July 28, 2005

By Lauren Heaton

Last week Purple Sage developers Doug Eastham and Mark Bertke donated back to the community the 5.11-acre parcel they purchased from Antioch University in April as part of a larger residential development project on Birch III land. The parcel was transferred to the Glen Helen Association on Wednesday.
The GHA board of trustees recognizes the importance of the gift and will form a committee to figure out how best to continue to preserve the land and reincorporate it as part of the Glen, GHA member Joan Horn said on Friday. “We want to celebrate the developers’ good sense and their sensitivity to the desires of the community,” Horn said. “It was a very generous gesture to the community.”
GHA co-presidents Lynn Tobey and Tony Arnett were both on vacation this week and did not return calls for comment.
Both Eastham and Bertke chose not to comment about the land transfer, saying only that it was always their intention to convey the land back to the community.
In April Antioch sold the 5.11 acres to Purple Sage along with a 20-acre parcel known as Birch III, located between Stewart Drive, Orton Road, Glen View Drive and Hyde Road. Purple Sage initially planned to build 40 homes in the $300,000 range on the 20 acres and use the 5.11 acres for a stormwater retention basin.
But the plans for the 5.11 acres stirred up local controversy. In 1964, Antioch College had purchased a conservation easement on the 5.11-acre parcel and a 20.89-acre tract of land across the street on the south side of Hyde Road, both of which were donated to Antioch by the Vernay Foundation with the understanding that the land become part of Glen Helen. The easement grants to its holders, Jean McCally, Garrett Smith and Michael McCally, the right to protect the land “as open green-space and forever restricted from development with buildings or other structures or uses except those that may be incidental to the uses and purposes set forth herein.”
Though neither the developers’ attorneys nor the Village solicitor could agree on whether the easement prohibited a retention basin, a group of neighbors calling themselves the Friends of Glen Helen/ Hyde felt strongly that a retention basin was contrary to the land’s intended use. In addition, the Friends of Glen Helen/Hyde opposed Antioch’s sale of the 5.11 acres, saying that the land belongs to the Glen. Over the summer the group gathered 256 signatures supporting a petition advising Council to withhold approval of the entire subdivision until the “legal status of the easement is determined and until the potential use of this land is made known to the public,” the petition states.
Last Monday Village Council approved the final plans for the Birch III subdivision, which included 35 houses and a water retention basin all located on the Birch III property and not on the 5.11 acres.
But the issue is not completely resolved yet, according to both Sam Young, chairman of the Friends of Glen Helen/Hyde, and Jean (McCally) Tebay. If the 5.11 acres could be sold and slated for a use that supports development, they ask, what is to stop the same thing from happening to the 20.1 acres across the street and to the whole of Glen Helen, both of which are owned by Antioch University?
“Antioch still violated donor intent, and the exact same donor intent exists on the easement across the street,” Young said. “We want to make sure the same does not befall the land across the street.”
Tebay, who also holds the easement on the 20.89 acres, recommended that an updated easement be established and that it be placed with the Tecumseh Land Trust, a non-for-profit, conservation-minded group that understands local issues and could monitor the easements on a regular basis, she said.
The issue also has many GHA members thinking about how well protected the Glen really is. “While the Glen as a whole is probably protected by public sentiment, there isn’t binding limitation on the use of the Glen,” said Don Hollister, treasurer of the GHA board. “What could be done to ensure the Glen remains a nature preserve in the long-term future?”
The GHA board of trustees sent a letter to Antioch University in May asking that a conservation easement be placed on the Glen. Though the group has not yet received a response from the university, members intend to pursue the issue of greater protection for the Glen, Hollister said.
Antioch University vice-chancellor Don Tecklenburg told the News last month that the university sold the 5.11 acres because the property was separate from the Glen and not maintained as a part of the preserve. The 5.11-acre parcel is unique, he said, and the university has no intention of selling any other part of the preserve.
Tebay perceives Antioch to be under financial strain. “When you get between a rock and a hard place you start rethinking your commitments,” she said. “I really hope Antioch doesn’t rethink its commitment.”
“Every community has a heart, and the heart of Yellow Springs is the Glen,” Tebay said. “So don’t mess with the Glen!”