ST. GEORGE — A group of neighbors of Linda Bean’s proposed Wyeth Reading Center have filed an appeal in court.
Last week, the five residents asked the Knox County Unified Court in Rockland to send the matter back to the St. George Planning Board with instructions to consider more thoroughly the safety concerns of neighbors.
The Board of Appeals voted 5-0 on Dec. 5 to uphold the Planning Board’s Sept. 26 approval of the project, which has been the subject of numerous meetings since the application was filed June 1, 2017. Those meetings have attracted more than 50 people at times.
Appealing are Horse Point Road Group, Robert and Patricia Hughes, Sandra Dickson Coggeshall, Jonathan Coggeshall and Anita Sigenthaler. They are represented by attorney Patrick Mellor of Rockland.
Bean’s representatives have characterized the reading room as a summer destination for people interested in researching the Wyeth family of artists. The 1,400-square-foot building would make Wyeth-related magazines and books available to the public for free.
The center would be located at 20 Horse Point Road, off Route 131. Five parking spaces are planned, and the developer said it would attract minimal traffic.
The Planning Board imposed a condition that the reading room would be open by appointment only, and must have a sign clearly stating as much.
The neighbors claim that the road is already unsafe and that the reading center would add traffic that would endanger the hundreds of pedestrians and children on bicycles.
The appeal also claims that due process rights of the residents were violated because a member of the planning board, Michael Jordan, has been a vocal proponent of the project.
Attorney Paul Gibbons, who represents Bean, dismissed at a Nov. 16 Appeals Board meeting the safety claims by neighbors as “utter nonsense” and “wild speculation.” He argued that a reading room with five parking spaces open only by appointment would not create excessive traffic or a safety concern.
A telephone message left for Gibbons was not returned.
No hearing has yet been scheduled on the court appeal.
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