By Dave Thorson, Stevensville
I have a lot of concerns and unanswered questions about this project.
This biggest concern is the high water table on the building site. My property borders the project and I don’t want to have to worry more about crawl space water because of the increase in the large footprint of the buildings and paved parking areas reducing absorption area.
The Human Resource Council representative says this is not subsidized housing. Really? Where does all the grant money come from? That’s right, the taxpayers.
Who’s going to make up the 10% loss of value in the neighborhood properties because of this development? Several studies have shown that when a development of this type goes in it affects property values in negative way.
The developers say this is a tax credit project. For who and for how long?
Will there be an onsite manager? Who’s responsible to keep the grounds from becoming a storage yard for non functioning vehicles and accumulating junk?
Since there will be housing available for victims of domestic violence, how much additional law enforcement presence will be required? Domestic violence victims usually have continued problems with the instigator, requiring police intervention. I speak from experience as a former law enforcement officer.
Most of these questions could have been addressed at the “comment meeting,” but the Mayor said, “no questions, just comments.” We could question Jim Morton, the representative from the HRC, after the comment portion was concluded, which meant the questions and answers would be not recorded for public record. It may be noted that only one person commented in favor of the project.
Some of the interactions with Mr. Morton became rather “animated.” What I took away from the questions asked and answered was, to paraphrase Mr. Morton – it’s our property and we can do what we want with it. They appear to have no interest in the desires or concerns of the local area residents affected by this project.
As a resident and taxpayer I’m very concerned that our elected town officials spend more time fighting among themselves than they do tending to business that directly affects their constituents.