"Flat Rock should buy land for park"

From today's Times-News editorial:

...After hearing for a month from neighbors who were concerned soccer would disrupt their quiet neighborhoods, the Village Council voted unanimously Monday to oppose the county’s plans to build soccer fields on the property. That action effectively dooms plans for a county park on the land, since county officials have tied their plans to purchase the golf course with meeting the need for soccer fields....

We believe many of the fears that residents harbored over soccer fields at the property were overblown. But we also recognize the rights of communities and municipalities to decide for themselves what kind of development is appropriate....

[C]ounty commissioners could have done a better job in how they handled the whole matter. By presenting the idea of a park and soccer complex at first as a done deal, more than a month after signing an option to purchase the property, they created a public relations disaster.

It would have been much better, as we have previously stated, if the county had presented the idea publicly to the Village Council before voting to purchase the golf course for $1.15 million. It is not clear whether the idea of soccer fields ever would have gotten a fair hearing in Flat Rock, but at least residents would have felt like their concerns were being heard.

Moving forward, both the county commissioners and the Village Council have work to do. Since Flat Rock residents are very concerned about what kind of development will go in the golf course property, and since the land remains for sale, the village should consider purchasing the golf course for a park. Residents said repeatedly they did not object to the park, only the soccer fields, at the site....

Read it all.