1981-04-01 Joint Public Hearing and Regular Meeting

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e e . Minutes, Joint Public Hearing and Regular Meeting April 1, 1981, Page 5 . against the rezoning from residential to commercial use. There is no guarantee that the use of the property will stay the same. Let me explain myself. I have been involved in HUD projects. I have not been involved in the 202 project, I have been involved in HUD and multifamily projects. It is my opinion that as long as the length of the loan is in ef- fect and in this case it is a 40 year loan at a subsidized interest rate. True, the use of the property cannot be changed, but I feel like the statement that was made that this use can't be changed for 40 years is in error. That loan can be paid off. There is no provisions to the best of my knowledge that that loan cannot be paid off in less than 40 years. In other words, another investor could come along and for whatever reason, 10 years, 5 years, 15 years from now, the Methodist Church could decide they didn't want to own this unit any longer; another investor could come in, buy the project, payoff the existing loan, and it could be used for whatever purpose the other investor wanted to use it for. Be it for apartments or whatever. Once the property is changed from residential to commercial use, that to me opens the door up. I do think there was an error made in that point that it could not be changed for 40 years. There is no guarantee that there won't be further expansion of the facility. Evidently, there is a great need for housing for the elderly here in La Porte. We just heard that they have expanded, that there is a great need for it. There have been other properties which have been acquired besides this block in the immediate vicinity by Happy Harbor. Obviously, they are growing at a rate which is very strong. Who is to say that once it is re- zoned there won't be more units added? They have more land to add units. We've been told that only one-half block is going to be used. In closing, I would just like to ask the Planning and Zoning Commission; I know they will be making a recommendation to the City Council, that if it was their home and the property next door was going to be rezoned from resi- dential to commercial use, for whatever purpose, even if it were what is being proposed here, if in clear conscience you could say, knowing full well the property values of your home would be devaluated, if you would still vote for that change? I think there is an alternative here. I don't think it's this spot or none. I think there are some choices. I think it will change the neighborhood up. I would ask that the property stay on a residential basis. I have had some contact with people in the immediate area. I sent out a notice with my understanding of the project, along with a copy of a newspaper article explaining the project, and I had 27 signatures of people in the immediate area that were against. Some of those .