# You can't fight a crooked city hall ?



## RCO (Dec 3, 2018)

somewhat of an odd story , maybe 5 or 6 years ago I discovered this unique waterfront property which was located in a nearby town . it had been used as a sort of park , very popular fishing spot and often people there 


it had been the site of a small resort from 1930-2007 ( when it closed down and site was left abandoned ) , nothing much is currently on the site now , is one damaged docks along the water , a damaged building and mostly a lot of trees . and is some private waterfront cottages further down the road .


never found any old bottles on the site , although I did go swimming there once all around the old docks and such . only ever found modern beer bottles and cans on the site . 

 the other day I was surprised to read an article in the local paper indicating the site had been rezoned for 4 waterfront lots and 5 residential lots and that the local residents were happy with the proposal so no one opposed it 


anyways the other day I drove to the site and was surprised to see no public notices posted anywhere indicating plans to rezone the property . 


so I went to the town hall to try and figure out what was going on , things started out nice and everyone was happy but I soon realised the people working there were down right angry I had the nerve to show up asking questions and suggesting that the legal requirement of public notice may not of been meet . 


the lady indicated she had been there in early September and posted signs on multiple locations on the site . but I was there twice this fall in the period she claims they were there and never saw one . I literally walked thru the entire site in September as I went for a hike and picked up all the litter on the property . 


I don't think she's lying about posting it , so where did they go ? did the developer rip them down ? not wanting the general public to know or did some disgruntled idiot rip them down as a sort of protest against the plans ? clearly something happened to them. and she also said it was never posted in the local paper either as apparently they don't do that anymore 



anyways the whole thing seems crooked as the zoning meeting took place during or just after the municipal election period and my understanding was councils are considered " lame duck " during this time and not suppose to be making serious decisions until the new council is sworn in after the election 


and to appeal the decision you can only do so on the grounds the plan does not meet legal requirements etc ( being upset about losing semi public access is not grounds ) and it costs $300 per lot or for each thing you were appealing so its not affordable for an average person 


I'm upset and clearly something about the way this plan went thru stinks and the people at town hall are just plain angry anyone would walk in suggesting such a thing but there doesn't seem to be anything I could do about it . there seems to be too much big money involved in the local building scene now and the town halls are always searching for more revenue and seem to care little for public access


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## RCO (Dec 3, 2018)

to explain further they aren't actually developing the entire property , there is a large area that is being zoned " environmental protection " .

these lands were some sort of golf course and sewage lagoons at one point and since the lodge closed , there saying species at risk have moved in and it be best to leave them alone 


but these lands aren't accessible from the road and aren't on the water , it also doesn't seem like that area is becoming a public park or conservation area with public access , just zoned in a way that its not developable 


I wouldn't of had an issue with them building some homes on the site but it would of been nice if they could of saved the busy park like area and turned it into an actual public access point instead of selling it to the highest bidder


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## coldwater diver (Dec 18, 2018)

RCO, Its interesting how city hall works in any town, they are in the know about most everything in town. In my town they know how to buy fire trucks too big to fit in their fire house and the other fire house did not have a shower in which to wash off all those pesky carcinogens. So with Yankee Ingenuity (sarcasm alert)what do they do? Knock both fire houses and build two new ones at the cost of millions to the town. Is it to late to petition for a section to be a public park?


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## RCO (Dec 25, 2018)

coldwater diver said:


> RCO, Its interesting how city hall works in any town, they are in the know about most everything in town. In my town they know how to buy fire trucks too big to fit in their fire house and the other fire house did not have a shower in which to wash off all those pesky carcinogens. So with Yankee Ingenuity (sarcasm alert)what do they do? Knock both fire houses and build two new ones at the cost of millions to the town. Is it to late to petition for a section to be a public park?



it was a very crooked process the final day to appeal was Dec 18 or so , rate before the holidays so no one would of had time to launch one. the government has also made it much harder and expensive to appeal land use decisions . ( claim its to try and solve the housing crisis and make it easier for people to build new houses , but it can also be used by developers for there own advantage )  


this specific property has also had a long history of controversy , the local associations were very much against development 10 or so years ago and fought a previous proposal . but over time they seemed to become less active and the idea of a couple homes on that lot didn't seem to bother them anymore . and perhaps they felt it could of been worse and something built like a condo instead .

the local residents may have also come to dislike the public access people who went fishing and such there , also some litter bugs too . so they might not of been upset to see it end 



part of the problem with our town councils here is a lack of new blood , seem to go stale and the same incumbents never leave office and no one is able to beat them . they also feel development brings new money to town , where is a vacant lot full of trees is pretty but does not bring in revenue


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