Those of us of a certain age have the immortal Alfred E Neuman burned into our brains. Look at the picture above. Why would the residents of Greensboro Rd possibly be worried about a 21000 SF development with 1.25 acres of impervious surfaces right where the road floods/washes out over and over again?
And yet, Don Wileman and the leaders of Christ Redeemer Church think that they should be exempt from any form of town scrutiny of their plans. They tell us not to worry, they are going to be good for the neighborhood. If you ask them to tell you specifically how they are going to benefit the neighborhood, they say it’s an unfair question and you shouldn’t put them on the spot. After 7 years, they should be able to tell us at least one thing, shouldn’t they?
Call me a pie-in-the-sky crazy optimist if you’d like, but I’ve always thought religious institutions should hold themselves to a higher moral standard, and be more accountable to the community than the typical real estate developer, or mafia hitman. CRC obviously disagrees. In their mind, they should evade all accountability, because, after all, they are a church.
Any way, the Planning Board will continue their review of CRC’s application on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:30. We don’t expect that they will take public comment on Tues night – this will probably be a deliberative session only. But, neighborhood attendance is still encouraged. The Greensboro neighborhood had turned out over and over again at public meetings, making sure that our feelings are known and our voices are heard.
If you’d like to learn a little more about the issues at hand, you can read the letter that I submitted to the Planning Board prior to the November meeting. It’s a pretty good summary of the current issues and how we really feel
Letter to Planning Board – 11.7.23
If you just want the TLDR version, it goes like this: CRC claims that a new state law exempts them from town review of their plans. We believe this law is patently unconstitutional, and members of the Planning Board should vote their conscience on Dec 5.
Greensboro Road Neighborhood Info 