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Health & Fitness

Decision Time in MV ! Golf Course Meeting Thursday, MVF Ballots Due Friday..

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. 

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I decided to run for the MVF board because I wanted to do something to get us moving forward again.  Since the race started I have been listening to residents and meeting business owners, and walking around our community looking at our homes and views.  We have gotten a bit shabby over the years, and we spend a lot of money on tree care and snow removal, but the community is also a green oasis in the middle of a dense sprawling construction zone.  If elected, I will not support any development on spaces that are currently open and green.  I have proposed several compromises for the golf course that would preserve the open space, and I think we could put a nice big playground over on the corner lot by the library.  That would be a more welcoming sight than another office building.  I will not support any asphalt highways cutting through the village.  I hope that we can open a discussion with the Village Center owners about what goes there, as well as a discussion with the business leaders there on how to improve the shopping experience and reduce crime.  I’d like to see festival events held in the shopping center instead of the pool parking lots, like the pumpkin race or a fist-night party.  I’d like to see our community doing more to help improve our schools, give the teenagers more activities, and enforce property maintenance standards instead of our dated architectural standards.   What do you want to see for the future of the village?  Is it green or gray?  The ballots are due this Friday by 5pm at the MVF Office on Apple Ridge Road.   Be sure to cast your ballots, for that is the surest way to make your voice really heard.

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