August can be lovely

Aaah! A gorgeous September day today, during the third week of August. It feels mid-Septemberlike, except that the light is still Augusty. While Larry/Dad is shopping for groceries, I've been watering dry flowers, using the leaf blower to clean off the patio (Angie, where are you?), and washing berry-dyed bird poop off the lawn furniture.

A stroll to the mailbox brought some welcome news. First Lutheran Church has decided not to go forward with plans to build the assisted living/nursing home/gymnasium/swimming pool/Alzheimer's treatment center on the church property. Cheers went up around the neighborhood as people opened the letter of explanation from the church committee.

We're not a bunch of anti-religious folk, so don't get the wrong idea. In fact, many of the neighbors are members of First Lutheran. No one in the neighborhood opposes the mission of the church, which includes caring for elderly people, nor does anyone oppose the concept of an assisted living facility nearby. But, when the plans were shared rather brusquely with neighbors at an open meeting, it was somewhat of a shock to find out that the building would have a larger footprint than the Wilds (if you know the size of that facility located on the north end of St. Peter, where Grandpa Larry the Elder lived for a few years) AND it would be three stories in height. If you know where First Lutheran is located, it is at the crest of the hill across from our house. Those of us who live on Church Street (ironic, isn't it?) figured the sun would set behind the building about 2:00 in the afternoon and we'd be in darkness. An exaggeration, perhaps...

Real concerns included the fact that the neighborhood is not zoned for multiple family dwellings, the addition of another street access onto Church Street at an unsafe location, a holding pond for water and mosquito breeding at the lowest point on the property, increased traffic, and the potential for loud and raucous party music emanating from the facility at all hours of the night once a passel of octogenarians move in.

So, we're glad it turned out this way for now, and we hope that if there truly is a need for more assisted living units in St. Peter that the other sites being considered are in appropriately zoned areas and that the church will be able to continue the direction of its mission to provide housing for elderly congregants and others. We've been fortunate to live across the street from the church for many years, and we hope the property use won't change any time soon.