Everyone turned.
“I didn’t.”
Vanessa looked at me.
I continued.
“I was planning to move it.”
People murmured.
I handed Martin a copy of the alternate engineering drawing.
He placed it beneath the document camera.
The alternate plan appeared on the screen.
The date was visible.
Seven months before the trees had been cut.
The shop had been shifted east.
More grading.
Longer utility run.
Tighter circulation.
The western tree line remained almost completely intact.
“I asked my engineer for this because I wanted to preserve the trees my father planted.”
Carol looked at Vanessa.
“So if the trees had stayed…”
I held up one hand.
“I might have built this version.”
Vanessa seized on the word.
“Might.”
“Yes.”
I looked at her.
“I’m not going to exaggerate just because the truth is inconvenient.”
The room quieted.
“I had not made the final decision. The alternate plan cost more and worked worse operationally. But I was considering it because the trees mattered to me.”
I pointed at the original approved plan.
“Once twelve mature pines were removed, there was no reason for me to spend extra money moving a permitted building.”
Martin stared at the two plans.
Then he leaned back.
“So the association spent twelve thousand dollars to remove the screening that hid the commercial property.”
Nobody answered.
“And by doing that,” he continued, “we made the original building cheaper and easier for Jack to construct.”
Still nothing.
Carol spoke quietly.
“We traded trees for steel.”