After what he described as considerable debate and discussion, Eastern Property Owners' Association (EPOA) President Dennis Donnelly told trustees that the association's board of directors unanimously voted to urge the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's to drop any demands for community space within the St. Paul's Main Building.

Directors, instead, are urging the committee to maximize financial gains - as a result of dropping any community space from negotiations with designated St. Paul's developer AvalonBay.

"Financial gains paid by AvalonBay to the village should be used to either renovate existing community space at the St. Paul's complex or as a reserve fund for future construction costs to rehabilitate the gym or Cluett Hall," Donnelly stated in his March 13 letter to Mayor Peter Bee.

Trustee Tom Lamberti, who replaced Trustee John Mauk as chair of the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's after he recently resigned from the post, told Donnelly that the committee has been meeting regularly and will be coming back to the public with two proposals: one with public space inside the building and the other with public space outside the building.

Lamberti believes residents, who are of very different opinions, need to see two proposals side by side to see which one proves satisfactory.

"That's where we're headed," Lamberti added, noting that the committee met last Wednesday, working on AvalonBay's proposed design features and re-examining the proposal's parking plan and architecture.

Although EPOA directors are urging the mayor's committee to reach agreement with AvalonBay on a "finite" proposal by June, Trustee Lamberti, who said he is trying to set a committee agenda for members to meet once a week, is shooting for a much tighter deadline, ambitiously hoping that by April 30 AvalonBay may begin marketing its proposal.

Donnelly further stated in his letter that the board of directors proposed that the village's four property owners' associations jointly hold a final poll run the same way as an election in early September, enabling those residents registered to vote in school board elections the opportunity to vote yes or no to the specific proposal.

The results, Donnelly said, would be immediately available for both the trustees and the public. If the proposal came to pass, the village would then seek home rule legislation by November.

"We believe that if the trustees adopt both the format and the time schedule proposed, we will stop all the sniping and public wrangling on the subject..." Donnelly continued.