To appreciate the impact, walk the 400 block alley to the west of Third Avenue and imagine more than 178 rooms behind a 12-foot wall on the alley backed by three and four flat-topped stories (set back 10 to 50 feet, depending where you stand). While loss of the view and change has prompted upset among neighbors, there are substantive issues that are concerning.

One resident invited the developer, planners and city to participate with the community in an ongoing discussion and consideration of the problems. A goal would be collaborative problem-solving. Though the owner/developer has the right to build whatever the code allows, codified rights do not translate into actions that are right and appropriate in all situations.

Neighbors questioned the following: consideration and balance of design, concern about density increase in a densely used corner of downtown, parking availability for guests and staff, traffic patterns in that bottleneck area of town, balance of the sheer massive scale of the project compared with the scale of downtown and surrounding buildings, hotel and restaurant refuse removal from an essentially residential alley (probably daily), noise and light pollution from almost 200 guest rooms and high open terrace areas overlooking Third Avenue residences.

These are a few of the concerning issues. There are more. Community members at large as well as the more local group of neighbors should want to jump in and push for transparency, collaboration and discussion to move the project in a more balanced direction.

Tamara Hoier

Durango