So why do the Ridgefield Winter Club applicant’s representatives lie about the details of the Club? Is it possible that the architect, the esteemed Peter Coffin, does not know the footprint of the Clubhouse? At the Hearing on September 4th and at an Architectural Advisory Committee meeting, he described the footprint as “only” 5,000 sq. ft. The real number is 22.5% larger – Section 1.2 of the Tighe & Bond engineering report details it as 6,125 sq. ft. His partner, Phil Doyle, stated at the Hearing that it’s just 2 bowling lanes in the basement – not a bowling alley. As he said this, a picture of the basement with 4 lanes was displayed. Attorney Bob Jewell tried to argue that Pinchbeck Nursery was “industrial”. They are also trying to downplay the potential uses of the Commercial kitchen and 23- foot bar by saying they only have a small area to “hang out” with a couple of tables. They can easily rearrange all contiguous rooms to host large parties (parties are mentioned on their website). Their environmental expert, Kate Throckmorton (a Landscape Architect), focused on landscaping and a butterfly not seen since 1997 – completely ignoring the issues that will be created with the surrounding wetlands. I’ve never seen architects work so hard to publicly sell a project. You would think they are the investors.
Then again, there isn’t going to be any transparency. That’s why we still don’t know who the investors are. They are trying to downplay the scope of such an inappropriate use in a residential zone in the hopes the Planning & Zoning Commission and the public get fooled. There’s no transparency when they just want to pull the wool over your eyes. As I heard in my early days as a public accountant, figures don’t lie but liars figure.
