 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
August 19, 2004
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
August 19, 2004 |
|||||
 |
|
EDITORIAL Weighing benefits of 2 projects A proposal from Village Council to build a detention basin on the Glass Farm using Village green space funds may be well-intended, but it also raises questions about the best use of those funds. This is especially true when a proposal by Council president Tony Arnett is weighed against the remarks of Village Manager Rob Hillard, who cautioned that green space funds could be used to help the entire community by protecting the public water supply. Council members should consider Mr. Hillard’s ideas and concerns before committing to an expensive project. Council members have said that they support the construction of a detention pond on the Glass Farm, which the Village owns, the only question was how to pay for it. Mr. Arnett came up with an idea when earlier this month he suggested that Council use Village green space money to build the pond on the eastern end of the farm. The basin would retain water from a creek that runs through the Glass Farm. This creek is cited as one of the culprits of a flooding problem that some residents downstream have been complaining about. At the same time, Mr. Arnett suggested that the Village designate a “significant portion” of the farm as permanent open space or as a park. Council members Jocelyn Hardman and George Pitstick called Arnett’s proposal a “idea great.” Mr. Pitstick said that building the basin would support future development on the north and west ends of Yellow Springs. It’s not often that the Village manager publicly disagrees with Council, but Mr. Hillard came close to doing just that with his rather lukewarm reaction to Mr. Arnett’s proposal. Such a response from the top Village administrator should give Council pause. Mr. Hillard, for instance, noted that the Village could use green space funds to place conservation easements on the Village wellfield, the area in which the Village wells are located, or to acquire land around the wellfield to keep it from development and protect the public water supply. A study funded by the Village estimated that a two-acre detention pond on the Glass Farm could cost $150,000. The green space fund currently has a balance of $154,000. So building the basin would use up most of the green space fund, and Mr. Hillard has said that the Village has no plans to replenish the fund. As Mr. Hillard pointed out, building a park on the farm would mean additional costs for the Village, which, facing tight budgets, has worked hard for several years to keep costs down. Though adding a new park for the neighborhoods around the Glass Farm may one day be a good idea, given the Village’s financial situation, the timing does not seem right today. The Village is in a tough spot, since it is responsible for managing the stormwater runoff flowing from the Glass Farm and its creek. Downstream neighbors whose yards flood during heavy rainstorms deserve some relief. Given the Village’s budget projections of declining future revenues, and a long list of capital projects totaling over $12 million, however, one must wonder if building a detention pond today is worth the cost and Council’s time and energy. The bottom line is that when compared to one another, protecting Yellow Springs’ water supply is a better use of green space funds than building a detention basin because of the overall effect it would have on the community.
|
|
