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Benefit of this doubt is stretched
(by Barbara Christian - June 22, 2011)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Benefit of this doubt is stretched
It's well documented that different people learn in different ways. Perhaps you, like me, can't just look at a two-dimensional drawing of something and see what it will look like in real life.
So let's give our village leaders the benefit of a doubt and say they didn't know what that first River Walk townhome building was going to look like until it began to rise ... and rise ... and rise. And rise it did, four stories of it, right in the side yard of Valerie Bertsch's Williams Street century home.
That new townhome, which boasts "views of the village and hills beyond," has not just blocked Mrs. Bertsch's own view of the village and hills beyond, but it blocks her light and air. It's that close. No more summer breezes on the deck for her, and the sunset won't be quite the same either.
Think I'm exaggerating? Don't believe me? Take a look at Mrs. Bertsch's Facebook page and prepare to be horrified. Or take a drive by her home and see for yourself. See just how close the first River Walk building is to her windows and her deck.
Giving them the benefit of doubt, if our village leaders could look at plans and see what reality was going to look like, they would not have permitted this to happen. Would they?
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they must not have understood how close and how obtrusive the townhome is to Mrs. Bertsch's home -- and her life -- and how awful that reality is. Did they?
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, had they known, would village leaders have given the developer all the concessions they did to build what he did? Would they?
We can give a benefit of the doubt to untrained eyes of our village leaders who could not translate a drawing into reality. But maybe we should not be so quick to forgive them their haste in making the decisions that will change one homeowner's life and decrease the value of her property.
Benefit of the doubt strains under the weight of what is under way on West Orange and Williams streets and which began innocently enough with an idea to rid the block of blight and replace it with a "gateway" development.
In public meetings, we as a village agreed that gateway should take shape as a mixed-use development -- homes, retail, office -- in scale with the neighborhood and in keeping with the history of the town.
What happened to that dream and our shared resolve? The situation at West Orange and Williams streets raises questions no one is rushing to answer. That doesn't mean they should not be asked.
Question: History has proven real estate is the best long-term investment, so why the panic to sell the village-owned West Orange Street properties in the middle of a recession at half of what the village bought them for?
Question: Why the need for a wink and nod "understanding" that whoever developed the "gateway" property would -- in addition to getting a bargain-basement deal -- be looked upon favorably when it came to concessions and variances?
Question: Why weren't the concerns of the lone neighbor, Mrs. Bertsch, taken more seriously?
Question: Given all that has happened, is there a statute of limitations on our willingness to give the benefit of a doubt?
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