To the Editor:
I fully agree with Dudley Losselyong's letter (“Decision Driven by Tax Base, Great Falls Connection, July 6-12, 2016). Nineteen houses in Brooks Farm is marginally better, I guess, than 23, but the developers, Basheer/Edgemoore Brooks surely knew the zoning of the property when they bought it. Now they have the nerve to ask the people of Great Falls to make them a present of the many millions of dollars in increased property value (and sale prices of the homes to be built) that a rezoning will entail.
Why do developers always assume that they can count on rezoning whenever it will benefit them?
I object, and I hope the Connection and the citizens of the Village will as well.
I will remember how the planning commission members and how the County Supervisors vote on Brooks Farm and the Challedon rezoning actions, and I will seek to punish those who try to Restonize and McLeanify Great Falls.
Peter D. Zimmerman
Great Falls
Objections to rezoning - II
To the Editor:
The lead story in the July 6-12 Great Falls Connection (“Undisturbed Forest, Detailed Negotiation”) describes the efforts of developer Gulick Group to rezone 11 acres of mostly forest to permit construction of more homes, hence increasing Gulick's profits.
The county, the GF Citizens' Association, and the residents of the village invested thousands of worker-hours determining the appropriate use and density of that land. Now a developer comes along, one who knew, or should have known, the zoning of the property before buying it, and he expects the county and its planning commission to make him a gift of down-zoning to increase his return on the cost of the land.
I object. The property is zoned RA for a reason, to preserve the low density nature of the community. There is no reason at all to grant the zoning change.
Gulick's options are clear: develop the land as zoned and seek a lower price from the original owner, or pass and find a property with the zoning he wants.
Please, don't always cave in to developers' requests that change Great Falls for the worse.
Peter D. Zimmerman
Great Falls