AVA — What started as a full house for the town of Ava Planning Board’s regular meeting became a gathering in the rain that ended early after the crowd grew unruly — with members of the audience interjecting and interrupting a presentation on construction of a proposed campground and retreat.
The meeting started with around 70 people packed in the town hall — with dozens more waiting in the entry way and outside — gathered for a preliminary presentation by the Black Women’s Blueprint which was seeking to build the facility on a 300-acre site near Webster Hill Road that was once used and abandoned by the Air Force as a test site.
But with a packed building and concerns over COVID-19 guidelines, the town of Ava Planning Board moved the meeting outside in a cold, light drizzle.
Planning Board Chairman Justin Bator said at the meeting that Black Women’s Blueprint was presenting its project to the Planning Board for the first time and that there would be future meetings — including public hearings — that would be done in the future.
The project being proposed by Black Women’s Blueprint would be open to all, regardless of race or gender, according to ,Co-Executive Director Farah Tanis.
While Tanis spoke to the crowd of people gathered outside the Ava Town Hall, her attempts to explain the intent behind the project and how it would benefit the community were often drown out by jeers and comments by those gathered.
On more than one occasion, Bator urged the crowd to remain quiet and allow Tanis and Nan Stolzenburg, a consultant on the project, to speak; however, several members of the crowd refused Bator’s request and instead loudly demanded to know where Black Women’s Blueprint got its funding and where the people who will be staying at this retreat will come from and preventing Tanis and Stolzenburg from continuing with their presentation.
When the comments wouldn’t stop, Bator declared that he was closing the meeting — earning ire and curses from the crowd.
Even before the meeting, some people made their displeasure known according to the organization, according to the Black Women’s Blueprint Facebook page which reported that someone had called a co-founder and told them to “Stay the (expletive deleted) out of our town.” Others from the community, however, offered their support for the project, organization officials said.
“I really thought with the horrible year we’ve been through, folks would understand that we need to come together and unite,” Tanis said after the meeting. “I still have hope.”
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Crowd shuts down Ava meeting Town Planning Board chair halts meeting on proposed project amid disruptions, jeers - Rome Sentinel
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