Land: Who Has the "Right?"

To:  Westerville City Council

Westerville, OH  43081

December 10, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to offer a few comments regarding the request for rezoning of the 6.7 acre parcel at 433 Cherrington Road.  I strongly urge you to reject this proposal. 

Thai parcel represents some of the last “green space” left in this part of Westerville.  I know that what makes green space desirable is subjective, but most of the homes in this area are on relatively large lots.  Building 25 homes on six acres will certainly change the neighborhood, and, I think, for the worse.  It brings to mind the 1962 song, “Little Boxes,’ where the building of subdivisions by developers for speculative gain is ridiculed in the lyrics:

And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Of course, in a free country, people have the right to choose their dwelling places, and how they look and the lifestyle that the dwellings encourage.  But it seems to me unfair to build huge houses on tiny lots in this neighborhood.

We have chosen a different mode of living.  Exercising our right to choose, we like our bigger lots, with room to garden, watch birds, and plant flowers.  None of these things will be more than faintly possible in these tiny yards.  I am an adjacent homeowner; I want to make my personal stake clear.  I do not want my (and my neighbors) utilities overtaxed, our groundwater polluted, and our children made unsafe by traffic congestion.

That may sound selfish to some, but that is my point of view.   I live across the street from the property.  John C. Wicks, the developer’s agent, does not live in Westerville.  He does not live across the street from the property.  Please consider whose opinions matter more, and reject this project.