Hillside Trust refutes developer’s view of ordinance

Per Gary Osterfeld’s comments in the August 1st issue of the
Enquirer, “Views up for debate” I have this rebuttal.  Mr.
Osterfeld contends that had the view corridor ordinance been in place, he would
not have been able to build his leed-designed, energy-efficient homes as part of
the Cottage Hill development in Columbia Tusculum.  This simply is not true. 

Mr. Osterfeld’s development is located within the public overlooks of Alms Park. 
In particular, the Comisar Overlook is the nearest overlook to his development. 
The fact is, Mr. Osterfeld could build his Cottage Hill development on Handman
Ave, and on a number of other properties he owns in Columbia Tusculum, and this
proposed ordinance would not prevent him from developing any of his properties
whatsoever.  If anyone would like to check this, they may contact Cameron
Ross, City Planner, at 352-4891 who informed me of this fact.

Mr. Osterfeld also contends that Leed design requires you to build vertically as
opposed to horizontally. This may be true if you are talking about building an
office high-rise on a quarter-acre of downtown land, as opposed to building a
Wal-Mart type development on 5-10 acres of land.  For a residence, on a hillside, there are
advantages to building into the ground whereby one can take advantage of such
things as thermal massing (using the ambient temperature of the ground  to
heat and cool the foundation), thus saving on utility costs.  And, with steep
hillsides you can still enjoy views from lower levels because the dramtatic
change in relief often allows you to see out, especially if you keep vegetation trimmed down.

Above all, this ordinance would affect only 467 parcels of land (318 private and
149 public) out of a total of some 9,300 parcels of land in the entire Hillside
Overlay District (HOD).  That is less than 5% of the entire land area of the
HOD.  This is not anti-business.  It demonstrates we care about our civic
assets and are willing to preserve them for present and future generations to
enjoy.