The Normal Town Council approved Zoning and a Preliminary Plat for Weldon Reserve at their meeting on Tuesday night. According to Dane Simpson a spokesperson for the homeowners of Phase II of the next door Wintergreen subdivision who opposed Weldon Reserve, the number one issue for those residents was not connecting the two developments.
“Let them have their own entrance and egress,” Simpson said after a meeting last week between Jason Barickman of Fairlawn Capital (the developer of Weldon Reserve) and Wintergreen residents. “We have one currently. We are more than happy with the way we are set up with currently. We didn’t feel that there is any reason to adjoin the two with the main route.”
The argument was couched as being about traffic.
“We have a lot of young kids in our community that play with their bikes on the streets. The last thing we need is 110 units driving their cars through Wintergreen on Loblolly,” Simpson said.
Wintergreen Residents Misrepresented, Did They Not Come To An Agreement?
Perhaps that is all it was about. But during this whole discussion something else seems to have been lurking in the background. That something, at best is classism and at worst is racism. Town Council member Chemberly Harris broached that subject during last night’s meeting.
In an interview with Cities 92.9 after the meeting Harris told us, “A lot of the comments on issues did border on NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) which makes someone like me feel very uncomfortable and not feel like a neighbor in the community. Because while there are certain things being touted, you know, me myself, I couldn’t afford to live there whether I rent or buy.”
Harris continued, “And so the perception of what might come because they are renting or they are buying a house that’s maybe $100,000 or $200,000 less than what they own can be a little shocking to the system to hear some of that. So I just ask that people be more mindful when having conversations about things.”
You know, let’s talk about things like yes maybe the safety or some of the drainage issues but when we get into things that sounds like, you know, everyone’s welcome except for you, or you people or those people, it does, you know, change the dynamics of what’s supposed to be a welcoming community,” Harris said.
Wintergreen Phase III (Weldon Reserve) on Normal Council Agenda
We asked Harris about conscious and unconscious bias and she said, “I think some people sometimes say things … those people can’t drive through my neighborhood or it’s going automatically to deplete our values. … Some people, they are very conscious, they know what they are saying. Others may not understand the impacts of those words.”
We asked Harris if she thought these people making these statements understand how they sound and she responded, “To be honest I think most people don’t. It’s not until it’s brought to their attention on how it comes across and how it can be perceived. And the sad part, for some of us, it hurts to hear some of those things.”
Harris continued, “But it takes somebody to say, hey, let’s think about this. Let’s talk about this. And let’s talk about the impact that it can have.”
