The Wright house deserves the right facts

Please accept our "sober" response to your April 17 editorial, "The Wright house is a quiet beauty. Just relax and enjoy" The viewpoint lacked factual information, made unreasonable correlations and was disrespectful to hard-working neighbors that have helped foster growth in Phoenix and the surrounding valley.

David Wright House LLC and its manager, Zachary Rawling, were not the "savior" that prevented bulldozers from demolishing the home that belonged to David and Gladys Wright. That honor belongs to the mayor of Phoenix, who placed a stay of demolition on the property. Additionally, he placed uniformed police officers on the site daily for weeks to protect the home from the rightful owner.

Arcadia neighbors supported the original preservation efforts to save the famous architect's design, which warranted the historic designation.

To date, no applications for preservation or special use permits have been applied for or obtained by David Wright House, LLC, The David and Gladys Wright House Foundation or developer Zachary Rawling.

The application for historic designation was initiated in 2012 by the Phoenix Planning and Development Historic Preservation Office, upon formal request from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in Chicago. The city has postponed City Council approval seven times on behalf of the owners.

"Resurrecting the Wright House" has exceeded $10 million in land purchases and the additional demolition of three adjacent residences before any preservation of the structure.

The new golf course-like lawn and purported low-voltage lighting, equivalent to a landing strip, accompanied by the demolition of the original swimming pool and removal of walls and desert landscape in no way represents Frank Lloyd Wright's vision of "How to live in the Southwest" or maintains conformity to preservation designations.

The editorial asks neighbors to view "proposed zoning changes with an open mind." How would that be accomplished when the development group (Rawling, attorney Paul Gilbert and consultant Highground) have refused to meet multiple times with neighbors in opposition to open discussion on the intended plans for development, a process that could subside the hysteria they tout.

Phoenix Planning and Development drafted text amendment, Z-TA-3-13 specifically created for use on the David and Gladys Wright property. The council passed it unanimously in November 2013.

The zoning change allows a residential property in any Phoenix neighborhood with a historic landmark designation to apply for a permit to open to the public, with offsite parking, signs and lighting, outdoor activities and use of accessory buildings as gift shops or to sell food and drink.

The reality our neighborhood is experiencing is the developer's premature use of this special permit, without application or the required overlay designation.

The neighborhood grassroots efforts are not "well financed campaigns" or "manipulative" and "hysterical" endeavors to "distort preservation" of the home that belonged to the Wrights. The intent is a purposeful response to the developer's well-orchestrated attempt to circumvent residential zoning.

Arcadia area residents have understandable concerns regarding the proposed development of accessory buildings, the inappropriate use of residentially zoned lots and the prospect of more developers using the above referenced text amendment or additional zoning changes to implement public use activity and distort any Phoenix neighborhood zoned residential.

Consider: Why should the developer's expanded commercial vision for preservation and development supersede the property rights of Arcadia residents, many of whom have lived here for over 40 years?

Tracy and Darrell Wadas live in Arcadia.