Letter: Developer needs to work harder on Kingsdale plan

Since I attended the very empty BZAP meeting on Jan. 5, at which the new plan for Kingsdale was presented, I have spoken with countless neighbors and acquaintances and asked their views on this new plan.

Their responses have been surprisingly similar: they haven't had time to tune into what is happening with Kingsdale in the past month, they would like something to happen and, most importantly, they are trusting that our community leaders are protecting and following the guidelines that our community, its planners and our zoning board created over the past many years to guide the future of this important piece of land. When told to take a look at the plan and artists' renderings of the proposed development on the UA Web site, my neighbors and acquaintances stand aghast when they see that what is being offered is practically the same thing that is there now with the addition of an absolutely huge grocery store -- a development that will look no different than many in Hilliard or on Sawmill, the same type of development that they have watched, at Kingsdale and Lane Avenue, rise and fall like a roller coaster over the years and so will again.

What happened to creating something unique to Upper Arlington? To enlarging our tax base and creating a development for the long run, not just the short? If we have to swallow a huge, out-of-scale grocery store, can't this developer work with our city in developing the other half of the site, to begin to create the framework for the urban center that could phase into a "core" for our UA apple? I see that the only bargaining power we have, as a community, to have that happen is that if we are willing to walk away from the table if they offer us nothing more than they have. Is this the best that this talented developer can offer us?

Sue Grant