The senior citizen retirement community option is now the choice of two of the five community groups helping decide what fate befalls the storied Memorial Stadium and its 30-acre site.
In a vote held Wednesday by the Better Waverly Community Organization, the Govans Ecumenical Development Corp. (GEDCO) plan for a retirement community received 32 votes, compared with 11 for a research technology park and five for a proposal including retail stores, housing and a skating rink.
Nearly 200 residents in the Ednor Gardens/Lakeside community association voted along similar lines last week.
A third Waverly group had close to a three-way tie Tuesday at the Waverly United Methodist Church, with eight votes for a technology park, seven for the mixed-use development and six for the senior living proposal.
The GEDCO proposal would raze the stadium to make way for a $43 million "affordable retirement community" serving 550 to 600 residents. The plan includes a YMCA branch and 7 acres of recreational space.
The Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello group and the Better Greenmount Alliance have yet to vote. All five neighborhood groups will have a representative on the Memorial Stadium Review Panel, which will meet in closed session March 15. However, it is not clear how the community votes will affect City Hall.
The panel, which includes city and state officials, will make a recommendation to city Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III. Zach Germroth, a spokesman for Henson, declined to comment on what he called "a very healthy process. We're going to let it roll."
Henson has said he hopes to make his recommendation to the City Council in the next month.
"He doesn't live around here. Why would he have the final decision? It just don't seem right to me," said Rick Harris, 43, a Waverly resident.
Eleanor Montgomery, who chaired the Wednesday meeting at Holy Spirit School, said the outcome "reflects a concern about a lack of services and recreation for our youth." She and others singled out the YMCA piece of the GEDCO proposal as a decisive factor. It is the only one that would knock down the stadium.
Julia Jennings, 50, said of the research park proposed by Willard Hackerman and A&R; Development Corp.: "Give me skills for one of those high-tech jobs. Then we can talk."
Pub Date: 3/05/99