Editorial: Vacation at your own risk

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006 | 7:59 a.m.

County could approve a major change in your neighborhood by the time you get back

Neighbors have a say when it comes to major changes on their streets, but in Clark County they had better make it quick.

Sun reporter Tony Cook reported on Wednesday about a Spring Valley resident who came home from a three-week trip and discovered that he will have 10 new neighbors - elderly residents of a group home.

While he was gone, the whole county process for converting what had been a single-family residence into a group home had taken place. The process involved notifying neighbors by postcard, getting approvals from the Spring Valley Town Board and Clark County Planning Commission and offering neighbors a five-day appeal period.

The resident, John Copeland, is upset that the process could take place so fast, especially in the summertime when people are apt to be taking long vacations. Copeland said he would have appealed the plan had he been home. We understand his frustration.

Especially aggravating is that of the 45 postcards the county sent, 14 were returned - all opposed to the conversion. The county just assumed that the other residents favored the project. But they could have been vacationing, or maybe the cards were discarded as junk mail, or maybe some of the cards got stuck in a catalog that got recycled. To move forward when 100 percent of those who responded were opposed is outrageous.

State law requires just 17 days between neighborhood notification and the end of the appeal period. Perhaps this is sufficient time if the project involved a driveway being widened a few feet, or a cover being constructed over a neighbor's patio.

But when the project carries the potential of changing the whole character of the neighborhood, at least 30 days should be allowed. And two months would not be unreasonable.

In this case, Copeland's neighbor needed permits allowing 10 people, instead of six, to live in a home. He also needed a permit allowing a reduction of space between group homes, from 1,500 feet to 380 feet, as the neighborhood already has one group home.

Obviously, the nature of the permits should have alerted the Town Board and Planning Commission that a major change was being sought. The county should lengthen the approval process for such projects, before other neighborhoods are also saddled with unwanted changes.