WILMINGTON- Copies of a petition asking the town of Wilmington to remove a controversial structure from the downtown Bank Park are disappearing, and Kelly Kahler, one of the petition organizers, is blaming The Deerfield Valley News.

Kahler says an editorial in The Deerfield Valley News, as well as an April Fool’s Day issue spoof on the controversy, created an atmosphere of disrespect for the democratic process. “I think the publication of that kind of thing opens the door to what has been happening,” Kahler said. “People read and take their cues from those kinds of things. And petitions are a huge part of our democratic process.”

Regardless of the paper’s editorial stance on the pergola, Kahler says The Deerfield Valley News should support the right of voters to petition their government. “I would like to see the paper do a little turnaround on petitions, and support them a little more overtly,” he says. “There were ways to make the same point that would have been more responsible, and without berating the petition or the people connected with it.”

Since an article on the petition, the editorial, and the spoof have appeared on the pages of the paper, Kahler says several petitions have been removed from businesses by business owners, and at least one full sheet of signatures has disappeared from the counter at one business, as well as a sheet at another location.

Kahler says architect Joseph Cincotta, designer of the park and its wooden pergola structure, called businesses listed in the article as places where the public could read and sign the petition asking them to remove the document. Several of the businesses did remove the petition, and some of those petitions have also disappeared. Kahler says the disappearing petitions won’t stop the process, but they are holding things up. “Every time one of the signed sheets goes missing, I feel like the people who signed should have another chance to sign,” he said. “In one case, at least 20 people who thought they were participating in a form of democracy had the rug pulled out from under them.”

Others have accused Cincotta of intimidating business owners. Business owners who spoke on condition of anonymity verified that they had been contacted by Cincotta, but none agreed that they had been intimidated. One business owner said Cincotta indicated he wouldn’t be comfortable doing business at a place that supported the petition, but the same business owner said Kahler also called with his concerns. “I can see both sides of the issue, but we didn’t want to be in the middle of it,” said the business owner.

Cincotta says he did contact businesses regarding the petition, but he says his intention wasn’t to intimidate anyone. One of the business owners, Cincotta noted, wasn’t even aware that the petition was on the store counter. “They said it’s their policy not to host petitions because they don’t like to be embroiled in local controversies,” he said. “And they’re a business that has donated materials to the project.”

Kahler says he doesn’t want the controversy over the petition to overshadow the issue he wants the town to discuss. The petition asks the town to remove the pergola, and place it at a location outside Wilmington’s design control district. Kahler says the process of approval for the park was flawed, and the petition is the only way to rectify the situation. “The question is, ‘does that pergola belong where it is?’” Kahler says. “If not, then does the town truly want something that has its basis in consensus?

Kahler has circulated retouched photos showing a comparison between the current park, with the pergola, and what the park would look like with the existing landscaping and stonework, but without the pergola.

It may not be as simple as just removing the structure, however.

Cincotta says the pergola is an integral part of the engineered system that allowed the use of the existing foundation wall. The use of the existing wall was the most significant factor in reducing the cost of the project. “The original strategy was to tear down the (existing) stone wall and put up a concrete wall,” said Cincotta. “But I asked ‘why tear down that beautiful stone wall and replace it with concrete?’”

Cincotta proposed keeping the circa 1800s stone wall, but to strengthen it by replicating the weight of the original bank building bearing down on it. The change in design shaved the cost for the park down to a fraction of the original estimates.

At Town Meeting in 2007, voters approved $65,000 just for lot stabilization and other preliminary work on the park.

With the changes that include the pergola, the entire park has been completed for under $75,000.

But Kahler and other opponents of the pergola say its design doesn’t fit well with a traditional New England village, and it isn’t supported by the design control regulations for the village. The pergola did receive a permit that included a design control review, but the original specifications called for square or round posts – not the “tree posts” that some have criticized.

Kahler notes that the petition isn’t binding, and is intended to foster a discussion and a solution. While one solution for Kahler might be to move the pergola, another might be to alter the design. If not, he says, “If people aren’t willing to make changes, then this thing should go,” he says. “It doesn’t conform to spirit of the town’s historical district.”