For years they have been talking about “completing” the north side of the Town Green. Although it is referred to as the Civic Center project, it has somehow morphed into turning this area into a high end hotel and resort, with private residences and nightly rentals. (This comes after another large hotel is already being planned on the southeast corner of the green.)
All of the current “civic” buildings would be torn down and moved off of the Green. This includes the Huerta Gym, the library, the bandstand, the police station, the town hall, town offices and WUSD offices. Certainly, some of these would be better served off of the Green, but the library, the gym and the bandstand belong on the Town Green.
The most desirable downtown real estate would be sold or leased to a developer. The Town Green belongs to the people and should be owned and managed by the town, not by a private company.
Only one developer, Robert Green, is being considered. This developer has 38 documented environmental violations of the Federal Clean Water Act on his current project in Healdsburg. There is a large creek that runs through and under a section of our project. Is this the company we want completing our Town Green/Civic Center/Downtown Project?
I have nothing against the developer. He is in the business to make money. It is not his concern if the residents, tax payers and current users are having their civic buildings moved, demolished and/or relocated. It is up to the residents to stand up for what we want. After all, it is our town and our public land they are using.
No financial feasibility study has been made public for any of this project. Who is going to pay for all of this? And how is it going to be paid for? At the community meeting on Jan. 22, the developer said it would be a combination of land sales, land leases, land trades, bonds and Transit Occupancy Taxes.
As we have seen with the uncompleted residential development next to Oliver’s, if there is one little hiccup (or maybe a small recession), we could be left with no civic center, no library, no gym, no bandstand and a huge debt.
We were told that the current library is too small and that it needed to be at least three or four times bigger, yet the plans to replace it only have it doubling in size. The Huerta Gym is a daily usable memorial with emotional and historic significance to the entire Windsor community, especially the Hispanic community. The Sparks Veteran Memorial bandstand, that we all enjoy, was privately paid for by local families as a memorial to US Veterans and gifted to our town.
Does your vision include putting Rudy Huerta’s name on some unspecified building somewhere else in town? Does your vision include the Sparks Memorial Stage and bandstand being torn down or managed by a private company? Does your vision include our historic public grove of oak trees being the center of a circular driveway for a private hotel? Is this your vision for our downtown? It is not my vision for Windsor.
I encourage all residents of Windsor to look closely at the details and think about your vision for the future. You can share your thoughts and ask questions of the town council at to*********@to***********.com.
The full review of the project was originally scheduled as part of a regular town council meeting on Feb. 5, but due to the interest in the topic, the town has now postponed the discussion to a special meeting on Feb. 12. Please check the towns website for any agendas at https://www.townofwindsor.com/721/Agendas-Minutes-Videos . More information on this project can be found here: https://www.townofwindsor.com/DocumentCenter/View/19518/Windsor-CC-Visioning-Plan_Final_Screen?bidId=
What is your vision for Windsor?
Betsy Mallace is a resident of Windsor.
