Some city residents upset with a decision to allow multi-family dwellings in neighborhood of single-family residences want that decision reversed, or at the very least reconsidered.

Several residents in the West 14^th Street and Summit Avenue area of the city do not agree with the Board of Adjustment’s 3-2 vote to issue a special-use permit to Luis and Valerie Taveras, who live in Brooklyn, New York, to build four duplexes on a lot between West 14^th and West 15^th streets. The board’s split vote was made June 14. Those residents, some of which voiced their concerns to the City Council on Monday, contend the duplexes are not in character with the single-family nature of the neighborhood.

They want the Board of Adjustment to reconsider the matter regarding the property at 294 W. 14^th St.

City Attorney Franz Holscher informed the residents and city officials there were two options the residents could purse. One option is to persuade the Planning Board to reopen the matter, which rarely happens, he noted. The other option is to appeal the board’s decision to Superior Court.

Barry Friedland, who lives at 1307 Summit Ave., told the council he and some of his neighbors are not happy with the board’s issuance of the permit. “Possibly eight families on a lot slightly larger than a half-acre. Our neighborhood is a neighborhood of single-family homes,” he said.

To demonstrate why he believes the duplexes would be out of place in that neighborhood, Friedland hammered a square peg into one of several holes in a board, something that got the attention of the overflow crowd in the Council Chambers and adjacent hallways. “I’m going to show you what they have done. … They (board members) have put a square peg in our neighborhood. That is wrong,” he said.

Friedland said letters written by people opposed to the issuance of the permit and submitted to the board for its consideration were not read by the board. “They were ignored. … No questions were asked of the people speaking against this proposal — no questions,” he said.

“We are trying for a rehearing, and any subsequent review processes that this project will go through, we ask you to be vigilant to see what is happening to this plot of land. It’s important … to everyone who has bought into a single-family neighborhood,” Friedland said.

Other speakers expressed similar views.

Councilman Doug Mercer said the council could not change the board’s decision. It’s up to the board to decide if it would reconsider that decision.