Moody Amphitheater
When the People Living in Houses Were More Important Than the Houses
RECEIVED Fri., June 12, 2009
Dear Amy Smith,
Thank you for the coverage regarding my mother's house [“The Battle Over This Old House,” News, June 12]. I would like you to know that the decision to demolish this house was not one made in haste. We had thought more than two years ago that we could repair and possibly restore my mother's home for her. After inspection reports, on both the structure and the internal environment, we learned that the cost just to get this house to city code was more than $1 million because of all the issues related to the problems of this structure. This property has SF6 zoning, a zoning that has been in place for more than 30 years, which would allow for townhomes, duplexes, or condos. We thought since it would not be economically feasible for us to just bring the house to code, that we could build my mother a new home on the property she has owned for more than 65 years and a second unit to be sold to pay for the project. There is a similar project not 10 feet behind her house. The property has an appraised value of $579,742 with $437,500 for the land and $142,242 for the house, according to the Travis Central Appraisal District assessment for 2009. How do you justify spending more than a million on a structure valued at less than $143,000? And how do you force someone who has spent the majority of her life on this property to sell? That's what this neighborhood association wants. Lorre Weidlich, the chair of the Hyde Park Local Historic District, wrote the following: "We believe that the Bradford-Nohra house will be replaced by a fourplex. Is that what we want occupying an important corner lot? Or do we want a vintage home, restored and housing a Hyde Park family?" Since we can't afford to restore, I guess we're not "a Hyde Park family." I grew up in this neighborhood. I remember the time when it was the people living in the houses, not the houses that mattered. Times have certainly changed.
Thank you for the coverage regarding my mother's house [“The Battle Over This Old House,” News, June 12]. I would like you to know that the decision to demolish this house was not one made in haste. We had thought more than two years ago that we could repair and possibly restore my mother's home for her. After inspection reports, on both the structure and the internal environment, we learned that the cost just to get this house to city code was more than $1 million because of all the issues related to the problems of this structure. This property has SF6 zoning, a zoning that has been in place for more than 30 years, which would allow for townhomes, duplexes, or condos. We thought since it would not be economically feasible for us to just bring the house to code, that we could build my mother a new home on the property she has owned for more than 65 years and a second unit to be sold to pay for the project. There is a similar project not 10 feet behind her house. The property has an appraised value of $579,742 with $437,500 for the land and $142,242 for the house, according to the Travis Central Appraisal District assessment for 2009. How do you justify spending more than a million on a structure valued at less than $143,000? And how do you force someone who has spent the majority of her life on this property to sell? That's what this neighborhood association wants. Lorre Weidlich, the chair of the Hyde Park Local Historic District, wrote the following: "We believe that the Bradford-Nohra house will be replaced by a fourplex. Is that what we want occupying an important corner lot? Or do we want a vintage home, restored and housing a Hyde Park family?" Since we can't afford to restore, I guess we're not "a Hyde Park family." I grew up in this neighborhood. I remember the time when it was the people living in the houses, not the houses that mattered. Times have certainly changed.
Sylvia Nohra Dudney