Winter may have slowed the day-to-day routine of locals, but it certainly didn’t freeze some residents’ opposition to what they consider the destruction of McIntire Park.
“The Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park is definitely not dead,” says Colette Hall. “We meet on a regular basis.”
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Fundraising continues for the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, which hopes to argue a circuit court-upheld land grant for the Meadowcreek Parkway (shown in a photo from July) before the Virginia Supreme Court.In fact, a sister group of the coalition, the McIntire Park Preservation Committee, formed specifically to protest the construction of the YMCA planned for the park. Recently, the committee purchased a half-page ad in The Daily Progress to urge residents to contact their elected officials and tell them to fund education rather than a not-for-profit organization.
“Money is too tight right now,” says committee member and former City Council candidate Bob Fenwick. “The YMCA is a building. That building can be built this year, next year, the year after. It does not have to be built now when we are talking about laying off teachers, when we are talking about closing libraries.”
Albemarle County and Charlottesville have agreed to contribute a combined $3.25 million—$2 million from the county and $1.25 million from the city—for the construction of the YMCA. The city’s funds, $625,000 for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, are included in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and will need approval during the budget processes both years.
“I believe that we cannot afford the frivolous,” says Clara Belle Wheeler, member of the committee. “This is a time when we are compelled as a county to pay for our needs and our necessities, and a Taj Mahal YMCA built in a public park is not a necessity.”
The ad produced some of the desired outrage. Since it ran, the city has received about five calls from concerned citizens asking City Council not to fund the YMCA. The county’s tally at press time was 20.
In the meantime, the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, which has been fighting the construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway, has had some success. On February 26, city resident Peter Kleeman made oral arguments on behalf of the coalition in front of the Virginia Supreme Court, which is deliberating on whether to hear the coalition’s appeal to a 2009 Charlottesville Circuit Court ruling. Last July, circuit court Judge Jay Swett ruled that City Council did not need a supermajority to grant a land easement to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Whether or not its case is heard, John Cruickshank, president of the Piedmont chapter of the Sierra Club and active member of the coalition, says the group is thinking of going to federal court and filing for an injunction based on the project’s violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
But to bring such a case to court is expensive, so fundraising remains a priority. On Sunday, March 28, the coalition will host a Save McIntire Park Benefit Concert and Variety Show at C’ville Coffee, filled with celebrity guest appearances and performances by three former mayors—Nancy O’Brien, Francis Fife and Maurice Cox.
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