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May 5, 2005
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May 5, 2005 |
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EDITORIAL Glen Helen land for sale Antioch made a poor decision when it included in its sale of Birch III a five-acre parcel considered part of Glen Helen. Antioch has a right to sell Birch III, which seems appropriate for a housing development, but the university must also honor the trust placed in its administrators’ hands to protect Glen Helen. By selling part of land from the Glen, Antioch is breaking that trust. Purple Sage, a limited liability company owned by Dayton developers Doug Eastham and Mark Bertke, plans to build up to 40 homes on Birch III, which is 21 acres. The company has secured another five acres — the Glen land — that could be used for a retention basin for the development, called Glenwood Springs. Last month, the company received preliminary approval for their plat application from the Village Planning Commission. The plan board will hold a hearing on the final plat application from Purple Sage at a meeting on Monday, May 9. Antioch and Purple Sage closed the sale of the total 26 acres last month. Purple Sage paid $530,000 for the properties, according to information available on the Greene County auditor’s Web site. Antioch purchased the disputed five-acre parcel in 1964 with money donated by the Vernay Foundation. A letter from the foundation says that the property “upon acquisition by the College shall become a part of Glen Helen and shall be administered by the director of the Glen Helen Department of the College in conformity with and as part of” the Glen. The parcel is part of a larger tract of land that has a conservation easement on it, preserving the land as open space and restricting development “with buildings or other structures or other uses,” according to Jean (McCally) Tebay, who is named in the easement. The facts contained in these documents distinguish the sale of the five-acre parcel from an offer Village Council has received to buy one acre of the Glass Farm, as part of a neighboring housing development. The Glass Farm is not protected by an easement, nor is it intended to be part of a nature preserve. Though Mr. Eastham told the News in March that he anticipated that he would donate the property back to Antioch, he seems to have changed his tune. He was quoted in the Dayton Daily News this week as saying of the parcel, “We bought it, and we can do what we see fit with it.” Don Tecklenburg, the vice chancellor of Antioch University, told the DDN that Antioch has the right to sell the property, noting that the land is not congruent with the Glen or the Antioch campus and is not managed as part of Glen Helen. The Glenwood Springs project may lack creativity and will only include large, expensive homes — but these are not the main flaws in Purple Sage’s development plans. The primary problem is the company’s need to include the five-acre parcel for stormwater retention. The bottom line is land from the Glen should not be used to enhance a housing development.
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