Letter to the Editor: Crossroads 312 Meeting Exposed Issues with the Proposal

Last night (Thursday, Jan, 22) was standing-room only with the majority of the residents supporting our reasonable, responsible position to keep the Rural Commercial code which would by Special Permit allow a hotel and low density commercial development.

What was so troubling was the attorney for the developer, O’Rourke, while allegedly clarifying the parameters of the code, deliberately misled the audience into believing that the Code permitted non-profit making enterprises i.e. a cemetery and a kennel.

It should be noted that the code not only covered this area on Rte 312 but other areas of the town and therefore, the creators of the code wished to give as much latitude as possible.

Well, Councilwoman Eckardt exposed O’Rourke and his unscrupulous omissions by clarifying the code not once but several times.

But the best was to come when resident Samantha Jacobs asked the developers’ consultants to explain how the residents of the town were to obtain the per year $860 tax reduction?

Silence - embarrassing, deafening silence.

But that was the claim in the slick video, was it not?

There is more, much more, and I will respond in another post to Mr. Lepler’s son’s outrageous statement that Southeast residents should be grateful for the low paying, low status jobs that are being offered by this development.

Ann Fanizzi

Town of Southeast Resident