Rincon del Rio Approved yesterday

I attended the Board of Supervisors meeting on the project and it was deja-vu all over again for me.  Having been up in the decision chairs many years ago, I recalled the duty these five men have.  The place was packed and there were lots of comments by the public and then the Board members.

RDR is a fairly new kind of care facility in the country, at least in our little county.  The people proposing this waged a six year process to get their approvals. It was a painful example of the slow pace of things in our country now.  But the proponents, Jim and Carol Young, were troopers and kept going (and spending a gazillion bucks) when things did not look good early on.  Now when all the cobwebs are finally cleared, construction could begin this year.

The Young's had a lot of support at the meeting and many speakers.  I even spoke for three minutes in favor.  Of course there were some neighbors who were opposed and a couple of them alledged the age old crapola of accusing the Board members of being on the take.  Each BOS member stated they never received one penny and the public was welcome to review their contribution lists.  Been there done that.

So after all the presentations, and I must say the staff did an excellent job, the BOS deliberated and asked many questions.  I was impressed with the questions they all asked and they were really looking out for the public.  No one wants a project that will fail and the Board was carefully wading through all the documents and the questions asked by the public.  Terry Lamphier was concerned about water and air quality, Nate Beason wanted protections for the open space, Richard Anderson was asking about the CCRC criteria.  Ed Scofield and Hank Weston were concernes about the fire issues and the gate.

After all was said and done, the BOS voted mostly 5-0 for approvals.  There were a few, maybe two of the 10 or so motions, where Mr. Anderson voted against and the votes were 4-1.  I tip my hat to the BOS because this was a unique project and it tool some real courage to step outside "comfort zones" of planning orthodoxy  and be bold.

So congratulations to the Young's, and to the BOS for moving a get concept forward into reality.