To the editor:
I was dismayed to read that there was a lot of negativity toward adding 10 new affordable houses at last Monday’s Selectboard meeting, expressed both by the neighbors to the project and by the Selectboard members themselves.
The background is that Habitat for Humanity presented their proposal for 30 units at the North Plain Road project at the meeting. The project had originally been planned as 20 units and this number had been presented to the abutting neighbors as part of an outreach effort by Habitat for Humanity back in August. More recently, at the urging of the Planning Board, the designers expanded to 30 units. During the comment period at last Monday’s meeting, the neighbors were upset that they hadn’t been notified of the change through a similar outreach effort, but it was clear that they also simply didn’t like the idea of 30 units.
Note: I am on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund board, which is involved with the North Plain Road project, but in this letter I am only speaking on my own behalf. Most of the discussions and decisions about the North Plain Road project were before my time on the board, but I was present for recent public discussions about the change from 20 to 30 units.
The neighbors are entitled to their views. That is what the open comment period was for. What doesn’t make sense to me is why the Selectboard immediately aligned itself with the abutting neighbors and why several members suggested that they will only support the original 20 unit proposal.
The project with 30 units is within the specified density of the residential zone. It is the same density as the center of Housatonic, which North Plain Road and Main is not particularly far from. The main argument of the neighbors is essentially that their street is currently less dense, and they prefer it that way. Again, this is an understandable view, but why should it sway the Selectboard, who are supposed to represent all of us, not just a specific group of homeowners? How can we solve the affordability crisis if current homeowners have a veto on the number of neighbors they will have? Why do the interests of the current homeowners outweigh the interests of the 10 families who could live there?
If we are going to address issues of affordability in Great Barrington we will need to reorient our thinking. Existing homeowners are not more deserving than future homeowners. Retirees are not more deserving than new families. Homeowners are not more deserving than renters. If you are zoned in a residential area and you don’t own all the land around you, you might end up with some new neighbors. Why not welcome them instead of trying to pull up the ladder?
Joseph Method
Housatonic
