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Michael Swift stated that he owns the property on the east side of the project site and <br />that they are also looking at developing. He indicated that he bought the property about <br />six years ago and plans to build on the property, expanding the actual residence there <br />and having a big backyard for his children to play in. He stated that he was worried that <br />there would be high- density buildings next to him with people looking into his backyard <br />while his children were playing there. He wanted to be on record that he supports the <br />proposal. He added that he supports this plan because it had nice homes in a nice <br />development, and he would rather have that than high- density residential buildings. He <br />expressed only one concern regarding the kind of wall or fence that would be installed <br />between the two properties <br />Mr. Schroeder indicated his appreciation for the comments on the historical property. <br />He noted that he understands what the Task Force is doing, but he also thinks it is <br />important to consider people's property rights when looking at historic property because <br />this is about a subjective area. He stated that a lot of time, what is worth preserving or <br />not is up to people's judgment, and that would be restricting people's rights. He <br />indicated that this is one of those cases where he does not think it is a historic property. <br />He noted that if this were something that were really valuable and could be a perfect <br />example of a Queen Anne Victorian or a craftsman bungalow home with all the details, <br />then maybe there would be incentive to spend half a million dollars to repurpose this <br />house and make it something that could actually be sold to someone who would <br />actually want to buy it; unfortunately, this is not the case, and neither he nor the <br />property owner are willing to do that. <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that, which it was not discussed, the reality is that the property <br />owners could continue to operate this mobile home park forever, and it is actually worth <br />more money as a mobile home park. He added that he could buy it and operate it as a <br />mobile home park, but he did not think that is the best thing for the community. He <br />indicated that he believes what would be best for the community is to add a plus <br />through the creation of a new neighborhood on this site within the confines of the <br />General Plan and bring the type of housing into the Downtown area that supports the <br />Downtown businesses in the area. <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that there are a lot of other houses in town that are worthy of <br />preserving, but this is not one of them for a lot of reasons that he has already brought <br />up and which, he is sure, will be discussing again. <br />Commissioner Pearce referred to Mr. Schroeder's comment that the property could <br />continue to operate as a mobile home park and stated that it was her understanding that <br />the place was outdated, the hook -ups were from the 1960's, and unless it has <br />significant upgrades, it could not be utilized as a mobile home park. <br />Mr. Schroeder replied that it has a legal right to operate as a mobile home park and can <br />still do so. <br />Commissioner Pearce asked if this was true as a practical matter. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, November 28, 2012 Page 13 of 38 <br />