OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy
OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy
OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy
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Rick and Debbie Oprzadek<br />
John and Jean Orlando<br />
Russell O’Rourke and Georgia Froelich<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Osborn<br />
Phil and Katie Osborn<br />
Mr. and Mrs. William Osborne<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Ostendorf<br />
Ken and Helen Ostermiller<br />
Jane and Jon Outcalt<br />
Ken and Katie Outcalt<br />
Mildred Owen-Weedon<br />
Mr. Robert T. Page<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Christopher I. Page<br />
Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Eliot Paine<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Paine<br />
Randy and Amy Paine<br />
Mr. John Pais<br />
Diane Palker<br />
Mr. and Mrs. William A. Papenbrock<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pappalardo<br />
Larry and Nancy Parella<br />
John and Gail Park<br />
Barbara and T Parkinson<br />
Partners Environmental Consulting, Inc.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Pascucci<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Patchan<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Pate<br />
Ann G. Patella<br />
Priscilla Patterson<br />
Robert and Ruth Paul<br />
Dorothy Rollins Pauly<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Mahmood Pazirandeh<br />
Ms. Jeanne Pease<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Donald Pensiero<br />
Ms. Marjorie Percy<br />
Lawrence J. Perk<br />
Mr. Perry K. Peskin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pesses<br />
Mr. and Mrs. David Peters<br />
Ms. Jennifer Peters<br />
Mrs. Robert C. Petersen<br />
Mr. John Petersen and Ms. Nancy London<br />
Sam Petros<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Gosta Pettersson<br />
Joan and Roger Pettibone<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pfeiffer<br />
Dennis and Donna Pfouts<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Pierre<br />
John C. and Janice K. Pierson<br />
Stanley G. Pijor<br />
Kate Pilacky and Mr. David DiTullio<br />
Mr. Tom Pilacky<br />
Karen Heider Pilarski and Joseph Heider<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Terrell Pim<br />
Ms. Charlotte Piske<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Tim Pistell<br />
Mr. Donald Plzak<br />
Dan and Andrea Pollock<br />
Jeffrey Pollock and Martha Brandt Pollock<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Ponsky<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Porter, Jr.<br />
Joel Porter and Nancy Ray<br />
Richard and Suzanne Potts<br />
C. Thomas Powell<br />
Gail Powell<br />
Mr. Richard T. Prasse<br />
Gayle and Don Prebis<br />
Ken Press and Tim Downing<br />
Dale and Kim Preston<br />
Laurie Price<br />
Franklin Price M.D.<br />
Kurt and Carolyn Princic<br />
Susan Prior<br />
Jo Proffitt<br />
The Progressive Insurance Foundation<br />
Ms. Brenda Pruitt<br />
Jim and Linda Puffenberger<br />
Mr. Robert H. Pugsley<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert N. Putnam Jr.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Quandt<br />
Dr. Erwin and Mary Ann Rabin<br />
Betsy Rader<br />
Susanne and John Rahilly<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Ramerman<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Randall<br />
Paul Rander and Joy Willmott<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Claiborne Rankin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin, Jr.<br />
Bruce Rankin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Rankin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Arliss Ratliff<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Ratner<br />
Mr. Frank Rausche<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Rayner<br />
Roger and Judy Read<br />
Michael Reagan<br />
The Creation of Forest Ridge<br />
from Charles Lang<br />
14<br />
Mark Skowronski e-mailed asking of me a seemingly simple task, “Charles,<br />
would you write in a paragraph about why you chose preservation, what your<br />
land means to you, et cetera”<br />
I thought that was a daunting task. Explaining our reasoning and thus answering<br />
his question would be easy, but to reduce those answers to one paragraph<br />
would be impossible. I thought of the time we have been here on Chagrin River<br />
Road and how we measure land dealings in decades. One paragraph could not do<br />
meaningful justice to help another landowner consider what motivated our charity<br />
and to ponder the same. Space limitations being what they are for articles, the full<br />
tale will remain untold. But to prevent the publication of some synopsis guess at<br />
why we did what we did, let me endeavor to pinpoint in just a few paragraphs<br />
the gist of our motivation.<br />
Through life experiences, most notably the premature loss of my father, we<br />
have accepted the fact that it was necessary for us to actively decide the fate of<br />
this cherished property rather than adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Consider this<br />
result – we die and the “For Sale” sign goes up (read: to the highest bidder, who is<br />
almost always a developer). Just look around and you see regularly that as an elder<br />
generation passes, the property too often goes on the block. Perhaps it is because<br />
no one sibling can afford to keep it or none cares sufficiently to want it to remain<br />
in the family, but either way the end result is the same. In months (or sometimes<br />
sadly in just days) the inheritors abandon by sale property that was nurtured and<br />
cherished. Sadly, then, they just pocket their share of the proceeds from another’s<br />
lifetime. Tender as we are in years on this earth, we are the elder generation with<br />
respect to the Langs’ tenure on Chagrin River Road and that is a responsible role.<br />
With the swirl of a pen in a flowing signature we could preserve or destroy a vast<br />
array of landscape across from the Polo Field and that result would last forever.<br />
It just did not seem right for us to have fought so many years to hold on to this<br />
terra firma to ultimately let its fate go upon our deaths.<br />
So instead, we chose ourselves<br />
to be the grantors of the<br />
preservation deeds while well<br />
alive and able to enjoy doing<br />
so. Yes, we could have waited<br />
until death to preserve it; but<br />
why wait It is a wonderful<br />
feeling to part with real property<br />
knowing what its future<br />
“forever” will be. The perpetuity<br />
of this land as a passive park<br />
certainly held great appeal, for<br />
now anyone who cares can<br />
come to enjoy the land as it has been and will be. In so doing, we also know for<br />
certain that with the deed now held by the Village of Moreland Hills and a conservation<br />
easement held by <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Reserve</strong> <strong>Land</strong> <strong>Conservancy</strong>, our contribution to<br />
Forest Ridge Preserve can not be sold for development (which could have resulted<br />
in a mere 31 new monster homes popping up on those hills).<br />
There is a clear charitable choice made to receive less value by preserving one’s<br />
land rather than having it sold to a developer. But if you don’t need the development<br />
value during your lifetime, one should easily be able to preserve the land<br />
with no harm to self financially, in fact only benefit. “What about your children<br />
and grandchildren, you may be asking yourself” Ponder well that you can still<br />
give them everything else on your death--other than the ability to destroy that<br />
which should be preserved– the historic realty.<br />
I would ultimately surmise that the certainty of our deaths, hopefully some<br />
day far in the future, caused us to decide today the eternal preservation fate of this<br />
portion of Chagrin River Road.