Dear Tiffany,
Thank you for letting me tune into last night's meeting. It was much cozier to watch the meeting at home. You made such a good presentation !
I am all in favor of your idea that we should stop extending the highway and preserve the quiet and serene natural landscape. Retreat (and prayers), as you suggested, is an on-and-off subject in my mind. I might often appear to withdraw from society, but retreat, I mean spiritual retreat was a topic in my mind. If you were thinking of a corporate retreat, I cannot offer much of my experience.
One retreat I had in my memory and probably the best one was my very first pumpkin-carving women retreat on a hillside in New Hampshire. We stayed there in a church friend's cabin for a weekend. Everything seemed to be opulent: the foliage, the music, the food, and the never-ending hot beverage paired with soft marshmallows. The retreat was also wonderful because it was a worry-free experience: without worrying about food, water, and even the gas bill.
You know I was coming from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and my understanding of "retreat" was quite hazy before going to that cabin in New Hampshire. I thought it was just another fun hang out with girl friends and carving pumpkins. So that we could take them home as a souvenir. Yet, after that weekend, I learned it was a very different kind of "hand out". That hand-out experience detached me from the burned-out schoolwork and showed me God's wonderful gifts. To this day, I still feel touched when thinking of that New Hampshire "hand out". It reminded me of all the love showered by my church friends whom I only briefly met in a church in Cambridge.
Going back to our initial conversation, at first glance among the nine alternatives, option 5 resonated with me the most. Read along 2013's and 2015's summary pages you can tell that option 5 had the slightest parkland (0.2 acres) affected, the least floodplain (0.4 acre) impacted, and the minimal forest land disturbed (2 acres.) Perfectly to meet your goal to preserve the beauty of our land.
Despite these merits given of the option, you told me you still cannot make up your mind. You told me what you were concerned about the most was the displacement of the business. How many businesses will be relocated, I asked. You said three. Even though that was only a handful of numbers, I cannot agree with you more. These retailers are the anchor of the neighborhood, and vital to our economy. They functioned like the landlord in medieval times; within their enclosed battlement, a framework was formed to sustain all residents, shops, or merchants to complete their day-to-day operations.
I have not visited the site myself, and certainly not dare to guarantee you that my insight was the best. However, after I checked the aerial photo I realized your worry might not be necessary. After all the report you pulled out from the archive was a decade ago and the situation might opened up in your favor. If you ever decide to pursue option 5, and seriously think about facilitating relocating these retailers, I would need to study further at Samuel's Wholesale. His store will have the biggest impact on their regular business operation if we expand the existing four lanes to six lanes in the future.
And how to mitigate the impact? You asked. I am thinking of the Lakeforest Mall which is located across the highway. Forestlake, as its name implies, has a beautiful retention pond and ample foilages which will certainly bring more delight to shopper's shopping experience. It also offers quieter loading spaces tucked away from the treelines and further away from nearby housing clusters. I noticed that Forestlake Mall announced they permanently closed to the public in 2023.
Thanks to e-commerce changing consumer shopping behaviors, perhaps the Forestlake Mall can finally be freed up to take greater responsibility. Facilitating the displaced businesses to Forestlake Mall might help to make the highway expansion project run more smoothly. Which, I will make sure to email some sketches later next week.
In this particular option, your second concern was about the noise. You told me that the option you preferred had only so few residents impacted by the noise, yet, if this mid-county project occurs, option 5 will affect almost 300 households along the highway with greater than 67dB.
I agree with your point and it was very thoughtful of you. Thanks to our modern science and technology, the current industry's product can certainly resolve this issue. We could use the triple pane window with better insolation and insulation value. With its added glazing, the window contains a vacuumed layer that can effectively block heat and sound transmission. Of course, I need to research more if you've decided on this option.
Fall is right around the corner, and soon there will be many Halloween celebrations for children, family, and friends. Why not take this chance to refresh the Forestlake Mall and gradually introduce its new role to the neighborhood?
Your affectionate friend,
Hepburn