence to casually observe us <br />in the patio area from 10 to 20 feet away, clearly and grossly, violated the pre- existing <br />privacy that we currently have. Another troubling fact is that the proposed window has <br />direct sight -line towards the sliding door of our family room, approx. 25 feet away from <br />the planned window. Near the sliding door is where we place a table for our daily dining <br />and also serve as a work table for my wife when she is home doing the paperwork or <br />working with the laptop. She is a stay -at -home mom who dedicated her time <br />volunteering for a church, helping seniors at senior housing In Pleasanton, and our <br />children's schools. <br />Applicant also mentioned a couple of items that I am not sure about the relevance <br />towards the impact towards the previous decision. Since we were not informed about <br />the reasons for the decision, let us put some major information that the applications <br />provided. <br />1. "Medical condition of her daughter's eyes requires a window addition for direct <br />sunlight to the bedroom, and planning to place a desk right next to the window". <br />There are a lot of other options to improve the lighting of a room that are safer <br />than having to let people read under direct sunlight. In fact there are a lot of <br />articles that recommend against it. So this reason that applicant brought up did <br />not seem logical. Their need for extra lighting in the bedroom (which main <br />purpose is supposed for sleeping) will be gained at the cost of our lighting when <br />we were suggested to install blind at our patio door to protect our privacy in the <br />family room (which hold our main activity in the house, and is the only room in <br />the house that has enough light). Where is the fairness? <br />2. "Rights of use ". <br />If privacy is not of our concern, nobody is going to bother the applicant about the <br />right of use. However, the right of use the applicant is mentioning is taking away <br />the right of basic privacy from us. There are codes and regulations for safe <br />architecture, and there are ordinance and guidelines to cover those that cannot <br />be covered by the codes. <br />Many cities acknowledge that second story window may be very intrusive <br />towards adjacent property if the orientation, location, and /or size are not right. <br />The right of use should not be viewed as absolute, but should also consider the <br />impact to neighborhood. <br />The location, the size, and the orientation of the planned second story window is <br />exactly over viewing the center of our main patio, in a distance between 10 -20 <br />feet. It also has a direct sight line to the 8' sliding door to our family room. This is <br />exactly what other city planners are worried about when they mentioned "second <br />story window may be very intrusive towards the adjacent neighbor property. <br />2 <br />