Once Forest Gone, It’s Gone

Editor: As we gear up for another town meeting, please remember that if Article 62 is approved, nothing about it will ever come back to town meeting. This means the town can do what they want with the possibility to include high-density housing. Sure, they say public input will be heard, but consider the recent experience with the West Chatham roundabouts and I believe we all know how this could turn out.

For those of you that are on the fence about this issue, please realize there are other places in town that town leadership and housing advocates will not even discuss. If the desperation for housing is driving us to bulldoze some of our last remaining forestland, wouldn’t you think that these areas would at least be re-discussed and investigated further? The Eldredge Garage, for example, a large, cleared lot essentially ready for construction and perfectly situated for housing. Do we even hear a word about it? Nah, instead we are asked to approve $1,500,000 for a bathroom there. Why? I agree that now it makes a great meadow conservation area but why didn’t the town investigate or push for housing at the Twinefield? Marconi? The point is that areas suitable for housing come and go and will continue to do so in the future. The forest does not come and go, and “once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

Jason Alten

Chatham

Editor’s note: If Article 62 is approved, any plan for housing on the land would require public hearings and approval by town regulatory boards.