Dear all,

Around twenty-five of us spoke against the rezonings and 10 for. The City Council voted to not have a third reading (another meeting to hear from the public). They voted to pass both rezonings. We were extremely disappointed. Afterwards outside on the sidewalk we hugged and thanked each other for our hard work. And tried not to cry. I'm eating ice cream as I type.

We need to make a conscious effort to elect neighborhood-friendly City Council members from now on. The current ones seem to put more emphasis on development, infill, and urbanization. They were all enamored with Specialized REG plans for development and thought his 44-acre conservation easement was the best. Even though they would be destroying 100 acres at the same time.

You never know. Something (not harmful) may happen to developer Specialized REG and/or owner RMD Properties so that they sell to a rich conservationist at a reasonable price who will put all 144 acres of Markham Hill in a conservation easement and make it a nature and wildlife preserve. It wouldn't matter what zoning it has because all the land would be safe from development. I'll be praying for this. Sounds crazy but I don't mind.

Where do we go from here? We will continue pressuring the City of Fayetteville to work with several wealthier conservationists to purchase the 114 acre Markham Hill from the owner RMD Properties. Issues: (1) Find the owner, (2) Owner willing to sell at a reasonable price, (3) City or conservationist take the lead in getting purchase, conservation easement, and nature and wildlife preserve set up.

We are not giving up!

Sincerely,
Lisa Orton
Lisa_m_orton@yahoo.com