2008-01-03 tdoutoro - Laserfiche WebLink

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1/2-year period, was something like 43 visitors a month. So I want you to be aware thatÓs the scale of the operation, okay, 43 people a month. And it goes down also to, it ranges down to, oh, during the last year, I think it was something like 23 people a month. So this is not a large-scale operation. Unfortunately, and I think some of the evidence, perhaps some of the parties will speak to it today, in fact, Ms. Broder has alluded to an issue regarding large buses, that there was an incident in late January and early February of this year wherein there was an event where over a three- or four-day period, there were hundreds of visitors to this site. Many large buses brought these visitors and it created a problem, a problem for everyone, a problem for neighbors, a problem for my client, a problem for th examined this issue in the evidentiary hearing, my client clearly stated that this was a mistake and it was recognized as a mistake, something that will not happen again. And it was a one-time occurrence; but it was an occurrence which, nevertheless, triggered a lot of strong feelings in the neighborhood, and rightly so. When I say it wasnÓt good for our client as well, itÓs because the nature of this property, the nature of the area within which the tour is shown is not designed to handle large amounts of people, so from bathrooms to, you know, vehicles or whatever. So weÓd like to consider that a very unfortunate incident. It has not occurred since that time. And our client, again, is on the record saying it wonÓt. Our client is agreeable to an 80, a maximum 80 person visitor count per day. As I said weÓre far from that. What we would take exception to is that, as Ms. Broder had indicated, there are franchisees involved in the parent company for our client. And they come over, we put them in the classification of having somewhat interest. And so when we talk about a maximum of 80 guests, weÓre talking about people unrelated to the project, public members; and I believe that Ms. Broder has used that word ÐpublicÑ as well. We just would like it to be clear because we donÓt want to have an argument about this later; and weÓre hoping that more franchisees will come. We donÓt envision, and, thereÓs nothing in the record indicating that, you know, a thousand franchisees would appear on the same day. But you donÓt think itÓs appropriate to include owners in that count. Then 5.c is probably the most critical issue for our client in that Ms. Broder in 5.c effectively prohibited the use of large buses. And the evidentiary record indicates that large buses seldom frequent the property. Perhaps, just at certain points it may be only once a month; so weÓre looking and talking about that level of impact in the past. Nevertheless, tour companies bring many of the visitors who come to this property. And although the tour companies usually use vans or smaller buses, because of other demands on their vehicles and because of the size of a particular group, it may be necessary and it may more economical for the tour company to bring a group in a large bus. And so we have asked that thereÓd be an amendment to this condition to allow the Applicant a maximum of one bus per day. Now we donÓt think on the record thereÓs any basis to say one bu because of traffic hazards or so on. As I indicated to you, we fully acknowledge that if 14