Dejong Estates

Perhaps I am missing something in regards to this development, but the land in Lot 2 on this plan was basically clear cut from corner to corner already and work has begone on the site. Are the meeting dates not correct?

Also, when did Minnetonka allow that type of clear cutting to take place as part of this type of development?

The Sparrow neighborhood has more than filled its quota for properties being split and sold off to developers. All within the past 6-12 months, we have experienced 7 lots being completely cleared of our precious trees and multi-million dollar homes pop up in their spots, all within a 1/4 mile radius of most homes. In addition, within a 1 mile radius, an entire community was put in place, as well as 5 additional new build homes. Fair to say, enough is enough.

This is a highly desirable neighborhood to live in, but for all of the reasons that are being stripped away. Those of us that have lived her for many years, or those of us who were lucky enough to purchase a well-built older home would like to reject this plot of houses, and continue to reject additional property splitting.

Our wooded areas provide many benefits to our neighborhood. Stripping away our forest is detrimental for the following reasons:
- Loss and displacement of the many animals we harbor in our woods, including turkeys, foxes and many dear.
- Soil Erosion, leading to issues of degradation increased sedimentation in bodies of water.
- Climate Impacts - Loss of the absorption of carbon dioxide
- Increased Noise Pollution - Especially important with our surrounding HWY 7 and HWY 101.
- Property Values - Large mature trees contribute to increased property value.
- Increased Energy Costs — Our forest provides a natural cooling barrier, which is essential to the consistently increasing summer temperatures.

This list could go on and on. We are losing the feel of Sparrow at a rapid pace. The history and beauty of our neighborhood should be more seriously valued by the City of Minnetonka. We strongly object the proposed project development of this site.

This neighborhood has been a target for developers for several years who appear to be committed to destroying the very character of the area that makes it so desirable in the first place. The Sparrow neighborhood had several large areas of woods that offered habitat to turkeys, songbirds, foxes, and other creatures that have been felled for giant house after giant house. We are losing the woods that makes this feel like a natural area instead of a row of tract houses straight out of Plymouth or Woodbury. We also don't need more million-dollar-plus monstrosities driving up our property values while depriving the neighborhood of character.

If you are going to allow developers to raze all of our trees, which is probably inevitable, at least require they do so by including affordable housing, or at least moderately priced housing. This is a neighborhood for families to settle and grow, but only a limited class of people can afford all of these giant houses going up, making approval of these plans just a modern day redline. The proposed house for this spot will cost a million dollars MORE than our own house. That's crazy! We want people from all walks to be able to move into this neighborhood and for that to happen, we must object to the planned development in this PLAT in its current form. Keep Sparrow a beautiful, affordable neighborhood!