To the Editor:

Last Wednesday evening the Borough Zoning Commission’s last Deliberation session on the Castle Hill cluster housing proposal took place in Edmond Town Hall. The public was allowed to attend but not to speak because our time to voice opposition had passed. We audience members knew a final vote was coming and tensions were high.

Hopes were immediately dashed when commission chairman Douglas Nelson refused to accept or even read our second neighborhood petition for a super majority vote. This seemed particularly unjust since he had already put off consideration of the first such petition submitted in August by not mentioning its existence until mid-November. Credit goes to Commissioner Claudia Mitchell for bravely raising this issue several times though no satisfactory answer for the delay was ever given.

Frustration mounted as we strained to hear the commissioners’ views during deliberations because despite the audio having recently been upgraded, Chairman Douglas Nelson did not insist that all commissioners speak clearly into their microphones. Also, he frequently interrupted as they attempted to frame their questions or comments by interjecting his own suggestions for a suitable response. As we watched this unfold, questions of bias toward the developer and the appearance of “leading the witness” arose. At the very least, more attention to Roberts Rules of Order would have helped clarify what was happening.

Finally, the vote to approve the special exception was taken and the stipulations attached to the “Yes” votes were spelled out. The proposal passed 4-1 and at the last moment we were surprised to hear the developer would reduce the number of homes by 15 percent. But this small concession was not the result we had hoped for. The dire prospect of a 99-unit luxury home community being built within a quarter mile of the flagpole in the very center of our tiny borough community was still very difficult to accept. We have fought so long to save this historic and environmentally critical forest and I am praying this fight isn’t over yet.

Dottie Evans

Newtown