“Historical Driveway”
The north property owner’s attorney (one of two they have hired from different firms) argues that the owners are being asked to reduce their historical driveway. This driveway has always been on public land (a privilege, not a right) and it’s always been gravel.
The application for the new driveway is non-permeable concrete. As the attorney letter states, his clients purchased the home in April 2021 — renovations are still underway nearly 4 years later. With the extensive renovations, the owners could have chosen to reroute their driveway access via their private land, removing the burden of entry from the public street end. But they instead chose to keep the public encroachment and to request a concrete driveway.
The “historical driveway” originally serviced a modest 1952 house with a reasonable encroachment in the form of a low-impact gravel entry to the garage. The attorney for the new owners is comparing apples and oranges, or rather, gravel and concrete.
The attorney goes on to describe that safety is at the center of his client’s application for a new concrete driveway. “It is baffling why FOHB’s application continues to propose an unsafe driveway …” What is baffling is why folks with the ability to avoid this encroachment issue by accessing their garage via their own property, instead elected to apply for an unprecedented concrete driveway on public land. It’s unprecedented not only because the historical driveway has always been gravel, but because the southern homeowner’s extensive concrete driveway was originally poured without a permit. Public land is being choked by private pavement.
The attorney then pivots the safety argument to how many people use Hidden Beach, including cherry-picked photos of “crowds” accessing the street end. Hyperbole for sure, but isn’t it a good thing if the public turns out on summer days to cool off and enjoy the natural beauty of Hidden Beach? The best use of a public street end is public use.
Parks are for people not pavement.
Why move in next to a vibrant public street end, then build and remodel with the intent of essentially paving over the entrance to a public park?
The E Harrison Street End is 110ft in length. The center point is the street sign.
