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Casas Adobes Residents Tell County - Garage Must Go |
By Colleen Sparks
Several residents in an old Casas Adobes neighborhood just east of North La Cañada Drive want their neighbor to remove a 2,000-square-foot garage they say is an eyesore, an inappropriate spot for a business and a flood hazard.
John Kaur of the 1300 block of West Chula Vista Road also has until Aug. 8 to respond in writing to county officials proving that his garage, built on a wash, will not adversely affect the flood plain, said Jerry Curless of the Pima County Flood Control District. Kaur sued Pima County last month for fining him for violating a county zoning code by operating a business from his home in a residential zone, according to Amelia Cramer, deputy county attorney.
In March, Pima County fined Kaur almost $11,000 for violating the code, according to the lawsuit Kaur filed against the county June 10 in Pima County Superior Court.
Several neighborhood residents say they have been writing letters and attending county Board of Adjustments meetings to protest the garage since it was built about a year ago near the corner of La Cañada and West Chula Vista Road. "For one thing, it's an eyesore," Chula Vista Road resident Anna Zavala, 69, said. "I just don't think any neighborhood would want that close by. "I just don't think it's appropriate for that type of industrial construction to be in this neighborhood."
Kaur, 63, said that he operates a computer services business on East Forbes Boulevard, but he said that he uses his garage to store model trains, paper, computers and other things he has collected over the years. "People have given me stuff," he said. "I've put a lot of old stuff in there.
"I don't want to pick any fights with anybody."
Kenanna Place resident Bill Beck, 78, said he saw Kaur building the garage about a year ago and has contacted county officials, including Pima County Supervisor Ann Day, to voice his concerns about it. Beck and about 40 homeowners in the Casas Adobes neighborhood signed a petition in a letter to Day in August 2002 asking the county to revoke Kaur's zoning permit so he would remove the building and return the terrain to its previous state.
The letter contends that Kaur's garage is too close to Chula Vista because Kaur changed his front lot line to La Cañada rather than keeping it on Chula Vista. The county zoning code requires garages such as Kaur's to be 60 feet from the front lot line but only 4 feet from side or rear lot lines. The letter also says that neighbors saw steel barrels and a large white commercial truck on the property and that the garage caused flooding. "Property values and neighborhood appearance are degraded by the insertion of this industrial grade warehouse and the associated litter and traffic in a residential neighborhood," the letter said.
Jody Thierman, who lives with her son and her brother next door to Kaur, looks out her windows and sees Kaur's garage where she used to see the Tucson Mountains. She rents the house from her mother and grew up there in the early 1970s. "You live on two acres of land so you can have your own land," Thierman said.
She said during one rainfall last year, water flowed through the wash, hit the garage and backed up, flooding much of her front yard. Zavala, Thierman's next-door neighbor, said that her yard flooded, too. Kaur said that he is not convinced that his garage caused more flooding than would have occurred anyway. Curless said the flood control district, after hearing of neighbors' complaints, asked Kaur to submit a drainage report outlining the amount of flooding the garage would generate.
Curless, in a July 9 letter, told Kaur the June 4 report he submitted showed that the garage would not cause water to rise more than 1/10 of a foot above the normal rise in water generated from floods, the limit the county sets on structures in flood plain areas. The county believes it would rise by at least 3/10 of a foot of water above the normal rise, Curless said.
Curless said that Kaur must submit a written response to the letter by Aug. 8 and that if he doesn't comply, he could be asked to remove the garage or take other action that will likely be determined by Deputy Flood Plain District Director Suzanne Shields.
* Contact reporter Colleen Sparks at colleens@azstarnet.com or 434-4076.
Copyright © 2003 Dan Swango and Associates