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indicated that they did not do the full scope but held a couple of meetings, followed by <br />an open house to address concerns that were brought up. He noted that they did not <br />receive a lot of negatives about the plan. <br /> <br />In response to inquiry regarding a comparative view of what was <br />previously approved and what is being proposed, Mr. Schroeder displayed a site plan <br />with overlapping colored lines showing the old lot lines, the new lot lines, and the new <br />building footprints. <br /> <br />Commissioner Blank asked Mr. Schroeder for a copy of the drawing after the meeting. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder continued that the original lots were 118 to 125 feet wide, 180 feet deep <br />and 20,000 to 38,000 square feet. He added that the lots were narrowed down with one <br />lot placed on each side of the string and two lots with the smallest houses in the middle. <br />He indicated that one of the comments they received from neighbors on Cameron <br />Avenue was not to shrink the front lots; although the houses are considerably smaller, <br />the reduction of these lots were minimized by five feet to address that concern, with the <br />houses that are seen from the neighborhood still retaining the character of the original <br />project. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that the significant change is the addition of four lots, an issue <br />stemming from what they could economically make to work for the property owner who <br />went through the process and talked to some other builders but really did not want to <br />get on a different course. He indicated that the owners might have gotten better offers <br />from a couple of other builders, but not enough to make them change the game. He <br />noted that they were able to make this work out in an environment that is certainly <br />different from what they were doing before. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that there is still some demand for large lots, but their experience <br />on Mohr Avenue, where they had seven half-acre lots, turned out to be pretty negative <br />towards large lots. He noted that , which is probably the <br />foreseeable future as well, the per-square-foot house price has gone through the floor, <br />and people are not buying square footage any longer. He stated that the bigger issue <br />for them is that they are competing in the resale market, and the houses they build <br />cannot be priced over it. He added that buyers of their house versus a resale house <br />can buy their house for the same price and will not have to spend for landscaping that <br />cannot be financed in the home purchase. He pointed out that significantly, developers <br />no longer build houses with big footprints of 3,800 to 4,600 square feet because they <br />are very expensive to build. He noted that the proposed houses, while very detailed, <br />will have nice features, structurally a little bit simpler but smaller at 3,200 to <br />3,600 square feet. He added that one of the concerns they addressed with these plans <br />was making them all single-story, which they believe will be well received. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that they received positive responses with respect to the issues <br />they addressed. He noted that most people did not think adding four lots would create a <br />huge impact. He indicated that one other thing they did for the project, which is <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 14, 2011 Page 12 of 28 <br /> <br />