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chest height. Some of these trees have been here since before MN was state. The plan involves replacing them with 30 trees, mostly evergreens, averaging 3.5 caliper inches. What is the point of a tree preservation plan if this is allowed to happen?? People move to this area of Arden hills for the large private lots with mature trees and nature...the plan as stands significantly damages that value. Developers: Tim Horita, the owner of 3685 New Brighton Road is moving away from the area soon. He won't be around to follow this through and as he's not selling the homes, just the lots, he won't care if how things fit within the neighborhood. Richard Kotosk, the applicant, has done (or attempteed) this in multiple places in the immediate vicinity... 1978 Thom, 2015 Thom, 3985 New Brighton Road, and perhaps others. The development around 1978 Thom was not finished according to the orginal plans adn his promises to retain trees and setup and/or maintain grading or drainage. I'm concerned that with Tim moving away (and having no vested interest in maintaining the area) and Kotosk's history, any plans here would not be followed through fully or correctly. Injures my property and home: We looked at this property and saw the nature, privacy, neighborhood character and density would work for us. Because of the tree maintenance plan the city has and the neighboring lots being fully wooded and fully developed we felt the privacy of 3685 would be something we could count on. Further, from talking to neighbors, we learned that property had been more- or-less deemed undevelopable by the planning commission unless our lot was included when they gave a variance for a private road. I've subsequently found that The planning commission considered it a finding of fact that connecting to Thom drive was "hardship" and not just an inconvenience. [7] though I understand a plan allowing this was eventually passed that included my land. They further found a finding of fact that, "Given the size of the original two lots [3695 and 3685 combined], it may be possible to have 4 lots adjacent to Thom drive and New Brighton road with separate driveways... which would not be desirable." [7] The developer, on Tim's behalf, went on further to indicate "there is no other way to access the new lots without the creation of a central outlot because of lot size and topology".[8] and Tim, himself, said that much of the lot [3685] was lift station or wetlands and "to look at the entire square footage was misrepresenting the fact that there was space to build on and[or] there was room to encroach into his back area" [7] Either way, we felt our expectation of having a private lot was very very solid.... enough so that we banked the viability of our house on it. We designed our house to be extremely energy efficient - we have 24 inch thick walls packed with insulation and used unique construction methods so that, at time of completion, we were the 'tightest house in MN'. We included all the recommendations for design that the JDA, city, and county, has been suggesting for years[p2]. Our windows are unique and were sized and