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To the Editor:

We are voting and tax paying members of West Hartford who live in single family home zoned neighborhoods. The Morley neighborhood is a lovely family neighborhood and having this multi-story development next door would ruin the integrity of the entire area.

Heritage Park is just not the right fit for this area of our town.

The proposed two 1700 buildings very close to the Trout Brook Drive curb are 40 feet from this curb. This needs to be redesigned to maintain harmony with the neighborhood residences and to prevent a feeling of towering buildings and overcrowding the land.

A recommendation would be that these two buildings be no more than 3 stories tall in order to be in harmony with the neighborhood, and set back from Trout Brook Drive by at least 150 feet. The developer could use the land by Trout Brook Drive for parking spaces. This would prevent two tall large buildings towering over this plot of land. It would be ideal for the other two apartment buildings to be 3 stories as well.

The North Edge of 1700 consists of mature trees. If the mature trees at the northern most edge could be saved, this would provide a buffer to the single family residences across the street and help with the flooding these homes experience.

The traffic impact at the intersections of Albany Avenue and Trout Brook Drive and Asylum Avenue and Trout Brook Drive will increase exponentially to a packed roadway level particularly at rush hour times. This already exists at Trout Brook Drive and Albany Avenue where there is at least a 2-3 light waiting line of cars at rush hours. I have read the Traffic Report on the Town website which makes no mention of this current congestion on this road.

The University of Saint Joseph has been a good neighbor. Knowing that they are in a residential area they have maintained this feel by situating their buildings 320 feet back from Asylum Avenue. There is a continuous line of tall mature trees along Asylum Avenue to block their buildings from view.  The parking lots are tree lined.<

In addition, from the intersections of Auburn Road and Asylum Avenue to Steele Road and Asylum Avenue (the former Town Board of Education property), which are now large single family homes, have preserved their tall mature trees along Asylum Avenue and North Steele Road so that these trees shield these houses from view along Asylum Avenue and North Steele Road.

Respectfully,
Charlotte Gara<