House sized

Councilor Szakos said she understands that the person who built this are not the same people coming forth with the application. Can we assume that when this was built, the zoning would not permit a triplex there so it was being built as a single family home? Mr. Haluska said the previous owners had begun work on a structure that is technically allowed under the city’s zoning code, but the proposed use as three apartment units is not. The original building plans for the project were for a 7,000-square-foot, single-family detached residence.ZM15-00004 June 2016 Planning Commission

Mary Carey 100 Ridge Street; said she appreciates what Planning Commission has done not agreeing with everything.
She said you’ve done good and a lot of people don’t give you the praise you should get. You are making people feel you
are dealing with the people and not the developers, because the developers are taking over our city. It’s all about money.

It seems a majority of Charlottesville City Councilors feel that the structure at 624 Booker is house sized (their current definition of house sized is 9500 sq ft) and could be built on any residential lot in Charlottesville?

Liquidambar styraciflua

gum balla
The earliest known published record of Liquidambar styraciflua is in a work by Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández published posthumously in 1615, in which he describes the species as a large tree producing a fragrant gum resembling liquid amber, whence the genus name Liquidambar. In John Ray’s Historia Plantarum (1686) it is called Styrax liquida. However, the first mention of any use of the amber is described by Juan de Grijalva, the nephew of the governor of Cuba, in the year 1517. Juan de Grijalva tells of gift exchanges with the Mayas “who presented them with, among other things, hollow reeds of about a span long filled with dried herbs and sweet-smelling liquid amber which, when lighted in the way shown by the natives, diffused an agreeable odour.”[11] The species was introduced into Europe in 1681 by John Banister, the missionary collector sent out by Bishop Compton, who planted it in the palace gardens at Fulham in London, England.–Wikipedia

The fruit people love to hate, gum balls. Goldfinches, purple finches, squirrels, and chipmunks eat the seeds of the tree. The long-persisting fallen spiked fruits can be unpleasant to walk on; sweet gum is banned in some places for this reason–Wikipedia