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The following essay ran in the December 4, 2000, issue of the Daily Messenger and is reprinted here with permission.

GUEST ESSAY

When developers come courting…

It can be hard for municipal officials to resist the wooing overtures of developers. That's why residents must hold them accountable.

As I drive through the hamlet of Bristol Center, I am saddened to realize that this little piece of paradise is now being destroyed at the hands of the developers. It's just one more step in the decay of our way of life.

There have been many instances of developers working against the wishes of the citizens. If the citizens win, it's only temporary, because the developers can just try again later. But if the developers win, it's permanent.

But what seems ironic is that most of these projects are blessed by the government officials, yet appear to be opposed by the majority of the citizens they represent. Perhaps I can offer one explanation of why this happens. Let me tell you about a personal experience.

The story starts back in 1970, when we first moved to the village of East Bloomfield. The Farash Corporation had bought just under 100 acres of land at the edge of the village, and was planning to build 902 rental housing units. Considering that there were only 400 housing units in the combined villages of East Bloomfield and Holcomb, this would have devastated the community.

Just prior to the public hearing I was told by the town supervisor that the Town Board and Town Planning Board were in favor of it; the public hearing was just a legal formality, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. A number of us worked very long and hard, and we finally did get it stopped -- but only after one of our citizens paid an attorney to file suit against the Town Board for malfeasance. We were close enough to election that the board did not have time to defend the suit. The newly-elected board did not defend, and that effectively ended the threat. Whew! Think what Bloomfield would be like today if that project had gone through!

Shortly thereafter I was appointed chairman of the East Bloomfield Village Planning Board, and suddenly I became a village official. Now, you must realize that compared with members of the various Canandaigua boards, this was a very minor post. However, any time a developer came to the Village of East Bloomfield with a proposed project, I was the person he talked to first.

These projects were certainly quite small compared with the waterpark or Tops (Canandaigua projects) or the proposed Farmington truck stop. But you wouldn't believe how important I was made to feel.

There were several developments proposed during my tenure. One typical example was a proposal by two partners, one of whom owned a country club, and the other a builder with a successful tract to his credit. In this example, the board members were treated like royalty, with a tour through some of the tract houses, and a lunch and meeting at the country club. In each case we were rubbing elbows with prominent businessmen, who made us feel like we were part of their team. And as part of their team, anything we could do to help them would be an accomplishment for us, and we could share in their success. (Emotionally, but not financially, of course.) We were making new friends who were the kind of people everyone liked to have as friends. There was a strong attraction to work along with these new friends, and forget who we were really working for -- the people of the Village of East Bloomfield.

In my own very small way I experienced what the Canandaigua board members must have felt throughout the approval process for the waterpark. Somehow, they seemed to lose sight of the wishes of the people who elected them. There were requests for a referendum vote, or at least a thorough poll of the residents, but that was rejected on the basis that it was not "required" by law. It was the people on the boards who would make the decisions, independent of what the residents of Canandaigua felt. They weren't "required" to listen to their constituents, and a vote might hamper their freedom to control the decisions.

I can't help but wonder if some of these people may have been star-struck by the opportunity to use their power to help their new "friends."

Those of us who live here have lost the battle of the waterpark, and the battle of saving Bristol Center. I wonder how we will come out on future issues.

Ultimately the voters have the power to elect the board members, but will the voters hold them accountable for their actions?

Jack Herrington resides in Bloomfield.

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