Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

James FeatherAt the most recent City Council meeting, which I attended for a couple of reasons, one of the members of the public was speaking and used some of the words similar to what Mr. Cunningham used talking about wants versus needs. But what sometimes I struggle with is perspective, what may be a want for some, maybe a need for others. There have been continued discussions recently on the Willard Sherwood Center project. Some view that as a want, a nice to have lovely new facility for a senior center and a community center. Some will see that as a want. expensive project. We are in partnership with the county on it. But on the other hand, if you look at Green Acres, and it's been limping along for a long time, you could argue that something

Matthew Ricethink about mr rice yeah i think the last section of your comment just now really is what resonates with me it's that about Willard Sherwood was made by a past council. It was supported widely. It was endorsed by a spectrum of community members, and we have a much smaller group that's attempting a U-turn on that project, not just with a $4 million expenditure already outlaid for that project, But with the most strategic partner in our region, the county around us, who spent more than that. And the idea of U-turning something that was carefully planned and sustained and voted and endorsed just seems problematic. And I don't know how many U-turns we can make before we get pulled over and have to pay some serious fines.

I think that the strategic partnership with the county is something we cannot burn. We just can't burn that down. And Willard Sherwood is directly aligned with our vision. It's been a part of the discussion for years. and I understand it's got a significant price tag, Green Acres would be impossible to bring up to ADA standards and to continue housing a senior center and a daycare, both functions of which we need, and we can't bring that facility into compliance. The cost of bringing Green Acres into compliance is equal to the cost of building the Sherwood Center. so we given the context of that which has been known for 10 years the feasibility study for green acres determined that a long time ago and doing a u-turn on that particular project right

Matthew Riceplayground a little bit to make that work there are several other projects ongoing but those are the highlights and we spent the majority of our recent meeting talking about the Willard Sherwood Center and the ongoing plans so I suppose until that project is definitively shut down or postponed indefinitely the county and city and the Parks and Rec Advisory Board are still forward on that and getting updates and plan refinements along it's a very impressive project I was particularly intrigued at the amount of solar energy that they're going to be generating and using on site so it's not generation on the rooftop that's going to be pushed straight to the grid and Dominion paying us a meager you know less than wholesale rate for that energy we're putting back