By
Scot Faulkner
Published
at http://www.journal-news.net/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2017/03/harpers-ferrys-hilltop-boogeyman/
There
are many scary issues surrounding the long running battle over the future of
the Hilltop House property. The
collapsing Hilltop House structure is a favorite spooky site on Youtube. Neighbors worry about the 81 police incidents
that have made the Hilltop House the center for drugs, vandalism, and worse.
The
latest scare is “by right”. Spokespeople
for SWaN Investors, the Hilltop owners, have used their ominous voice to threaten
that terrible things will happen if they do not get their way. Their current boogeyman of choice is that
SWaN will build a new hotel on a 1.25 acre commercial site “by right”.
“By
right” sounds scary, but it is just the legal term for “grandfathered”, a right
granted to any property owner.
“Grandfathered” does not sound as scary, which is why SWaN avoids
it. The better to spook Harpers Ferry’s
elected officials and townspeople.
In
2015, a major fire destroyed three commercial buildings in the lower town of
Harpers Ferry. These buildings are
slowly being rebuilt “by right”. It is
totally legal to build “like for like” when something needs replacing.
Harpers
Ferry is a National Historic District, administered by the Department of
Interior and the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. In order to comply with these national
organizations, the town has very strict and detailed ordinances governing what
can be built or rebuilt. Architectural
style and building materials must be approved to preserve the integrity of the
Historic District. The three buildings
destroyed by fire are being rebuilt within these guidelines, even though they
are “grandfathered” in terms of commercial use and their overall dimensions.
The
Hilltop House owners can proceed, right now, with a “by right” or
“grandfathered” hotel on their one and a quarter commercially zoned acres. SWaN tries to make this sound terrible. They are proposing an alternative that will
develop an area nearly seven times larger, turning private residential lots into
commercial space, and taking over three public streets.
SWaN’s
“overlay district” is the real boogeyman.
Their “overlay” creates an area devoid of all ordinances and
restrictions, which govern the town’s Historic District.
Once
approved by the Harpers Ferry Town Council, this seven times larger “overlay
district” will become the new “by right” area where SWaN can tear down historic
structures, clear cut trees, blast, jack hammer, take over public land, alter
streets, and bulldoze with impunity.
SWaN’s
“overlay district” will allow them to build whatever they want in any style,
shape, and size they want. SWaN and its Town
Council allies are already pushing for expedited permit approvals, some of
which would be issued administratively without public notice or comment.
It
is very scary in Harpers Ferry. People shouldn’t
worry about the ghosts of old, but fear the demons being created.
[Scot
Faulkner has been an active member of the Harpers Ferry community since 1987]
1 comment:
What is this article's point other than to spread lies? You people complain because there isn't a hotel then complain if someone tries to put one in because it doesn't meet all of your prestigeous standards. Get over it. The old hotel is not coming back and if someone isn't done soon that hotel will collapse into the river and possibly on tourists. The anchors have slid out of the side the hallways are buckling in. This fight has been going on long enough. They aren't going to suddenly swoop in and take your precious 5 feet of yard space up on that hill anymore than the previous hotel did. And there is only one public street that the hotel resides on and that's ridge street. The houses look out onto the main road, not sit on it. Every time I'm up there and talk to a resident from that street they have something negative to say because they aren't getting they're way. It's like a kid when he's told he can't have the candy and whines about it, except this time it's adults
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