Buildable or not, and by whose definition?

| 29 Sep 2011 | 10:16

    WESTFALL - Who decided that only 38 acres of the 120-acre Santos Farm property was buildable, and what does buildable mean? School directors John Wroblewski and Bob Goldsack debated the validity of the claim in October. Cindy Wildermuth, chair of the Pike County Planning Commission, said in a recent letter to the Courier that the 38-acre claim came to the commission last spring from one of its members, whom she did not name. The claim subtracts flood plain and steep slopes from the total acreage. “I have no reason to believe the information is incorrect,” Wildermuth wrote. What “buildable” means is another question. Most municipal ordinances in Pike County do not directly prohibit building in a flood plain or steep slopes, Wildermuth wrote, but they do call for mitigation. Last month, Wroblewski called the 38-acre claim “just plain wrong.” School officials are awaiting engineering reports before finalizing the purchase.