26.01.2015 Views

OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy

OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy

OUR LAND. OUR LEGACY. - Western Reserve Land Conservancy

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

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.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!