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This is the Herald News' view on the subject ... published in their
1/21/04 Our View editorial.
Yacht Club must go on
In a real estate ad, the phrase "close to yacht club" is generally considered to be a selling point, not a warning. Apparently, some Tiverton residents, small in number but vocal, don't think living next\to a yacht club is a very good thing at all. In fact, from the din of their objections, one would think their nearest. neighbor was not a yacht club, but a strip joint or all oil refmery. The Tiverton Yacht Club hardly has a reputation for rowdiness, and it's hard to believe that complaining abutters have real complaints. Still, complaints there are. . . The yacht club was destroyed by fire last spring. Since then, club members have struggled mightily to bring the club back to life. It looked like they'd made it, too. The club, located in a residential. neighborhood, required various forms of approvals from various town and state boards and agencies. The approvals are being collected, one by one. The yacht club has five more months to meet a town-imposed deadline to rebuild the club. The dispute between the club and a few neighbors hinges on the fact that, since 1964, the club had become bigger in size, though it continued to perform the same functions in the Same way. .The club wants to rebuild to the scale of the club just before the fire. A few neighbors want the club to rebuild to its 1964 size. .There are indeed parking issues associated with the club, but that doesn't seem to be a good reason for simply letting the club die. The suggested solution, in other words, dwarfs the problem. The Tiverton Yacht Club has always been a vital and valued part of the community. In particular, the club's existence is a reminder that Tiverton is a coastal town of great beauty and not Just another suburb. The club should be rebuilt as it was just before the fire, but parking issues should be addressed.
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