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tarry Chang <prryonwry®yehoo com> Sep 5 at 717 Pan
To p� desa'@yahoo mm
—Forwarded Manage —
Fran.: Lany Chang <Snyorlam®WBao corn
To: Rachel Ongla <oragae®eel nom>
Sent: Wednesday, Awing 10, 20178 34 PM
Subject Leonard Road neighbors
In our Leonard Road neighborhood, over the years, we have developed profound respect and
buil for each other. Four examples:
1. We watch neighbors house when they are away on vacation. This Includes puking up mail
and newspapers, watering plants, intercepting FedEx or UPS packages, and putting away
emptied garbage containers. Some of us have keys to each others home.
2. We hold an annual Halloween Eve (soup) dinner party. During the last half hour of day light,
the children ride their decorated bikes or pull their wagons up and down the street with parents
cheering and clapping. This is followed by beat -or -treat, complete with costumes, at each house
on the block. Parents lead or follow the parade of trick -or -treaters with flashlights. Finally, we
gather at the O'Flaerry house for a pot luck dinner consisting of her d'oeuvres, three different
home-made soups, a variety of home made bread, plus our best creation of desserts while the
happy children are sorting and counting their loot.
3. We inform and consult each other when houses are remodelled or rebuilt M example is the
Changs working with two generations of Garigliano= (Sam and Vincent) when the Changs
remodelled their home. Even before the architect started drawings, Larry and Cyndi consulted
with Sam and Vincent. Sam was particularly supportive of the new children's wing Larry and
Cyndi added because he was proud that their children calk him 'Uncle Sam' Sam appreciated
that Larry and Cyndi pledged to keep all house dimensions within code, strictly with no
variations Vincent, In return, asked Jany for permission to plant a row of tall shrubs along the
border of their adjoining property, even though he needs no permission. Vincent thoughtlully
said 'The shrubs would provide more privacy for you, while improving ou views.'
Ed and Dawn Kennedy, a retired fire lighter and his wife, regularly wok up and down the street
for exerdse. During the construction phase they would drop by during their daily walk, that with
builders and the foreman, and olasionaay offer suggestions to Larry and Cyndi when they feel
the builders are not performing as they should. When they heard about the nick name "Uncle
Sam', Ed and Dawn wanted to be called 'Uncle Ed' and "Auntie Dawn'
4. When the children of Desk and Oreplies graduated from Saratoga High School, we celebrated
by putting up a large banner at the entrance of the block. The banner also proudly announce the
colleges they pen to attend.
This Is the type of neighborhood we have built. We are considerate of each other. We love the
diversity of professions, ethnic cultures, and ages on our block. We help each other when asked.
We sincerely ask the new neighbor to consider the reasonable Inputs of their adjacent neighbors
when they design and build their new home.
O
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September 7, 2017
Dear Saratoga City Council,
I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' when I was 18 years old, in India, where I grew up. My dream as a
young girl was to come to the United States. Because I truly believed that it was the land of the free,
especially for young women like me.
I arrived to pursue my higher education here, and have loved my invaluable journey. I grew into
true adulthood in this Country, in many ways:
As a Postdoctoral Scientist at Stanford University Medical in the Bone Marrow Transplantation
Program, and then continuing on as a professional in the Biotech Industry in the Bay Area, for more than
25 years.
As a Mother of two Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scouts, who graduated from Saratoga High
School.
As a proponent of the mingling of my two cultures: American and Indian, at every opportune
occasion, such as Saratoga Heritage Day and Downtown Bollywood experience.
Like our great country and city, our Leonard Road neighborhood is special. We truly care about
each other Our children grew up together here. We are proud of our street and the diverse, tolerant
culture we have created
We are professionals, with the emotional maturity to respect our neighbors. We understand the
importance of harmony, inclusivity and progress. The current experience has left us with bitter feelings
that are very distressing. This so called 'progress' of our neighborhood has caused disharmony and has
aimed to cultivate distrust between neighbors
We beseech you, please do not support this intrusive plan and behavior Please consider our
history, our heritage. Our country is, unfortunately, highly divided right now — let us not contribute to
that.
Sincerely,
Bela Desai
20590 Leonard Road
Saratoga, CA 95070
USA.
Statement to Saratoga City Council — 20600 Leonard Road appeal Sept 6, 2007
I would like thank city council for the opportunity to present our concerns, described below, regarding the proposed
development at the site 20600 Leonard Road.
1. Preservation of neighborhood - Preserving our neighborhood in this great city of Saratoga is important to all the
people who live in this neighborhood.
2. Most of the neighbors have remodeled their homes over time on this street. Everybody made a conscious effort
to make sure their remodel doesn't have any negative impact on their neighbors. This will not be true if this
project gets approved. It goes against preserving the quality of our neighborhood and protecting privacy of its
neighbors
3. We have offered and made a sincere effort to suggest other alternatives to the new owners but those requests
have been ignored. We have tried to make this work for everyone and welcome our new neighbors but it looks
like they are not interested in preserving this neighborhood, or being considerate of their neighbors.
4 The structure and new tall trees, will have a profound effect on its neighbors in terms of solar energy (depending
on how the panels are installed), natural light, privacy, and overall out of place structure in the neighborhood.
5. Our house will be under shade all the time which will impact property value in negative way for us. I know this
as a fact because I am in the real estate business and one thing everyone wants is "bright" home.
6. We also have a retaining wall which will be impacted once the trees are matured. This will create a serious
safety issue for us
7 Overall mass and structure of the property are not in scale with rest of the neighborhood. NO property on the
street creates such a profound impact on its immediate two neighbors than this proposed project. NO house on
this street has created such a negative impact on its neighbor and the neighborhood.
8. There are other viable options to build a 5000+ sf home on that piece of land without impacting the
neighborhood but those options were not explored by the new owners We are all scratching our heads and
asking why? Maybe it is arrogance or the seeming incompetency of their architect.
9 After we filed our appeal to the city council, the new owners have tried to intimidate me and threatened me
with legal action hoping I'll drop my appeal. I didn't know that in our great city of Saratoga I would have to worry
about such things, just for exercising my right. As a matter of fact, we should not have to worry about it
anywhere in this great country of ours
10. The new owners have lied on numerous occasion to members of city of Saratoga in order to present their case
and influence the outcome. Examples:
a They said that we had an agreement about planting trees. There has never been an agreement with
anyone.
b. They said that nobody wants 2 stories in the neighborhood. Again, this is not true. Several of us have
proposed other 2 story options but the proposals has been ignored.
11. They illegally trespassed our property and took pictures without our consent. This clearly shows that these new
owners do not respect their neighbors, nor do they respect our privacy and rights
12. They have gone around to different neighbors' homes, tried to influence them, and create discord between us.
This has been very distressing for us, since we have always been a friendly, peaceful neighborhood.
I request the Council to support our concerns, and the new property owners to respect and be considerate of their
neighbors.
Bela Desai
Prakash Desai
Hi Prakash, Are you around this evening? I hope to
come by to discuss our line boundary in the front
and your house setback to our property line. It
seems the setback is only 9 feet which is 1 feet
less than the city requirement.
3:08 PM
I am not available this weekend. The house was
built like this in 1968 or whenever it was built so I
doubt it very much that there is any setback issues.
3:45 PM
When you remodeled the house, did you expand
the house?
3:59 PM
Not on that side.
4:00 PM
I think the other side setback is also smaller than
10 feet.
4.02 PM
Well everything was done with permit so you can
talk to the city if you like
4:03 PM
Well, even with permit, if the permit did not meet
city ordinance, the permit could be invalidated by
the court.
a•nh PM
Enter nnessane