Developer profits, residents lose property values

This project to build three houses on one large lot has little to do with providing more housing for close-in living, than it does for the developer to make a good profit [“Builder’s plan in West Seattle revives debate on city’s density,” NWMonday, Jan. 28].

On a project like this I suspect that the developer will make a gross profit of around $1 million, while the neighbors will lose property values that equal about the same amount of money. That is not a fair trade.

In addition, the neighbors are left to live with the misery of the eyesores and have to look at these monstrosities every day. It does make for a breakdown in neighborhoods. Would you like your new neighbors who stole your view?

In the meantime, the developer is long gone looking for a new neighborhood to intrude. This is why neighbors are never happy when new homes are going up. West Seattle is full of these eyesores, out of scale and outsized for the lot and the neighborhood.

Where is the respect for the city’s neighborhoods and the citizens? Perhaps the developers should be required to compensate the neighbors for the loss of property values due to their development.

--Peggy Yost, Seattle