[nfbwatlk] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend (fwd)

[Albert Sanchez]

Hi Mike and list
I have just read the "trees" article. I have just finished forwarding it to 
the Fairfax VA chapter President, John Bailey, NFB of VA President 
Schroeder, and a representative of our NFB of VA Parents division. Hopefully 
we can find these parents and help the kids.
A.S.
Albert Sanchez, W A 7 F X B/4
EchoLink: 75,240
IRLP Node: 4000
Al's Piano Tuning & Repair
703-933-9303
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:25 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children,Parents 
Contend (fwd)


> Oh lord! And people wonder why the NFB?
>
> Mike
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 12:53:52 -0400
> From: Sherrill O'Brien <srobrien at tampabay.rr.com>
> Reply-To: NFB of Florida Listserv <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> To: NFBFL <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents 
> Contend
>
> Hi all,
> Oh my goodness, how these parents need to be taken under the wing of our 
> NFB
> parents division!!  My heart aches for these kids who are in the care of
> such misguided parents.
> Sherrill
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
> Behalf Of Ryan O.
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 11:19 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: [nfb-talk] Trees Could Harm Blind Children Parents Contend
>
>>
>
>>>
>>>> Washington Post
>>>> Friday, July 14, 2006
>>>>
>>>> Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend
>>>>
>>>> By Lisa Rein, Staff Writer
>>>>
>>>> Family's New Fairfax Home Stuck in a Regulatory Forest
>>>>
>>>> Friday, July 14, 2006; B05
>>>>
>>>> Their seven-bedroom, $2.2 million dream home is in spotless, move-in
>>> condition. It's an elegant hideaway on 1.6 acres in Oakton, set back 
>>> from
>>> a
>>> winding, tree-lined road -- a perfect place for their four youngest
>>> children
>>> to grow up.
>>>>
>>>> But for 36 days, Karen and Joe Bartling and their children have been
>>> homeless. Along with their college-age son and the family's Labrador
>>> retriever, they have been holed up in a tiny efficiency apartment in
>>> Chantilly with a pullout couch, all of their belongings in a storage
>>> locker.
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings can't move in until their builder plants 20 to 80 trees 
>>>> on
>>> their property that Fairfax County says are required in part because the
>>> builder cut down too many mature trees during construction.
>>>>
>>>> But to the Bartlings, the trees are nothing but booby traps wrapped in
>>> wire and wooden stakes: Four of their five children -- who were adopted
>>> from
>>> Korea, China and India -- are blind. For them, trees are bumps and
>>> scrapes
>>> waiting to happen.
>>>>
>>>> "I don't want my kids having black eyes running into trees all day,"
>>>> said
>>> Karen Bartling, 48. "These kids have enough obstacles in their lives. 
>>> The
>>> last thing we want is trees in our yard."
>>>>
>>>> In a suburb whose last patches of green space are disappearing, the
>>> prospect of a canopy of hickories, oaks and maples would be welcome to
>>> many
>>> homeowners. Not the Bartlings. "For our family, trees don't work," said
>>> Joe
>>> Bartling, 48, who works in the District as a forensic investigator.
>>> "Maybe
>>> for other families, trees work."
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings said they planned to build a swimming pool and put a 
>>>> swing
>>> set, trampoline and barbecue in the back yard, leaving precious little
>>> room
>>> for a forest. The trees would be scattered around the property, making 
>>> it
>>> impossible to fence them off.
>>>>
>>>> The odyssey started June 9, the day the Bartlings were supposed to 
>>>> close
>>> on their house on Coulter Lane. The piano mover arrived at 11 a.m. at
>>> their
>>> old, much smaller house on a forested lot in Oakton. The rest of the
>>> trucks
>>> were loaded by noon. Then the builder, NV Homes of McLean, called at 1
>>> p.m.
>>> to cancel the closing, the Bartlings said. The county had denied the
>>> builder
>>> a permit for occupancy of the house.
>>>>
>>>> The day before, an NV Homes representative had shown the Bartlings a 
>>>> new
>>> plan for their lot with more than 80 trees in the front and back yards,
>>> in
>>> addition to the row of old trees the builder had left at the edge of the
>>> property. The trees were not on the original lot plan. The couple did 
>>> not
>>> agree to the new proposal, believing they could work it out after the
>>> closing.
>>>>
>>>> What the Bartlings didn't know was that the county was requiring the
>>> builder to come up with a new tree conservation plan for the site after 
>>> a
>>> neighbor notified the county that a contractor for NV Homes had 
>>> illegally
>>> cleared a dozen 25-year-old, 100-foot trees during construction. This
>>> violated Fairfax's limits on clearing and grading.
>>>>
>>>> Things got testy. NV Homes asked the Bartlings to sign a document
>>>> agreeing
>>> to accept and maintain the 80 new trees and restrict any changes to the
>>> land, so they or any future owner would never cut down the trees. "Can
>>> you
>>> imagine paying that much money for a house and having someone telling 
>>> you
>>> what you should do on your property?" Karen Bartling asked.
>>>>
>>>> They called the county and got a lawyer and have been negotiating ever
>>> since. Yesterday, the county, the developer and the Bartlings reached a
>>> precarious agreement that could allow as few as 20 trees to be planted.
>>> But
>>> nothing is final.
>>>>
>>>> Fairfax requires builders in residential developments like the
>>> Bartlings' -- four homes on 10 acres called the Estates at Oakton
>>> Hollow --
>>> to preserve trees on 20 percent of the property. The trees can be old or
>>> new, to replace those that were knocked down for construction. NV Homes
>>> planned to put a "significant portion" of the trees on the Bartlings'
>>> lot,
>>> county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said. This was partly because some 
>>> of
>>> the other lots lie in a septic drain field that needs to be cleared, 
>>> said
>>> Hugh Whitehead, a county urban forester.
>>>>
>>>> The builder also recently cleared some trees on another lot it may
>>>> develop
>>> in the subdivision, county officials said, prompting a new round of
>>> planning
>>> to replace them. In both cases, dozens of new trees are needed to make 
>>> up
>>> for the old ones, Whitehead said.
>>>>
>>>> Normally, the county allows trees on a private lot to be removed once
>>>> the
>>> developer is released from bond. But in this case, NV Homes had violated
>>> the
>>> rules, and stricter requirements applied, officials said.
>>>>
>>>> "It gets pretty sticky sometimes with homeowners wanting to do what 
>>>> they
>>> choose with their property," Whitehead said. "I'd certainly hope that
>>> most
>>> people want trees. I've been surprised by people who buy a lot and
>>> proceed
>>> to cut down every tree on it for one reason or another. They don't see
>>> the
>>> benefits."
>>>>
>>>> Whitehead said he sympathizes with the Bartlings, who have tried to
>>>> reach
>>> a resolution with the county and NV Homes as they pay $219 a night for
>>> lodging. The number of trees required plunged to 68 and then 50, and the
>>> builder and county dropped the requirement prohibiting the trees from
>>> being
>>> cut down, said the Bartlings' attorney, Gorham Clark. Last week, the
>>> Bartlings agreed to accept some trees but demanded $250,000 in
>>> compensation
>>> from NV Homes. In response, NV Homes threatened to terminate the
>>> Bartlings'
>>> contract and resell the house. Whitehead, asked about the Bartling case,
>>> said he is willing to accept fewer trees. "This is not a situation where
>>> I
>>> typically find myself," he said.
>>>>
>>>> James Sack, NV Homes' general counsel, declined to comment.
>>>>
>>>> The Bartlings are born-again Christians who said their faith led them 
>>>> to
>>> children with special needs. After their son Joel was born, fertility
>>> problems led them to adoption. They brought Hannah, 11, a bright
>>> fifth-grader who sings in the church choir, home from Korea nine years
>>> ago.
>>> David, a precocious 6-year-old from China, literally appeared on the
>>> couple's doorstep less than two years ago after another couple decided
>>> they
>>> could not handle a blind child. The year before, Karen Bartling had read
>>> in
>>> a publication for parents and teachers of blind children that Jesse, 
>>> from
>>> Korea, and Abi, who had been abandoned malnourished on the streets of
>>> Calcutta, needed homes.
>>>>
>>>> Life at the Towne Place Suites has been a mix of improvisation and
>>> anticipation. Everyone needed new clothes, and the children new toys.
>>> Five-year-olds Abi and Jesse, not good sleepers to begin with, are
>>> uncomfortable sharing beds with their older siblings, their mother said.
>>>>
>>>> Meanwhile, with the lock on the interest rate on their mortgage about 
>>>> to
>>> expire, the Bartlings have taken to calling their predicament their
>>> Extreme
>>> Screwover.
>>>>
>>>> "We're just sitting on the sidelines waiting for NV Homes to deliver us
>>>> a
>>> home we contracted for," Joe Bartling said. "Since when are trees more
>>> important than people?"
>>>>
>>>> (ENDS)
>>>>
>>>> (Thanks to Barry J Campbell for bringing our attention to this 
>>>> article).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301
> 485_pf.html
>>>>
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