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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJustus letter 10-04-07 u stus Co 1� n1p r,� l <SV g h lP 2 fJ �f r L ts, 44 Quality Builders Since 190 IF CFIy 4OV 9 n e. 4 47 D OCS October 4, 2007 Honorable Mayor Brainard 1 Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032 Dear Honorable Mayor Brainard: I wrote to you on August 27, 2007, outlining the situation between the City of Carmel and Justus Home Builders, Inc., regarding the landscape buffer located contiguously to the south of lots 18 21 at Westwood Estates, which is near 141 Street and Towne Road. In my letter, a meeting was requested and pursuant to receiving the same, your assistant, Karen, was kind enough to contact me to convey you were out of town, but would be contacting my office upon your return to schedule a meeting. Mayor, please disregard the statement in my letter sent you indicating the lots in question as 17 -22. The lots involved are Lots 17 thru 21 inclusive. In addition, if you will forgive me, I am going to write this letter from more of a personal perspective and, therefore, probably share the tone of my frustration. First, I have lived and conducted business in many parts of the country during my tenure, and have witnessed many personal and professional hardships, but I have never been involved in something business related whereby due to an oversight (overlapping four homes into a landscape buffer, not an easement), have been publicly ridiculed, accused of fraud, felt harassed, and have had building permits completely ceased resulting in essentially putting us out of work. Simply, we have never been involved in anything similar to this in our many years of business, and therefore, this has become a costly and morally damaging lesson for us. There have been many factors that have caused and contributed to this "problem" since the inception of Westwood Estates, beginning with the negotiations and agreements between Justus Home Builders, Inc. and the City of Carmel concerning the landscape buffer, but I assure you that we never had the intent to defraud the City of Carmel, the Carmel Planning Commission, the home buyers or adjoining land owners. Bottom line, relevant to this "landscape buffer" encroachment, I believe there was a "disconnect of sorts" displayed not only on my behalf, but on behalf of the other entities having to do with development consulting, and with the engineering and city approval processes, Quality Properties, Planned Built and Managed Since 1910 1398 North Shadeland P.O. Box 19409 Indianapolis, Indiana 46219 Phone (317) 353 -8311 FAX (317) 352 -1570 which have led us to this point. Basically, customers were procured for these lots and we followed the normal due process. Building plans were submitted to our engineers for review and plot plans (house placement) on the lots were issued to assure the home was within the building envelope. Building prints with the respective plot plans were submitted to the City Permitting Department and were approved. Scheduled building and site inspections were conducted by local building inspectors, and finally a Certificate of Occupancy was approved and issued by the City authority. In regards to the history of this community, it is worth mentioning that on behalf of Justus Homes Builders, Inc. and myself, there have been no habitability, health, structural, drainage or other major problems that I am aware that have adversely effected these four residences, let alone the "well being" of the remaining residences as a result of this issue. Last, I am sure you are familiar with the involvement that our adjoining neighbor (southern land owner) has added in this matter, and believe me, I will continue to communicate with this individual to bring resolution, but only within the realm of what we believe is fair and realistic. The landowner we feel, by design, has attempted to create a broader scope of perceived violations and problem areas, relevant to issues inside the scope of the current violation imposed by the City of Carmel, and outside the scope of the violation imposed. I am honestly not one to "air dirty laundry but allow me to copy statements of record of what this individual has recently made public as I feel it is very important in dictating the direction this has come, and possibly the conclusion: 1 The landowner has publicly expressed his concern and frustration to surrounding developments, and has been an active and ongoing voice of opposition and remonstrance in other zoning cases in the immediate area; including the Saddle Creek communities and recently approved subdivisions located to the west of his property. 2 The landowner publicly asks Justus Home Builders, Inc. to purchase a 10' to 12' wide easement (approximately 1 /10` of 1 acre) from them for $100,000.00 to be utilized as the new landscape easement, and asks this easement purchase be conducted by October 31, 2007. This would be a temporary easement until the land is developed, not a fee simple purchase. 3 The landowner publicly asks Justus Home Builders, Inc. to make a $25,000 payment (not deposit) to them once we are under agreement and before closing. 4 The landowner has publicly demanded a full investigation be conducted into the "potential" damage /adherence the concrete reinforced sub terrain located in the county drainage easement may have endured to date. The landowner asks that a "scoping mechanism/procedure or video, be contracted to confirm the drain tile has maintained its integrity. 5 The landowner publicly asks Justus Home Builders, Inc. to install plantings according to his requirements within the purchased easement. 6 The landowner publicly asks Justus Home Builders, Inc. to install a fence along the south line of the new easement to further separate their property from the buffer plantings, and likewise themselves from the Westwood Estates community. 7 The landowner has been in negotiation to sell their property to prospective purchasers within the last two years, without success, to Justus Home Builders, Inc., Indiana Land Development, Inc. and Pittman Properties, Inc., and if asked, Justus Home Builders, Inc. will provide written documentation of the same. 8 The landowner publicly asks the City of Carmel to provide written confirmation that Justus Home Builders, Inc. buffer on the landowner property will fulfill buffer requirements for future development on that parcel. Mayor, I sincerely apologize for this long dissertation, but I felt it important that you understand my company is between a rock and a hard place, especially if building permits will continue to be withheld to maintain pressure on our firm to resolve this matter. Honestly, we will continue our efforts to address this issue with the City and will communicate with the landowner in the highest hope of resolution, but this process could be lengthy and we can not continue to maintain our business under these circumstances. One can not believe by releasing our permits that our firm is going to walk away from our obligations to the City of Carmel and not resolve this issue. We have openly acknowledged this problem, and are showing good faith by our extensive financial commitment and willingness to meet and to negotiate this to a closure, but we are at a true legal juncture. It would sincerely be appreciative if we could have a meeting with you in your office, to discuss this matter and try to bring a fair resolution to this, so we can continue our business. Please contact me at my office at your earliest convenience at (317) 353 -8311, or my cell at (317) 590 -7126. Thank you, Mayor Brainard, and I really wish you all the best. Respectfully yours, I Walter E. Jus s Justus Home Builders, Inc. WEJ /ks ZEO91V NI `lewae3 aaenbg 01A13 L. paeulea8 JoAeiAl algeiouoH 0161 aquas pa3punyq pup ?pang `pauuvpd `saapadord!'7ayvne) 016 0661 uap-° nu•n° 611917 runipul 'silodnunrpul VVVVVV j °00 601761 X •O'd AAIA.Smsm'°0 anuany P unEaP" IS'N 86S1 4 YA a-o