About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest road map to how we got here: America in the 21st century.
There are two basic things to remember about development.
- It is not going away. As long as there is land, there will be someone who wishes to develop it.
- The core issue will always be the same: density versus profitability.
What number of houses or hotel rooms or shops in a mall will generate sufficient profit to justify sticking the shovel in the ground vs. what is acceptable density? That is the battleground; that is the point of negotiation.
For the developer there is upfront investment and risk. The developer wants to know: what is the minimum density necessary for acceptable profits? What level of density is a profit bonanza? Once he has his numbers, his strategy is to ask for the second and appear to compromise with the first.
This is not emotional for the developer. It is about the bottom line. He looks for a tract large enough for development. If he cannot get what he wants on one tract, he will move on and find another. This is business, not personal; usually he is coming into the community from outside; this is not his home.
While profit is the core motive, there are corollaries and the developer may stress them. Building will create jobs, housing, and fatten the tax base. Now the next thing the developer may ask for is a tax break, the construction jobs are temporary, ongoing jobs are minimum wage, and the housing may be too expensive for locals. Nonetheless, the points are not untrue.
For you the resident, this is personal, not business; it is your home. On that tract next door to you, what level of density can you tolerate? If that can be negotiated; swell. If it cannot, what is the process and what are your protections — what are your choices?
If you want maximum control over what happens on a piece of land, buy it. No joke. Not everyone can afford that option, but there is more than one way to do it.
When they can afford it, people buy contiguous land to protect view shed, watershed, greenway, setbacks and privacy. When there is a tract large enough to attract developers, neighbors can come together to buy it. Also there are nonprofits organized to buy and hold land.
The American land trust movement began in 1967, but inspiration goes back to Teddy Roosevelt and his national parks movement early in the 20th century.
There is more than one land trust in Berkshire County. The common mission of any land trust is to purchase to preserve; purchase to control and shape growth.
Originally, the Stockbridge Land Trust formed to address the issue of affordable housing. Second-home buyers bring money into the area. Their buying power outstrips local earning power. They create, therefore, a false economy and, while they contribute to the local economy, their ability to pay higher prices can put the price of land, and therefore housing, out of the reach of the local citizens.
As Stockbridge Land Trust developed, it found a second objective, that of conserving land and creating greenways. The second objective was actually at war with the first: the conservation of land, just as the influx of outlanders, forced up the price of remaining land.
Berkshire Community Trust tried to blend the two objectives. It bought and built on three tracts. On the first, there were 18 housing units on 21 acres with 16 acres of conserved land. On the second parcel, there were four houses on 10 acres, and six acres conserved. The third backed to the Housatonic River. On it, the Trust cleared and groomed the land for access to the river and the only building was its office. It were willing, as a nonprofit, to build less. A commercial developer realizes maximum profit is dependent upon maximum development. Still, a nonprofit must acknowledge economic reality and plan projects that are economically sound. It, too, identify its greatest problem as the escalating cost of land. It, too, faces a “Catch 22” — as it conserves land, the amount of available housing is limited and the price of the remaining land goes up.
The Berkshire Natural Resources Council has a single goal: “To protect and preserve the natural beauty and ecological integrity of the Berkshires for public benefit and enjoyment.” Simply put, the Council is “the land keepers.”
Supporting any one of these organizations is participating in the first choice: buying to control growth.
What protections or tools are there to bring to negotiation when you do not own the land? There are laws and regulations. There are conservation restrictions, zoning restrictions, the Scenic Mountain Act, the Wetlands Protection Act, the Lenox Estate Preservation Act and the Stockbridge Great Estate Overlay (and its incarnations).
Each are overseen by different boards and heard in sequence. The boards are strictly limited in what they can do. What they cannot do is overreach. There are always permitted uses. If local boards do overreach, the town will find itself in court and, win or lose, it costs a pretty penny to find out.
Development is a dilemma, one we face now and will face again. There will always be greedy developers who want the maximum and stubborn neighbors who want zero development.
There will always be something in between. We need to be strategic, savvy and calm. How we work it out now will shape our towns; it will also discourage the overzealous developers or open the flood gates.
