Letter: Towing Company Should Find Different Location

For several years, our family waited and saved to be able to live in this traditional middle class residential family neighborhood a block away from in Kent. The quiet, tree lined streets, single family homes and safe, short  walk to the elementary school has always attracted families with young children.

Senior citizens who raised their children decades ago continue to live here because of the quality of our neighborhood. It's such a quiet neighborhood, that Walls schoolchildren serve as crossing guards before and after school with no adult supervision.

Now this traditional family neighborhood is threatened by the proposal to change 40 years of residential zoning so that a towing, trucking, auto repair and storage company can re­locate adjacent to single family homes. Exhaust fumes, noise, truck traffic and possible crime that would come with a 24 hour towing and storage facility now raise concerns about property values, and the health, safety and quiet of our cherished family neighborhood.

The towing proposal to move adjacent to single family homes in an area that has been zoned residential for 40 years will severely impact senior citizens and families with children alike. Baker's Towing would literally be in the backyard of single family, residential homes. Baker's Towing can and must find a different location that is already zoned for commercial use.

The Kent Board of Zoning Appeals will vote on whether to change the R-3 residential zoning to allow Baker's Towing to move to this property. Please reject Baker's Towing Co.'s application for a non-conforming usage change. Keep the historic R-3 residential zoning property located between Lake and Steele Streets.

Let's keep Kent residential neighborhoods safe and healthy for children and  senior citizens!

David & Lauren Odell-Scott
Kent