From the design award I earned at age 14, to my first house remodel at age 21, to the model homes my mom and I used to visit just for fun (commenting to each other, "What a stupid hallway!"  or "Which idiot put the pantry over there?" and occasionally finding a brilliantly composed bathroom or window placement) my love-affair with drafting tools, sawdust, and a sturdy pry-bar has been pervasive.  

 

Many construction projects later, combined with a yearning to promote close communities and minimize human impact on our fragile planet, I am a bona-fide New Urbanism junkie.

 

When city council member Melanie Hammet mentioned that the council would be discussing some inappropriate new construction that had begun in Pine Lake, my design antennae sprang up. In short order I was appointed and voted in as founding chair of the Pine Lake Architectural Review Board.  

 

Your ARB members and I tasked ourselves with preserving, protecting, enhancing, and promoting the natural and built environments of our precious little village, for now and into the next 100 years and beyond. Formulating this new board and its procedures, and creating a verbal representation of such a seemingly intangible and visceral thing (how does one describe the way our street-scapes and community look and feel?) has been daunting, joyful, frustrating, thrilling, and a tremendous honor which we treat with awe. 

 

When my tool belt is on sabbatical, I am a  professional life coach, writer, and workshop leader. Mike (spouse of 21 years) Marina (daughter of 20 years) and I have thrived in Pine Lake since 1995. We treasure this place, and you, dear neighbor. Thank you.