Olde Towne Commons Petition

Subject Matter:
(1) Rezoning of Olde Towne Commons Condominiums (300 Block London Street) to Residential status.

(2) Adding contracted security to the Middle Street Parking Garage.

(1) We the people of Olde Towne Commons Condominiums petition to rezone our condo community and the residential properties adjacent to Court Street Baptist Church and Academy to a residential status. The issue has become alarmingly apparent that our once peaceful community is NOT safe and we believe rezoning may put our community in a status with differing regulations from the adjacent business areas. The problem involves many neighboring businesses have brought with them a crime community that have infiltrated our community and caused many cars to be broken into and stolen from as well as one of our community members to be shot in her sleep. We believe the change in status of our community from T5 (“Primarily retail space”) to a primarily Residential status may put us in a safer place for legal purposes alone. The businesses in question have caused many of our (and surrounding) residents to fear for their lives and their customers to disturb the peace and ruin property. Having the allowance of closing times at sometimes 3-5 AM brings with it a loud crowd and our residents like to sleep through the night. Our condo community is purely residential with many armed forces and government workers as well as retired community members who try to maintain a nice peaceful plot of land and possibly get some hours of sleep undisturbed before waking up at 5 AM to go to work. The status of “primarily residential” is established for all other condominium and townhouse communities in the downtown area including Crawford Bay and Worthington Square Condominiums. Ours, as well as other residential buildings that don’t have businesses ran in them (example: HLO is established for a woman who has lived at the corner of London Street and Court Street for 20+ years but has never ran a business from home), deserve the same treatment and peace having been heavily rooted in the downtown area, some for more than 30 years.

(2) We believe adding subcontracted security to the Middle Street Parking Garage (Corner of London St. and Middle St.) during night time hours and into the morning will drastically decrease the number of vandalisms, littering, car thefts and shootings in our community. Living in the proximity of an unsecured city run parking garage with no parking fee during working hours for businesses that have been permitted to have late night hours has brought with it sleepless nights full of loud music and yelling bar patrons in the duration businesses have been permitted by city officials to be open into the early 3-5 AM hours.

The issues will persist so long as no one is there to monitor the parking establishment late at night & into early morning hours. 2 AM October 12th, 2024 a shooting occurred from the neighboring parking garage where many families with children visit during day time hours for flea markets. The night of this incident there were many neighbors who reported hearing a great deal of people leaving the businesses on High Street all at the same time and getting into their cars unable to do anything to prevent the shooting of our resident in her bed. If there was some form of security on duty at the time of the incident an innocent woman might not have been shot in her sleep or forced to fear living in a town she’s called “home” her entire life. An officer coming by inconsistently DOES NOT FIX THE ISSUE, it only prevent any kind of fault on the ones who neglect to do anything about it. There use to be a rent-a-cop on duty at all nearby parking garages in the past during those hours, we need them for our safety. If nothing is done to fix these problems, they will continue to happen and the city will be losing citizens who truly care about this city. If there is no one to protect the innocent then the innocent will either be forced to leave or to act on their own, which is never in anyones interest especially not a governing body.

WE ARE NOT A MIXED USE CONDO COMMUNITY WE ARE A RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY!