To the Editor:The Bee, the only conclusion I can draw is that the residents of the Taunton Lake area, including my wife and I, are innocent bystanders in a cynical game of "chicken" being played by David and Carol French and Robert Grossman. It is clear from the article that Mr French has no real interest in developing a 192-unit affordable housing project on the shore of Taunton Lake. In fact, Mr French has made it plain that he has no actual desire to build anything on the property. He and his wife have been candid that their strategy is to get some sort - any sort - of development approved and then sell the property and the approvals to another entity that would actually build the project.

After reading the article titled "192 Units Proposed For Rochambeau Woods" in the January 12, 2018, edition of

Dr Grossman, on the other hand, is simply being disingenuous. His current position seems to be that he is opposed to any development on the property adjoining his. If this is truly his desire, he should not have sold the property to a real estate developer, which is exactly what he did in 2003. Perhaps he thought that Mr French acquired the property to create a wildlife sanctuary. As the article notes, Dr Grossman's lawsuit claims that the Borough Zoning Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving the Rochambeau Woods subdivision in 2017. But his lawsuit has no useful endgame. Even if the court accepts Dr Grossman's arguments and orders a new hearing by BZC, the decision will simply lay out a roadmap for the Borough to follow in correcting whatever procedural defects the court may find with the original hearing.

The conclusion to be drawn from all of this is that Mr French filed his latest plan not because he wants to develop affordable housing but because he wants to scare Dr Grossman into withdrawing his lawsuit. Dr Grossman's motives are not as transparent, but an educated guess is that he hopes the threat of extended litigation (the court battle over a prior French proposal for the property lasted for a decade) will cause the Frenches to just give up. Meanwhile, the residents of the Taunton Lake area can only stand by, wondering which of these two men will blink first.

The better solution is for Dr Grossman to discontinue his lawsuit and for the Frenches to sell the property and the already-approved Rochambeau Woods subdivision plan, which is adequately protected by a conservation easement negotiated among the Taunton Lake Association, the Frenches and the Borough, to a third party.

David J. Rosen

43 Taunton Lake Road, Newtown         January 22, 2018