To the Editor:

A year has passed since Stewart’s Shops submitted its last request to the village of Altamont for a rezoning. Since that time, despite the concerns raised by hundreds of Altamont residents, virtually nothing has changed from Stewart’s original proposal.

It still calls for tearing down both the existing store and the neighboring house, building a mega-sized convenience store with faux architectural elements, and encroaching into a residential neighborhood. Stewart’s has refused to budge on the placement of the new building, only a stone’s throw from an adjacent residential property, which requires a variance from the 50-foot buffer required under the village’s zoning code.

However, there's another thing that hasn’t changed: Stewart’s is still a thriving business serving the needs of both the Altamont community and people driving through. Over the past year, the Altamont Stewart’s shop has won countless regional ice-cream-sundae sales contests, leading this writer to wonder how come everyone around here still looks so skinny.

To my knowledge, there have been no vehicle collisions at the Stewart’s shop, either in the parking lot or at the five-way intersection. In other words, our little Stewart’s in Altamont is doing fine just the way it is.

Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time observing the Altamont Stewart’s and pondering how the proposed expansion would change things. I’ve noticed, for instance, how the cozy atmosphere at our Stewart’s fosters friendliness as soon as you walk through the door

The lofty and oversized Stewart’s at the corner of routes 146 and 20 does the opposite — no matter how friendly the staff are, the whole place feels sterile and I’ve rarely had any interactions with other customers there. It also doesn’t seem to offer much more for sale than our existing Stewart’s, despite the greater square footage.

I’ve also noticed how loud the refrigeration units behind the building are — units that will be about 20 feet from the side of Carol Rothenberg’s house under Stewart’s proposed site plan. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the rear end of a store positioned along my side property line, instead of the side of a house that has been there for over a hundred years.

I’ve also tried to imagine how it will feel coming out of a funeral service and facing the picnic tables that Stewart’s plans to site directly across from the Fredendall Funeral Home’s entrance and porch.

Lastly, I’ve observed how the architectural design that Stewart’s is proposing does not match the character of Altamont’s historical downtown at all. According to Stewart’s Chuck Marshall, the fake cupolas and partial wrap-around porch were designed to mirror the Altamont Corners mini-mall across the street, not the historic streetscape.

To make way for a larger building, Stewart’s proposes to demolish a hundred-year-old house, tear down trees, add a sea of asphalt pavement, and install a perimeter of bright lighting. Whether you are a fan of the new design or not, a few fake cupolas won’t make up for the fact that the proposed building and site plan are completely out of scale for our village.

It’s unfortunate that the Stewart’s expansion proposal has taken up so much time and financial resources of this community. It seems that fear has been a major factor driving the debate.

Many residents have expressed fear that, if the village doesn’t grant the Stewart’s request, the company will close its doors and leave town. Yet Stewart’s has never said that this is a risk, and the Altamont store’s obvious success over the past year, as evidenced by its stellar performance in regional sales contests, should put these fears to rest for once and for all.

Stewart’s is part of the fabric of our community, and is here to stay, but Stewart’s is only one piece. Rather than continue to expend resources on a proposal that many village residents oppose, a better focus for our village board and volunteer leaders would be to host a community-wide dialogue engaging all members of our community on how we can revitalize our downtown and support all of our local businesses.

Laura Haight

Altamont

Editor’s note: Laura Haight is a member of the Concerned Severson Neighbors.