Orange Council Had It Right the First Time

Re “Development OK Reversed by Orange,” Nov. 26:

Where does the city of Orange get off, assuming that the referendum to overturn the Fieldstone plan would have won? That is the assumption they made when they revoked their previous approval of the Fieldstone plan because the referendum “would have cost the city $60,000.” Nice to know we needn’t hold more elections, as these people can foresee what we all want.

After all of the plan submittals, refusals, revisions, etc., Fieldstone finally provides a plan for the old Sully-Miller site that makes excellent sense, and our civic leaders vote approval. Now, a few months later, the City Council is presented with about 9,000 signatures from a group that opposes the Fieldstone plan, and they perform an immediate unanimous turnaround and rescind approval.

The Fieldstone plan was a good one. The city gets more than 200 acres of natural park area, a 6-acre community park with equipment, a developer willing to donate to the probably needed new school for the area, horse facilities, a minimal addition of population and its attendant needs (only 170 homes were planned) along with a guaranteed boost in local property values brought on by the construction of $700,000 homes on large parcels.

Now where did I put those darned recall petitions?

Eric Fruechting

Orange