To The Editor,

In a democratic society, we expect elected officials to listen to, debate and sometimes even act on the concerns of their constituents and communities. This did not happen at last week’s Warrenton Board of Alderman special hearing as scores of people showed up and one by one expressed their opinions about a housing development along Sunnyside, a county road and community.

Prior to this, few of our residents were even aware of city annexation of the property bought by Keeven Family Partnership, and communications by the city up to this point has lacked transparency. So, word about the hearing traveled fast among us, with families and individuals showing up earnestly believing city leaders would surely take our input into consideration as they voted whether or not to proceed with a sizable development that would enter and exit off tiny Sunnyside.

We came with a petition that was signed by 194 people in our neighborhood, from people who’ve lived here much of their lives to new residents.

It took 2 ½ hours for members of our community, each allotted five minutes, to make our case for why aldermen should vote “No” on this development as presented, and less than 30 seconds for the board to reach a unanimous decision against the residents of Sunnyside and for the developer.

We did hear several minutes from Alderman Gary Auch, who said he’d made a “plus” and “minus” calculation for and against the development before taking residents to the woodshed for openly and civilly expressing their opinions.

Twice during the hearing Auch admonished residents for daring to confront the board and developer, telegraphing how personally he and his colleagues take confrontation.

“When people get up and bash the developer and want to bash the city council, frankly it makes me want to vote against the issue that you’re supporting,” Auch said.

One man’s “bash” is another man’s right to stand up for himself, his property and his community.

Auch said the same thing again later in the meeting. In the absence of specific information on the development, many of us have been concerned about the quality of units planned. That is 100-percent understandable.

We’ve heard the argument for “affordable housing” as part of the case for the Keeven development. It’s hard to know what that means, and many would interpret as many as 55 “affordable housing” units on 11.98 acres as lower-income housing. When this term was brought up near the end of the meeting, Alderman Auch appeared to lose his temper, saying this characterization of the development “makes me want to vote for the (Keeven) proposition.”

Sure enough, even after acknowledging the value of points made about road access, safety and city resources, and its task of balancing the rights of the developer versus the impact on Sunnyside residents, aldermen voted in favor of the Keevens’ plan, 6-0.

I’m extremely proud of the way our community conducted itself in presenting smart, rational, always respectful arguments and even outside-the-box solutions to this board. We’d all hoped for better things.

Janine Davis

Warrenton