The issue in a nutshell:
The Friends Care Community was given the Barr property in the center of town by the Morgan Family Foundation to build senior apartments. After a number of plans were submitted to the village, they finally received approval to go ahead with the project. They hit a snag, however, when their business plan was deemed insufficient to get financing. They are currently working on it, but estimates are that it will be nine months or so before they can start moving again.
In the interim, Bill Bebko, in a letter to the YS News, suggested that the little-used Beatty-Huges park, which is located on Corry Street across from the firehouse and is approximately the same size as the Barr property, would be a better location for the apartments. The project originally received strong opposition from homeowners in the vicinity of its original proposed location. If there were a land swap between the village, which owns the park, and FCC, it was reasoned, then the Barr Property could be used as a park. This plan would also eliminate the necessity for demolishing the Barr House.
Along comes the Yellow Springs Historical Society, which is looking for space for a Yellow Springs Historical Museum. In the opinion of some, the Barr House would be an excellent site.
The Blog has started a poll (in the sidebar) to sample public opinion on the limited question of whether there should be a land swap so that the senior apartments would be located on Corry Street on the site of the park and that there would be a park on the Barr Property. There are all kinds of issues that go along with this, financial, emotional and legal, that could presumably be overcome if a land swap were effectuated. The poll is simply to determine how people would feel about having the apartments on Corry Street and a park on the corner of Limestone and Xenia Ave.
Related posts:
Historical Society pondering Barr house
Bench to Nowhere: Senior Apartment project on hold gives us time to think
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2 comments:
I really don't like this swap. However, the Beatty Hughes park is a complete waste of valuable land and should be used for something else and maybe senior housing is good idea. I like the idea of using the Barr property for a large structure and not a park or a historical center. Why not a privately owned hotel? or publicly-owned? We need more places for people to stay that are close to downtown--the current amount of rooms at the local bed & breakfasts and one motel is not enough if we expand our regional base and draw from a larger area for people to enjoy the shops and the ambience and the "chautauqua" of Yellow Springs.
@m: Please remember that the Barr property is private property. The ultimate decision about how it is used will be made by the owners. It is not a community decision. As for Beatty Hughes Park—what you call "a complete waste of valuable land" is what others call "open space" and consider valuable. That is why its purchase was subsidized and the deed restricted.
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