Editor:

At the Farmville Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 28, regarding the amended Martin project, all the speakers agreed that tearing down the Martin home to build inappropriate apartments was a bad idea. Counting to three brought the fiercest debate.

When Mr. Kelly, the developer, gave his presentation to the Farmville Town Council on March 7, he referred to, “… the buildings” numerous times. In your newspaper article on March 9 he is quoted as saying, “So the two buildings will face one another, and then we build two townhouses … ” The aerial view in his plans shows three buildings. I have asked numerous people to look at this drawing and tell me the number of buildings they see. Everyone says three. Even my three-year-old grandson counted three. So why would we think that Mr. Kelly’s claim that this is one building could be anything more than an attempt to get around the code requirement?

Connecting two buildings with canopies or breezeways does not make them one building. Accepting this ludicrous concept would allow a resident to build a second rental house on his lot, connect it with a breezeway and call it all one house. Is that really the intent of the code?

Preservation of our historic homes is vital to the entire Farmville community. It is important that Farmville residents join me on April 25 at the public hearing in asking the planning commission to vote no to this plan and in sending Mr. Kelly back to the drawing board. We even have a suggestion for Mr. Kelly, a plan that will be welcomed by all: Instead of demolition, renovate these beautiful old homes.

Faye Green

Farmville