5 Comments From Brentwood Meeting When BHGH Was Turned Down

Boys Hope Girls Hope wanted to build two group homes for students and an office on Madge Avenue. 

Monday night the Brentwood Board of Aldermen voted down the rezoning (4-3) that would have made that possible. 

Almost 30 public comments were made before the vote. Approximately two thirds of the comments were in favor of the allowing Boys Hope Girls Hope to move to Brentwood. 

Here are some comments from both sides. It's possible to see the full meeting on the city's Youtube channel, when it is posted. 

1. Don Beimdiek—I spent two years of my life as chairman of the Brentwood comprehensive plan committee. The plan that we approved and recommended to the zoning and planning commission which Mr. Geppert chaired, was recommended to this board in 2006…We had people come to tell us what was the best future for this city, and we documented what the input of all these people were….This plan was intentionally developed to avoid the question of what should we do…The future land use plan for the north side of Madge, west of Brentwood, all of the way west to the rear yard lines for residences on the east side of Annalee is recommended for neighborhood mixed use…This is some of the things it could be: a convenience retail store, personal and business services, offices, upper floor multi-family residential, civic functions, religious institutions and schools…What is being proposed to you tonight was developed after intensive study by professionals, land use planners, and your planning and zoning commission approved it. So I don’t think this board should have any difficulty accepting of your planning and zoning commission, which has found that the plan is consistent with this because Boys Hope Girls Hope fit into a neighborhood mixed use, and that’s what’s going to make our town exciting and interesting. Mixed uses make for variety and for a healthy city with different kinds of people all going in the same direction, which is to get a good education and improve our lives for the world.
2. Nora Durham—I recently graduated from Brentwood High School in May… The past school year when I first heard about Boys Hope Girls Hope wanting to build a home in Brentwood I immediately began to research this organization and talked about this idea with classmates and friends…I stand here today as a representative of the young  people of Brentwood in support of Boys Hope Girls Hope moving into Brentwood. As young adults we represent the future of our community already playing an important role in its strength, goodness and warmth…We want to be a part of a community of which we can be proud, a community that welcomes youth who wants to overcome obstacles and achieve. Frankly, in the past we have had reason to be embarrassed by some of the decisions our city has made. Please to not let this embarrassment continue…
3. Brad Schneider—I recently got engaged. My girlfriend and I have been talking about a future, and having kids…When it’s time for us to buy a home this is where we want to be, and the question is not what kind of house are we going to have to look at, it’s not is there going to be too much traffic, it’s what are the neighbors going to be like…the very simple answer here, is in order for it to be the kind of place we want to raise our kids in, Boys Hope Girls Hope should come in.
4. Louise Charboneau—I’m sorry that our vested self-interest may not seem to be as important as the self-interest of an organization that is trying to further its mission…You plunk a nonprofit, you put this beautiful building down in the PD (planned development), what happens when proper redevelopment comes? When the people who own the property the first 100 feet of the boulevard in the PD want to do a redevelopment, and they have to go to Boys Hope and say we need to buy your building because we want to follow the neighborhood mixed use…and now we’ve got a block in the middle of that road.
5. Steve Lochmoeller—Been living here about 30 years. Moved into Brentwood Forest after graduating from college...We started looking for a house in Brentwood, and found one on Madge...been there 20 years this month. Raised three daughters there. In my wildest dreams I never thought we’d go through a fight like this. Madge is a small street. It has small homes. It’s not like some areas of Pine or White, but we are residents of the community too. We do not deserve to have to look every day at the size of this structure that will be down at the end of our street. You can’t tell me there won’t be an increase in traffic. They have 20 residents and 14 full time staff coming in and out of that building…The proposed building that’s going in at the end of our block does not fit the scale of our neighborhood. Their own architect has said several times it was a challenge to try to fit that building onto that site. He will tell you it’s a great buffer between commercial and residential, however the building is going to be 10 times the size of surrounding homes.