Hello again,

             Recently, a group of residents in my neighborhood decided that they didn't want a farmer to sell his property to a residential developer. The residents complained that it would cause a traffic increase in the area, so the city council said that the property could not be zoned for residential development. The same people are now proposing to build a public library on the property, on the corner of mill and bauer roads. I thought the idea was ridiculous, so I wrote a letter to the editor, which was published today, August 2. This is the first piece of mine that has been published, even if its just a letter to the editor. Here it is...

I am concerned by our recent “victory” over Kimball Hill Builders’ desire to convert Mayneland Farms into a residential neighborhood. One of the perks of being Napervillians is that we live our lives apart from Chicago’s intrusive government. Our recent “victory” in zoning laws will set a precedent which will haunt future residents of Naperville.

            First, I do recognize that we should be concerned for the atmosphere of our neighborhoods. However, telling residents how to use or sell their property will prove harmful for future generations. We should note that this zoning precedent will likely snowball into preventing families from starting a home business, installing a swimming pool or building a backyard shed or swing set. The laws affecting Mayneland Farms today, will affect our families tomorrow.

            It seems comical to me that the opponents of increased traffic are now proposing that Mayneland Farms be turned into a public library. We can be sure that a state-of-the-art learning resource center will generate more traffic than a small residential neighborhood. We also need to consider the cost of purchasing the land, building, library resources, paying for staff and maintenance and the loss of property tax revenues. If crowding at the Nichols library is the issue, we should merely require that library parking be used by patrons only, rather than building a new library 5 minutes away.

                                                                                                Kyle Marquardt

                                                                                                Naperville

The website of the organization that wants to build the library is www.napervoice.com