September 21, 2020
Development & Heritage Standing Committee
Item 11.3
Additional Information

From: Williams Cathryn

Sent: Monday, September 21, 2020 12:31 AM

To: clerks < clerks@citywindsor.ca>

Subject: Re: File: SAA2020 SAA/4133

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

My husband and I only received the Notice of Public Meeting Development & Heritage Standing Committee too late on Friday, September 18, 2020 to contact The City of Windsor by telephone or in person. Prior to your letter we knew nothing about plans to Close and Convey a portion of the North/South Alley between Crawford Avenue and Oak Street from Montrose Street to Tecumseh Boulevard West.

This weekend has not given us sufficient time to gather the information to possibly answer our questions regarding how this move will affect us and our property value. We reside next door to Richard & Adrienne Chene at 1364 Oak Street, Windsor, Ontario N8X 2B3.

We have owned and lived at 1364 Oak Street since July 14, 2006. The garage on our property has its main door on the above-mentioned alley. It was located in this position when we purchased our property and, at that time, appeared to have been located in that position on the property for some time. Without the alley, our garage can only be entered by pedestrians from a narrow side door in our backyard.

If, at some time in the future, we decide to sell our home, what are the above-mentioned plans going to do to the value of our property? If both ends of the alley are closed our garage won't be useful as anything but a storage shed. A future buyer might want to use it to house their vehicle and could only do so by getting permission from the City to turn the building around, remove a fence, and construct a driveway which would abut the property of Mr. & Mrs. Chene and create another driveway entrance on Oak Street.. This type of problem could possibly be included in the D section of Discussion on page 3 0f 13 in your Notice of Public Meeting Development & Heritage Standing Committee.

Another question we have arises from the Risk Analysis section on page 4 of 13 of the above mentioned Notice. The Notice states that the recommended closure will divest the City of associated liability risks and maintenance cost. We've spent time and effort each year until this past year trying to keep the alley directly behind our residence clear of vegetation growth because we were unaware that the City was responsible for the upkeep of the alley and we liked to be able to walk down the alley. Due to health reasons and our ages - we are senior citizens who have required surgery and special medical treatment and are awaiting more surgery - we haven't been able to clear any of the vegetation growth behind our property this year. According to what we've read on page 4 of 13, the maintenance of this alley should have been carried out by the City of Windsor, not those of us whose properties back on the alley.

Page 3 of 13 of your Notice also states the applicants are seeking closure of the portions of alley abutting their property to provide additional parking spaces and to reduce risk of criminal activity. What criminal activity are you referring to? In the 14 years we've lived at 1364 Oak Street the only criminal activity we've ever heard about has been the occasional attempt to break into someone's car and 1 assault at a home during the afternoon several years ago by individuals looking for drugs. Has there been more criminal activity that we haven't heard about?