KEEP 'DRIVE C' OPEN
The cut-through access road named “Drive C” that runs behind 146-156 Liberty Court has been closed!
If you want Drive C to remain open, or if you don't care about Drive C but have serious concerns about the Board's actions on this issue, please sign this petition to “Keep Drive C Open”!!!
For more details about this issue, keep reading...
This road closure may not be a huge deal to most of the neighborhood.But, it is an annoyance for residents who have always used it to get to their homes on “Drive D”(127-139 Liberty Court).
What is even more annoying, though, is the reason it closed.
A Brief History:There has been a discreet, yet determined, campaign to close Drive C for several years, ever since a commercial truck ran over some flowers on the edge of the road.And, for years the Board of Directors has wisely said “no” to the Drive C resident who has led this campaign.The various reasons he has cited for closing the road include “speeding vehicles,” and safety concerns for “small children and gardeners.”He even expressed some envy that “all other drives have a dead-end.”But his reasons were never compelling enough to convince the Board to close the road.(Speeding cars and small children are not unique to Drive C.)
There was even discussion at one time about installing speed bumps to slow down through-traffic.But the Board just could not justify changing anything about Drive C because there was never enough evidence that there was an imminent problem there.
But, suddenly in January when the “Close Drive C” campaign message changed to “prevent premature failure of the drive surface” and “preserve longevity of the asphalt,” the Board finally voted to close the road.
Yes, you read that right...The current Board of Directors closed Drive C toSAVE THE PAVEMENT!
Yet, if you look closely at the pavement on Drive C, you will find no evidence that it is deterioratingany more than any other alleyway/access road in the neighborhood!NONE!
It’s a very peculiar reason to close a road.And even more peculiar is the fact that the Board voted 6-1 to close the road(Bobby McCoy was the lone nay vote)butwasnotcompelled to spend Association funds to build the barrier at the end of the road.In fact, they are allowing some of the residents of Drive C to pay for the barrier – the same residents who have been campaigning to close the road for the past several years.
Hmmm.Isn’t that a little contradictory?
If saving the pavement is, in fact, a real issue on Drive C, then why did the Board refuse to pay for the barrier?Wouldn't damage mitigation on common property be a legitimate expense for the association?Could it be thatthis is NOT about saving the pavement? Could it be that a couple of Drive C residents just don’t want any traffic behind their house?So much so that they are willing to pay to close it?
In fact, the way this whole action came about is reminiscent of how an exhausted parent gives a whiny child the candy they want just to shut them up.
And Now:Something happened at the March 17 Board Meeting.(The minutes have not yet been published, so it’s not clear exactly what happened.)Within a week of that meeting,a traffic cone packed with gravel was placed at the west end of Drive C,presumably there until the permanent barrier is erected.And, a notice was emailed to the WPHA members advising the road was officially closed.Apparently this questionable crumbling pavement problem is so urgent that the road closure could not wait for an aesthetic barrier.
And…a surveillance camera was installedon the front balcony of 137 Liberty Court, presumably torecord activity on the west end of Drive C.
Will the Board soon begin tarring and feathering the rotten scoundrels who dare to drive around that gaudy traffic cone?
In the meantime,here are some problems created by closing Drive C:
·The closed roadprovides absolutely NO BENEFIT to the neighborhood or association as a whole.
·Obviously, residents of Drive D who have shared the use of Drive C since its construction are nowforced to drive around Liberty Court to get to the back of their homes.That’s not a huge deal, butDrive C was closed without the consent of those residents.(This was in direct violation of the motion unanimously approved by the Board in August which stated that consent signatures fromALLresidents directly impacted by the closure would be required before any action would be taken.)
·Unwitting drivers new to the neighborhood who turn onto Drive C from the east end will noweither turn around in a driveway or drive in reverse on Drive C all the way back to Liberty Court.Either action increases the likelihood of property damage along the road.(This happens frequently on Drive D where there are often tire tracks in the grass as evidence.)
·Service trucks(i.e. garbage and recycle pick-up)andemergency vehiclesmust nowback down Drive C to exit.(They leave even larger tire tracks.)
·Allowing one or two residents to permanently alter common property at their own expense for their own personal benefit and, in the process, impeding the use of that property by other residents, service providers and visitors isnot a legitimate or practical Board action and is a dangerous precedent to set.
·And finally… if we want these houses to start selling in our neighborhood,shouldn’t we be looking for ways to be more welcoming and attractive, rather than contriving, controlling and tacky? (That traffic cone is ugly, and that surveillance camera is really creepy!)
If you want Drive C to remain open, or if you don't care about Drive C but have serious concerns about the Board's actions on this issue, please sign this petition to “Keep Drive C Open”!!!
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