There has been a great deal of community conversation recently about the Legion Road property. But generally missing from these conversations is an important – even the most important – piece of information about this issue. We all want a park on the American Legion property.
I so appreciate this carefully written, factually based explanation of the history of this property and the potential uses being discussed. It is important to keep this type of communication going. Thank you!
The expense in creating parks such as Southern Community Park and Community Park on Estes, is in the clearing, grading, and paving. The neighborhoods abutting this property are asking for a nature preserve, keeping trees (and the trees’ residents) and a quiet meditative space in a very noisy part of town.
2017 is not 2022. The development in our Blue Hills and Ephesus Church Rd area is unrelenting. The roads cannot handle it. We have an elementary school that borders this property and our only open space is the Legion Property. Surely you can understand the value of having a 36 acre open space in the middle of all this building congestion.
By Oxford Languages definition a park is a large public green area in a town used for recreation. The Legion Property IS a park. This land is teeming with wildlife, has a pond and walking paths. The land stretches to Ephesus Elementary behind it and is surrounded by low income apartments and new development. This community deserves a park as much as the wealthier neighborhoods of Southern Village and Meadowmont. Why is it always the poorer communities that get short changed? (Think Eubanks, think Northside…) The last developer who breezed through called our homes « ramshackle »at a council presentation concerning the Legion Property. Guess he wanted « upscale » not « affordable »… This land is a legacy for future generations and it must not be chipped away by greed and special interests. It must remain a park in it’s entirety.
A modest child-friendly playground to accommodate the toddlers that will spill out of the Eastgate apartment, and a natural woodland for the rest of the property. No further development.
There is no way that if you sell off up to 9 acres at the front along Legion Rd and put 4.5 acres of affordable housing in the woods by the Dance Studio (which will require clearcutting), you will have left a useable park of over 20 acres. You also have to subtract the RCD acreage. By my calculations, explained in a letter to you sent yesterday, you will have 12.8 acres for your park. I call this a pocket park, not a Community Park which is what we want.
It’s interesting to me that this already natural area which in some people’s minds is already a park needs to be turned into a park. I know that some modifications need to be made to make trails and park amenities, but unfortunately if there is any housing development, and the pond is removed, developers will make the case that the land will need to be bulldozed and much of the natural elements will be lost. Seems to me to be counter productive. If it can be guaranteed that 20 acres of the 36 acres is left as is, with all trees and water features kept in tact, then it could be a win-win for everyone concerned. Can that be guaranteed?
I so appreciate this carefully written, factually based explanation of the history of this property and the potential uses being discussed. It is important to keep this type of communication going. Thank you!
The expense in creating parks such as Southern Community Park and Community Park on Estes, is in the clearing, grading, and paving. The neighborhoods abutting this property are asking for a nature preserve, keeping trees (and the trees’ residents) and a quiet meditative space in a very noisy part of town.
This is such helpful, clarifying information. Thank you!
Thanks so much for addressing the misinformation being spread about this property.
Thank you, Karen. Very helpful!
2017 is not 2022. The development in our Blue Hills and Ephesus Church Rd area is unrelenting. The roads cannot handle it. We have an elementary school that borders this property and our only open space is the Legion Property. Surely you can understand the value of having a 36 acre open space in the middle of all this building congestion.
By Oxford Languages definition a park is a large public green area in a town used for recreation. The Legion Property IS a park. This land is teeming with wildlife, has a pond and walking paths. The land stretches to Ephesus Elementary behind it and is surrounded by low income apartments and new development. This community deserves a park as much as the wealthier neighborhoods of Southern Village and Meadowmont. Why is it always the poorer communities that get short changed? (Think Eubanks, think Northside…) The last developer who breezed through called our homes « ramshackle »at a council presentation concerning the Legion Property. Guess he wanted « upscale » not « affordable »… This land is a legacy for future generations and it must not be chipped away by greed and special interests. It must remain a park in it’s entirety.
A modest child-friendly playground to accommodate the toddlers that will spill out of the Eastgate apartment, and a natural woodland for the rest of the property. No further development.
There is no way that if you sell off up to 9 acres at the front along Legion Rd and put 4.5 acres of affordable housing in the woods by the Dance Studio (which will require clearcutting), you will have left a useable park of over 20 acres. You also have to subtract the RCD acreage. By my calculations, explained in a letter to you sent yesterday, you will have 12.8 acres for your park. I call this a pocket park, not a Community Park which is what we want.
Virginia Gray
It’s interesting to me that this already natural area which in some people’s minds is already a park needs to be turned into a park. I know that some modifications need to be made to make trails and park amenities, but unfortunately if there is any housing development, and the pond is removed, developers will make the case that the land will need to be bulldozed and much of the natural elements will be lost. Seems to me to be counter productive. If it can be guaranteed that 20 acres of the 36 acres is left as is, with all trees and water features kept in tact, then it could be a win-win for everyone concerned. Can that be guaranteed?