903 North Main Street rezoning

Son of the owners, he said the house was used as a duplex in the late 1990s-2000s, pledged over $100,000 in renovations including splitting utility lines, and argued the rental-heavy neighborhood has ample precedent for multi-unit homes.

Immediate neighbor at 909 North Main; asked the commission to deny, citing ten years of vacancy, deteriorated condition, disputed interior layout and parking, and fear of student party use next door.

Lives at 136 Curtis Avenue; fine with rentals that are maintained but worried spillover parking will creep down an already crowded street.

Owner of the Lincoln House; said North Main Street has a different character than the student-dominated south end and doesn't want it to change, and should remain a single-family home.

Lives at 823 North Main at the Curtis corner; not worried about renters but about density, traffic, parking, noise, and privacy impacts on the surrounding homes; asked the commission to deny.

Four houses down on Curtis; presented city-directory research showing a 903-and-a-half listing only in 1947-49, documented the street is routinely full of parked cars, and argued a four-and-four-bedroom duplex doesn't fit the family neighborhood.

Lives at 127 Curtis; described daily difficulty turning from Main Street onto Curtis with parking in front of the property, and asked the commission to deny.

New renter at 821 North Main, three weeks in town; said it's not about renters but called the proposal a slippery slope and worried about congestion and her neighbors.

50-year Fourth Ward resident rehabbing a neighboring duplex back to single-family; called the 'always a duplex' claim unsupported, said rezoning shouldn't reward vacancy and neglect, and urged denial.

Speaking for the BG Save neighborhoods group; cited the 2023 zoning rewrite and council's unanimous 2023 vote to bar new duplexes in the PR district, and warned that once zoned R-2 the owner could demolish the house entirely.

Speaking for his father James Smith, he said the house has always been a duplex with two kitchens and two full baths, and the family wants to renovate it properly with separate furnaces and AC units.

The adjacent homeowner at 909 North Main said the property hasn't always been a duplex — it's been a single-family home in between — and isn't wild about the idea; she'll speak further at the public hearing.