HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmail from Nels Leen - TSM17-0001 Menchaca, Clarissa
From: Snellings, Tim
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2018 5:41 PM
To: McCracken, Shari; Hatcher, Casey; Menchaca, Clarissa; Snyder, Ashley; Calarco, Pete;
Thistlethwaite, Charles; Michelena, Mark
Subject: Fwd: Stanley Subdivision (Leen)
FYI, Tim
From: Nels Leen <us4leens@aol.com>
Sent:Saturday, November 3, 2018 11:39 AM
To:Connelly, Bill;Wahl, Larry; BOS District 4; Kirk, Maureen;Teeter, Doug
Cc: Michelena, Mark;Thistlethwaite, Charles; Snellings,Tim
Subject:Stanley Subdivision (Leen)
Dear Supervisors,
I want to reach out to you before our Tuesday hearing to express our opinions and frustrations. We did not want
to bother or bore you this go around with another face to face meeting referencing our Stanley Subdivision as
we know you are very familiar with the project.
This process has gone on now for over 2 1/2 years, costing us thousands of unnecessary dollars. Looking back,
hindsight is twenty twenty. We should have never relied on the letter from the Butte County Agricultural
Commissioner's Office (Louis Mendoza) in February of 2016. After receiving the ag commissioner's letter
mitigating the 300 foot ag setback line to 150 feet, we were confident we had nothing to worry about so we
purchased the property and closed escrow. Wow, were we ever mistaken and deceived! Through this process,
we have learned not to trust the process until the final approval has been granted. We understand the position
you were put into last year in regards to the agricultural setback, although our team felt like the board, in
denying our project, went against what was acceptable in the county code referencing mitigated agricultural
setback remedies and consequently our project was denied. The Board then asked us to redesign the project, and
bring it back to the board. So now with your advice we come back before you with a new and much different
plan. One that is now totally outside the 300 foot agricultural setback line and one that is consistent with the
general plan and is even encouraged, by giving a density bonus as an incentive for clustering homes to preserve
open space, thus allowing 21 building lots. There is a housing shortage locally and throughout California. The
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Chico area could benefit by adding needful homes.
Why has this infill development been so opposed by such a few Stanley neighbors? I say a few neighbors as
there are approximately 400 resident dwellings in the Stanley Subdivision area and only a few opposing it. It
seems their mantra is "NO development in our backyard".
These few neighbors have been so vial and demeaning toward our family. Their claim is that the Stanley
neighborhood is such a friendly and close knit community, often sharing in potlucks and neighborhood
gatherings. In the 2 1/2 years our son Casey, and his wife Danelle, and their three year old son Weston (our
adorable grandson) have lived on the Stanley property they have never once been invited to any neighborhood
potlucks or neighborhood functions. Some have come to your council's podium to say that"the Leen's have
been invited but never would come and take part in our get togethers." This might sound good, but that is not
the truth. Instead they have never invited the Leen's but have belittled, and avoided our son Casey and his sweet
family like the plague! The neighbors have photographed, trespassed, hung demeaning neighborhood signs and
sent letters to the editor of the ER making statements like "EVIL DEVELOPERS".
Their anger and hate towards our project and us is very obvious and hurtful.
Several of you know us well enough to know our reputation. My wife Candy, (a local teacher) and myself have
been married and lived in Chico for 37 years. My brother Jerry and I have been business partners and best
friends throughout our adult life. Candy and I had a daughter Christina and a son Casey, who attended Chico
schools and excelled in academics, sports and were both recognized and honored by their school as being
outstanding citizens. After our daughter Christina married the love of her life, she was diagnosed with a young
persons cancer and we lost her at the age of 24. Our son Casey, as I mentioned earlier, lives on the Stanley
property and is a hard working building contractor. His wife Danelle is a stay at home mom raising our adorable
grandson.
As the subdivision becomes developed and built out and the neighbors have had a chance to judge a tangible
product, we would only hope that those who had been so vial in their opposition of the project could finally see
and accept the fact that the subdivision had become a community asset and now as a result, maybe the opposing
neighbors would be willing to unite and accept that all who live in the Stanley neighborhood can once again be
cordial and neighborly.
I have appreciated the time we have spent together in past days. We will miss you Larry, and you Maureen, and
we wish for you good days ahead; thank you ever so much for your past service.
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We will have our team in place Tuesday at the hearing. I will be there but I will keep my seat in the audience.
Nels Leen
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