We haven’t written a blog lately because for the past two months we were preoccupied with preparing for our hearing at the Planning Commission for our conditional use permit and didn’t want to write anything that would give anyone who might object to our project a stick to hit us with. Not to mention we’ve been busy getting out there in the community even more than usual to meet people and gather support. Between the two of us we’ve attended Farm Trails meetings, Tourism Board meetings, Chamber of Commerce events, and many others. We made a lot of connections that will be great to have throughout the development and operation of Reverie so it was time well spent. And it’s just been fun to meet more people who live here.
Ramon and I have both been extremely heartened by the outpouring of goodwill for Reverie from people throughout our little region. And in fact, more than 10 people representing categories that our project fits with (agriculture, tourism, recreation, wineries, and the chamber of commerce) came out to speak on our behalf at 9:30am on a Thursday morning, February 9. Many of them had to take off work to be there and we are both truly grateful for their support.
I was so apprehensive about the outcome that I had a hard time sleeping the night before, of course. We had to sit through several projects that were in front of us on the agenda, and by the time Reverie’s turn came, we were both pretty tense. But the parade of people getting up to speak in our favor cheered me up so much that I wasn’t even that upset when two of our neighbors got up to speak in opposition (well one is actually our neighbor; the other lives in the general vicinity but pretty far away).
The Planning Commission unanimously approved our project, 4 – 0.
But that wasn’t the end of it — we had to wait an additional two weeks to see if anyone appealed the decision to the County Board of Supervisors. We were on pins and needles during that period, as you can imagine. We found out last week that no one appealed, so we are now the proud holders of a conditional use permit for Reverie Retreat.
Phew!
Now comes the hard part, like finalizing the design and budget, getting a bank loan, doing the build-out (and all the permitting that entails), marketing, hiring and training staff, and then actually opening and running the business. And probably a lot more I don’t even know about yet.
We are just getting started.
12 thoughts on “Great News!”
Great news, indeed! Well done! With all the work you’ve put into this, I’m glad to see you finally catch a well-deserved break.
Thank you! It feels great!
Tamara, congratulations to you both. Just reading about all the issues over the past years has been frustrating enough. I can’t imagine how tough it has been your you. Really looking forward to seeing your dream come to life.
Yes we are looking forward it too! You must come visit next time you are in California…
Congratulations!!! What excellent news!! Let the work weekends begin!
Yay for work weekends!
Wow, this is good news for sure – Congratulations!
Ramon tells me that you can relate to the difficulty of the process for sure…
Wonderful!! It pays to be patient. I know that is difficult, but we learn from these lessons. Congratulations and best wishes on your endeavors. Would love to visit sometime, but you are a LONG way from Arkansas!!
I don’t know…probably not *that* far away – it would be so great to meet you in person!
This is fantastic news. Congrats and now the fun begins. Let us know if you need any help or want anything in concrete or blacksmithed.
Thank you!