The Charbonneau Villager Newspaper 2019 Apr issue Villager newspaper | Page 6

6 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER April 2019 Change is in the air ■ While deciding what to do with the Annex building, Charbonneau welcomes pickleball, upgrades at garden terrace PMG PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE The upstairs view at the old restaurant building overlooking the Charbonneau Golf Club. By PATRICK MALEE, PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP S pring is perhaps best known as a time of renewal, and Charbonneau officials are taking that to heart this year with several initiatives that they hope will spark sig- nificant improvements all around the country club. "Charbonneau is not stagnant," Charbonneau Country Club board member Larry Walker says. "We're looking to the future; we're constantly striving to improve the living environment." "(We want) to make sure this a community that is viable and attractive to people in the future, residents in the future," CCC General Manager Jim Meierotto adds. Those efforts began in March with an effort that is the very definition of "renewal." The back entry of the old restaurant building. PMG PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE 'We can't just continue what we're doing now' After voting in September 2018 to demolish the vacant old restaurant building on CCC grounds — which was purchased in May 2018 and is now referred to as the Annex — the board announced in March that it would hold up the process to allow for more outreach to residents. Consultant Heather Coston was brought on to help gather that feedback, and a new Community Engagement Task Force held its first meeting March 14. "Our primary goal is to ensure that every single resident in Charbonneau has hopefully two or three very specific opportunities to provide their opinions, input (and) answers to questions about the disposition of the building," Walker says. "We don't want to move forward unless we can honestly say to everyone, 'We asked you what you think.' And we hope we'll get broad input, but if we don't, at least we've asked." Walker says the decision to press pause on the demolition process wasn't due to public pressure, but rather second thoughts from the board itself. "Board members said ... 'Are we sure we should move forward with our decision without engaging the opinions of the community?'" Walker says. CCC hired an architect and building consultant to evaluate the current state of the building, which most recently housed the On The Green restaurant. See CHANGE/ Page 10