Dear editor,
Forty-seven years ago, my family and I moved from Colborn to Garfield Street. At that time, there were only a few buildings north of us — the nursing home built by Jim Lewis, the Nazarene Church, and Larry Ryherd’s home.
There were no other buildings or houses beyond the nursing home. Not too long after we moved there, efforts began to attract new industries to town and Willard Hoard began building affordable homes to meet the demand.
Mr. Hoard went to the planning commission and asked if he could build homes in the cul-de-sac area north of the nursing home. The commission gave him permission to build, without a second exit point. Later, an emergency egress was added across to the cemetery, which is not the best answer. (As an aside, Iola has allowed developers/builders to build homes other times without another egress point.)
