When Tyler and his wife Sharon generously offered the gazebo, they envisioned it placed on the meeting site, a wooded triangle where many kids wait for school buses. There, it could serve as a shelter on rainy days and also as a decorative feature of the space.

However, the neighbors immediately adjacent to the site, Joanne and Tuvio Barak, Cara Baustian and David Saunders, had enough concerns about placement on the triangle to have circulated a petition against the gazebo. The site is already frequented in the evening by teenagers who occasionally leave litter and beer bottles; they felt the gazebo might become an “attractive nuisance” if placed there. Carol Baxter, one of the parents whose children waits for the bus on the site, believed placement of the gazebo might not leave enough space for children to play.

A question was raised about the ownership of the triangle. Thom Kleiner believes that it is owned by the Town of Orangetown, but stated that he would check to make sure. Leo Keagan and several other people expressed concern about the piles of brush placed along the road by the triangle, generally by landscapers who want to get rid of what they have cleared. These brush piles, which are sometimes large, are both unsightly and unsafe. Thom stated that this is a code violation and should be reported when people see it happening.

After a discussion of about 30 minutes, Thom expressed the consensus of the meeting: this triangle may not be the best site for Tyler Schmetterer’s generous gift. Other sites, including the Community Center, will be explored, and the community will be kept informed about the status of the gazebo.