CDS Discussion

As a new resident I was approached by people whom I felt disrespected my building, the builder, and therefore disrespected me. What would you do, as Chancellor, if a new resident came to you with this complaint?

Xuryon,

My message has been clear and unwavering on this issue. We need very clear building codes and covenants in writing that new residents can read before they start building ANYTHING in CDS and I will accomplish this once I'm elected to office. No longer will these kinds of decisions be arbitrary with ultimate rule based only on one person's opinion. In fact, some of these people who have exercised this kind of "one-person-power" in the past have been, IMHO, simply on personal ego trips. That is coming to a stop.

I have proposed a professional Planning and Zoning Board to write the codes and covenants, to be friendly and helpful to new residents to aid in their understanding of them, and to enforce them, but only when enforcement is absolutely necessary.

And should a citizen disagree with a member of this commission, they will have the right to a full and public hearing on the matter before the entire board and then if they do not like that outcome, they can appeal directly to the Chancellor.

That is a fair system for all of us and brings balance to the fact that we MUST have codes and covenants if we are to continue to have a class act community, yet we must also understand that people have feelings and wish to provide a creative bent into their creations.

Xuryon

We spoke about this specific incident in world a bit.

I don't think it's right for people to disrespect each other and, especially for a newer resident, this is not the impression of the CDS we want to give. That said, I don't know what the details were of the specific incident you referred to and I can't make a judgement about something without hearing both sides.

So, that's what I would want to do in this kind of case. I'd like to hear what both sides interpret as to what happened and, if there is a complaint about a building not being compliant with the covenants, get some expert objective input on the issue. I would also stress with citizens who volunteer to help out for the Exec branch that we have to be friendly, open and welcoming with new citizens and offer help if they are new to building and want to create their own home.

I would do what I did when the situation arose before, because that did seem to resolve the issue fairly quickly, which was to remind the neighbors to come to me with their complaints and I would handle it from there. This did work very well. I would assure the newcomer that the Chancellor's office makes final decisions on builds and if anyone came to bother them further, that the newcomer should feel free to contact me, as Chancellor, right away and I would resolve it under the power of the Office.