01/24/1994 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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32 Special Council Meeting --- - - - , 1/24/94 Page 8 "Dear Members of Council: . Before voting about the placement of the Mayfield Village deterition basin, [pardon me if I don't refer to it as the Upper 40 detention basin because that already assumes guilt], I would like to add a last letter for your consideration. This is not a technical letter with alternative design ideas, this is simply a letter about life on the Upper 40. A life that will cease to exist or at the very least, be terribly compromised should the detention basin be built on our land. Henry and I moved to the Upper 40 in 1983, the [first] year we were married. We lived in the existing seasonal cabin for the first year; as you can imagine only newlyweds could survive a cold, snowy winter in a dwelling with no insulation and only kerosene heaters. We built our current studio and moved in the following fall. There are many stories to tell about life on the Upper 40. My husband planted several hundred pine and walnut trees in 1985 enabling us to qualify as a tree farm. Our first daughter was born at home due to an unexpectedly short delivery. In 1988 we purchased and moved from Summit County a beautiful and historic 1840's post and beam barn. By profession I am a harpisf and in the barn I have a second floor studio, [and] while my husband, when time permits, works on the rebuilding of antique automotive steam engines in the basement. Upper Forty is a refuge. It is a quiet and undisturbed oasis that is our home: "The ravines which border us are integral to the ecology of the environment, with.meandering streams, waterfalls and a pond providing food and shelter to the animals and abundant plant life. The proposed basin will cause total annihilation of the ravine and extend for the entire length of the Upper Forty properties. Special spots like the Upper Forty are no longer just there for the taking, abundant and convenient receptacles for unwanted trash and diverted drainage. Typically, we have destroyed them by making them a part of quickfix solutions to problems that were never properly addressed in the first place. Be assured that across the county more and more citizens are willing to fight, as we will do, for the preservation of these pockets of pristine beauty. This Council has a responsibility and an obligation to solicit more than one engineer's opinion and to -study multiple options so that the most appropriate solution can be found. Completely innocent in the causes of these problems, the Upper Forty site is simply an inappropriate solution. Council must look to the sources of the problem, all local and corporate development - such as Beta Drive, Aintree North, 271 and elsewhere - and demand accountability. Council cannot afford to be pushed by deadlines for deadlines can be reset, sanctuaries of undisturbed land cannot. f