To the editor:
I support Egremont voters approving the Community Preservation Act (CPA). Unfortunately, Ms. Allen’s recent letter contains a number of half truths and inaccuracies. First, she asserts that the recently approved zoning bylaw is “unfriendly to housing,” a simple falsehood. In fact, Phase Two of the new zoning bylaw, currently under review in the Planning Board and forthcoming to Town Meeting, will significantly advance housing opportunities in Egremont. In her view, apparently zoning itself is unfriendly as it limits individuals’ ability to do whatever they like with their property, a libertarian canard. Her inability to envision a future for housing in Egremont reflects her own shortsightedness only. She fails to specify any of the other supposed “many deficiencies” of the CPA.
More disturbing, however, is her scare tactic in raising the specter of taxing the less-well-off to pay for the CPA. As any reader of the text of the CPA can see, it barely affects the tax burdens of the wealthy, minimally affects the tax burdens of the middle class, and contains several exemptions for those with limited incomes.
Finally, Ms. Allen fails to note the provisions of the CPA that provide support for land conservation and farmland preservation.
I urge Egremonters to once again support the CPA, as we overwhelmingly did at Town Meeting last year.
David Seligman
Egremont
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