07-27-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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From:Julie Ruegemer To:Anna Carlson; Dustin Rief Subject:Please Protect our Parks from Development Date:Monday, July 27, 2020 12:22:02 AM Orono Vision Statement: To be the residential community of choice and remain widely recognized for its preservation of natural rural beauty, quality of life, and recreational assets. Orono was once known and cherished for its green space - but with every passing day this is changing as more and more trees are cut down and more land is developed. This is incredibly disappointing to watch. But one thing we, as citizens, should be able to trust - is that our public parkland remains protected by our elected leaders. We are a wealthy city - we should be able to protect our parks from development. So it is disappointing that a private club with deep pockets has been aggressively pushing to build their own private 6000 square foot (give or take), million dollar structure on our taxpayer parkland - and they have yet to be told "No thank you - the park is for everyone and is not available for private development." Community members expect that their elected leaders will protect their parkland and that this is sacred space. The burden should not be on them to fight for their public parks to remain public parks - they simply should expect this to be the case. They put a lot of trust in the elected leaders to look out for Orono citizens - especially when it pertains to our parks. Bruce and Ruth Dayton generously donated this land on Long Lake to the city of Orono because they were passionate conservationists and believed strongly that all people should be able to enjoy the serene nature of this special place. It is shocking and disappointing that a huge private building would even be considered an option on a nature park - taking down trees and wildlife and changing the use of the park to cater to a private club. Summit Beach is a place where people from all walks of life of all ages come to enjoy the lake and land for free for an invigorating swim, a kayak ride, a picnic, a game of catch, hammocking, etc., etc., etc. Our parkland should not be for sale. There will always be a club with deep pockets that wants our parks for their own private use. Orono parkland must remain open and available to our residents - not to people that want to develop the land to suit their own private needs. The rowing club already has a home across the lake with a large parking lot, just off a highway so their large membership & high traffic isn't intrusive on a small neighborhood - and in fact it is probably very good for Birch's business to have them there. It is not the Orono public park's responsibility to turn our beautiful nature park into a storage facility with private offices for their rowing staff. Please, do the job we trusted you to do, and protect our parks. Our Orono residents deserve their public parks to be available for them. Our tax dollars pay for...preservation of natural rural beauty, quality of life, and recreational assets. Please protect our parks. Julie Ruegemer