This week 2 big decisions happen in Montgomery Village.
The first big event is the 7pm Thursday meeting at Lake Marion Center of the Joint MVGC Committee. The committee is preparing to vote on a draft recommendation to the MVF Board that will either condemn the property values of 440 neighbors in the village or preserve the open green spaces in our midst forever. The committee was appointed to provide feedback and make recommendations to the MVF Board of Directors on the developer’s proposed plans. The draft resolution is posted on the MVF web site (see committees) and would recommend support for the developer’s plans, making no attempt to place real limits on the project or preserve the promises that Clarence Kettler made when planning the village, that “no homes can, nor will, be built on this property.” Apparently the committee members are willing to be accomplices in a deal that the developer claimed in a court filing will make $17.5M in profits and trash the peaceful green views that hundreds of residents paid premium prices to obtain. We can only hope that they come up with some options and incorporate other ideas into their report besides a rubber stamp of this proposal to build shiny new townhouses next to the power lines and our existing homes. Selling our 45 year old homes in the village once they start construction on the new units could become quite a challenge.
The second decision due this week is the ballots for the MVF Board of Directors. This board will get to guide the community on several major issues, notably the golf course development but also plans for the MV Professional Center and Village Center shopping center. Traditionally MVF has waited for decisions to come to its doorstep, then tried to figure out why the plan presented wasn’t what it wanted. The Vision 2030 process was an attempt to change that process and put resident views in front, but once approved not much happened. Plans put on a shelf do not do any good, and it is the actions and people implementing the plans that bring progress. That is often much harder than writing the plan, and requires doers, not planners.