I was at the zoning hearing today and had a few thoughts about the outcome. This is the only outlet I know of to express my concern.

I was very happy to see quite a few people at the hearing today and I felt that our side had some great arguments for why Kosene & Kosene should not build their condos in the 6100 block of Winthrop Ave. Sadly, the committee decided to let Kosene & Kosene go ahead with their development with a 4-3 vote.

The hearing started when the owner of the property at 6155 Winthrop stated that the houses on Winthrop Avenue, between Kessler and Broad Ripple, are deteriorating and have been for the past few years. I am insulted by this comment. Not only am I insulted because I live on Winthrop between Kessler and Broad Ripple and my house is not deteriorating, but also, I don't see how she thinks putting up 28 condo units in a 1.43 acre area on Winthrop is going to help the situation. She also stated that the traffic situation on Winthrop is horrible and that the condos on Winthrop would help that, because there would be more owner-occupied housing to complain about the speeding situation. What about the 28 extra families with 2 cars each (each condo has a 2 car garage) driving on that road?

Obviously, this woman does not care about Winthrop Avenue and Broad Ripple Village, because all of her arguments were superficial. I'm not sure where she is moving to after selling her house to K&K, but I bet it won't be Winthrop Avenue, so I doubt she's really thinking about the long-term affects of having that amount of families living at that site. It's too bad the committee decided to side with her today.

At another point in the hearing the representative for K&K turned back to ask the crowd of concerned Broad Ripple Village citizens to ask who lived within 660 feet of the proposed development site, as if only the closest of neighbors had a right to be concerned with the development. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but last time I checked, if you were concerned about a development in your neighborhood, even if you lived 10 blocks away, don't you have a right to express that concern? If the committee accepted a petition to change zoning on Winthrop, next to the Monon, why wouldn't they accept a petition to change zoning across from Broad Ripple Park on Primrose? My point is, I am sure that everyone that was there had a reason to be there. I doubt that 30 people would take 2 hours out of their day to merely sit in a room listening to zoning hearings. It's too bad the committee decided to side with him today.

There is no reason K&K should be allowed to develop this property the way they propose. The high density of this project, at that location, does not guarantee success for the whole neighborhood. The proposed project is blatantly greedy and does not fit into the overall plan for Broad Ripple that was developed in 1997. There are more options and better options for how to redevelop that land to fit into the neighborhood. However, these lower-density options won't make K&K as much money.

The four people on the committee that decided to side with K&K missed the point. Change does not equal progress and 28 condo units that don't fit in with the neighborhood do not make a village block better.

I hope there are more people out there that feel the same way I do and maybe we can still do something to let the city know that this type of development is not accepted in Broad Ripple Village.

Cara Roellgen