Affordable Housing Facts
The bulletin board discussion on the affordable
housing plans at Holly Green needs some facts presented to balance supposition
and conjecture recently expressed.
Our town needs a planned affordable housing development for several reasons.
First, North Stonington needs 10% of their units "affordable" to
meet state laws. We have less than 1%. This means any developer can force
a development on us unless we can prove court supported health or safety
reasons. It was primarily the economy which thankfully stopped the massive
Garden Court development off Boombridge Rd. last year.
Second: Understand the difference between "affordable" and "low
income". To qualify a person must be 80% of the area's mean income of
$70,000 per person. Approximately $54,000 would qualify a person here in
town. That includes any of our young teachers, municipal employees, as well
as many retired folks and young married couples. This is NOT low income housing.
Third: Our resident State Troopers provide a massive support to our town.
As our selectmen have debated the reduction of a half time or full trooper
position to reduce taxes, the facts collected have shown a significant increases
in traffic concerns (drunk driving, speeding, accidents), breaking & entering,
domestic responses, and larceny. Last year alone a dozen homes were broken
into in town within a two week period. Our resident troopers caught the men
and stopped further thefts.
Third: Wind or solar alternatives on the site? The only researched area in
all of North Stonington having sufficient wind to warrant wind turbines is
the area being considered on Wintechog Hill. Solar panels have been installed
on our Public Works facility and are to be installed on the Old Town Hall
this year. We expect upwards of 85% of our energy in those facilities to
be generated by solar. To install solar panels across the Holly Green landscape
would, in this writers opinion, be an unsightly, expensive, and waste of
an otherwise potentially attractive area of town. Besides, the town doesn't
own the property.
Fourth, school population: Although our schools desperately need new heating
and cooling systems the slow decrease in enrollments have added per pupil
costs. The cost would remain largely the same for heat, insurance, administrative
expenses, and up to a point, teacher salaries, as the class size can increase
to accommodate a larger number of students without detracting from educational
excellence.
Fifth, fire protection: We have just purchased a new Engine #1 to be in service
for likely the next 20 years. Our excellent volunteer fire department has
recommended a refurbishing of the next fire engine rather than replacing
it, saving the tax payers tens of thousands of dollars. We are fully capable
of providing fire response to this close by housing project which would not
have been the case had the Boombridge Rd affordable housing project, a great
distance from our fire station, been forced upon us.
Lastly, ambulance response. Our town purchased a new state of the art ambulance
two years ago. The "backup" ambulance is repaired and sits in reserve.
Presently, with some notable exceptions, the response time is told to us
to be 8 minutes in town. The problem is not the equipment, it's finding sufficient
personnel to staff our facility.
Although it's important for all our views to be shared on topics in town,
attending a few Board of Selectman and Planning & Zoning meetings would
allow more accurate information for views to be presented.
I fully support the development for Holly Green and believe it will offer
housing for our residents that is affordable, as well as keeping the wolf
from our door of a massive housing complex.
~Bill Ricker (One Man's Opinion)
Posted 9 March 2010
WILL WORK FOR FOOD
Have you noticed a man with a “Will Work for Food” sign down at the Rt 95 intersection with Rt 2? He has been accepting money donations from people in cars who are stopped by the red light.
This man has also been “working” the entrance to the Groton Wal-Mart on Rt 184 holding a “Homeless, Need Work” sign. When he is not there, a woman of about the same age takes his place.
I relate this to you because I offered this man work and transportation
one day last spring.
He accepted my offer of work and transportation, so I got the man’s name
and made arrangements to pick him up right there at a time of his choosing.
I set my alarm the next morning [something I don’t like to do] so we could have a full day’s work for the trouble of driving to and from Groton twice. I hurried with my coffee [another thing I am loathe to do] so I would be on time, and drove to Groton to pick him up.
I arrived five minutes early and settled in to wait. And wait, I did. I waited for 45 minutes. Well, if you are truly homeless, you might not have an alarm clock on your wrist or in your pocket. Finally, I gave up and went home disappointed and a bit angry that I had wasted my time and gasoline.
The same man was walking through the Stop and Shop parking lot about a week later. I was just shutting my car door as he sauntered near. I called out to him by name, and although it took him a moment, he recognized my car and perhaps me. He made no excuses and didn’t even seem all that embarrassed for standing me up while still asking others for handouts.
So, form your own opinion about this man.
I have formed mine, and it makes me feel bad because I believe this kind of behavior makes it harder for those who are desperate and truly need help. Most of us want to help those in need, but I don’t think there are many of us who want to be taken.
H.L. Chris Chrissos
Posted 7 March 2010
Sad when the first response to my initial idea is "here is why it does not work" from Mr. Lennon.
I have no idea where the eminent domain comment came from, I do not support any Gov. activity taking someone else's land for any reason, just not American to do that if you ask me. The land in question is up for sale by an owner, of which said land would be paid for, fair and square. Having said that we can now remove the off the mark comment of eminent domain.
Mr. Lennon must not realize what would happen after the town allows 450+ people to move in to our town, he/she must not realize that all of our taxes will INCREASE due to the population increase and the increase in demand for public services.
The town already expends over 360 thousand dollars to have three (3) resident troopers that provide hardly any service to our town and the town receives ABSOLUTELY NONE of the revenue generated by their citations that are written within the town lines.
Town hall will see a vast increase in administrative burdens supporting the increased people, the village will lose (which it is now close to happening) it's rural feel as the increased traffic becomes more apparent.
The three troopers will want ask for a more robust gestapo presence, the fire department might need an additional truck, the ambulance service will ask for an additional truck as well.
The school budget will increase as the population increases, all this for
a couple hundred grand increase in town revenue. Please remember that development
only lines the pocket of the developer and only increases the residents taxes.
As for the "working class farm town" with property values overinflated,
I agree, however, we have no control over the amount of greed that humans
display, the only reason the prices are so high is due to a few upper class
citizens setting the prices at an overinflated price. I do not see how this
is relevant to my original post. To close this out I AGREE the housing and
land prices in North Stonington are hugely OVERINFLATED.
"Young people cannot afford to live in town.” I'm 35 now, when I was 18, 19, 20 etc. do you think that a 200-grand house was in the cards? NO. Of course not, I was starting out, starting out most jobs do not pay 80 grand a year most not even 60, thus, I rented, I lived at home and paid rent for both. When I moved up in my career I received more pay, I saved more and thus allowed me to move into my own place, I do not know what your definition of young is however, should a 20 something be entitled to a 3000 square foot home on a 2 acre site? I don't know the answer to that but somehow it does not fit. I see for rent signs all over North Stonington, do we need to build an entire community of apartments so that all of the young people can move out of their parents and move into an apartment 3 miles away?
If the average income of North Stonington is 90 grand a year than so be it, the community as a whole has worked hard to build their wealth as have I and expect NO ONE to give us anything.
"Senior citizens to downsize to" I'm not certain that I understand that comment, most of the older folks I know DO NOT WANT to leave their homes, they have resided their most if not all of their lives and would like to stay, having said that the overinflated prices of housing and land work against those senior citizens on a fixed income, if that is an issue then we as a community should get together and address the issue and provide some relief to those who require it by lowering their property taxes or having some means of supplementing their income. So the real question is, as a whole, does the community of North Stonington have a senior citizen population that warrants some building for them, if we have 2000 residents and 30 are senior citizens does it make sense to construct a 30 thousand square foot building for them? Please do not forget that their are VFW's, American Legions, Elks, Rotary clubs etc. that are well used by our senior citizen population.
I whole heartily agree we need a farmers market, how about we take down the eyesore next to our porn purveyor, the closed down pink building, and install a farmers market, should not be hard I would think seeing how we, as a community, want to do this.
Lets get a vote see how the town feels and move forward with the farmers market, I for one would love to be able to go in there get my milk from a local source as well as my veggies etc. you have to remember that in winter this would get a lot less use.
In closing Mr. Lennon I have to reject your notion of 400 ft wind turbines on Holly Green that will not work due to no wind there, that comment only shows your neophyte knowledge with respect to wind turbines, if you have the opportunity to travel outside of North Stonington please take a trip up to RI and you will see the Automotive Tech center on 95 has a wind turbine installed and it operates just fine.
I'm certain that if you were to cut or possibly lower your electric bill by 3/4 due to the "non-rotating, 400 ft turbine farm on holly green" you would change your opinion.
I really dislike what I will say but it must be said, at least with respect to your "Imagine ruining one of our few commercial areas with such an inappropriate use. Tom's idea is hard to imagine."
Ruining this area will be caused by the greed and development of some developer, not by installing an solar panel array or wind turbines to get us off of CL&P's overinflated prices.
Thank you for your time.
Tom Jefferson
Posted 15 February 2010
Interesting idea Tom, and here's why it doesn't work:
Tom states: "Imagine if we as a community got our act together and took that land (next to Holly Green proposed for affordable housing) installed solar panels and wind turbines on it".
Imagine anyone in this town supporting taking a private citizen's land by eminent domain! Imagine 400 foot wind turbines at Holly Green (which wouldn't move since it is not on the top a hill and has no usable wind). Imagine ruining one of our few commercial areas with such an inappropriate use. Tom's idea is hard to imagine.
Instead imagine a working class farm town where the land for single family homes has gotten so expensive, young people can't afford to live in the town where they grew up. Imagine a town where there is no place senior citizens can downsize to. Imagine a farm town without a farmers market. Sounds like North Stonington, doesn't it?
Thank you,
J. Lennon
Posted 14 February 2010
With all of the up-roar and commotion with these developers concerning affordable housing here in North Stonington and Mystic I would like to present a plan.
For the property that sits next to the old Boondocks store, instead of housing and all that jazz how about we as a community come together and develop a plan to put in either or both solar panels or wind turbines.
Imagine if we as a community got our act together and took that land installed solar panels and wind turbines on it then hooked that power into our community, for our own power, thus getting all of us off of CL&P.
We could even create some permanent jobs, I imagine that some days the power being generated might now be enough, so we tap into CL&P to fulfill the needs, we would need someone to monitor and "flip the switch" as it were perhaps four (4) people full time, three shifts with a standby.
People are already doing this on their own property with solar panels. It must be a liberating experience to know that you do not have to worry about having that darn CL&P bill show up anymore, especially when you use 100 dollars of electricity and pay 150 dollars in distribution charges.
This is not the ultimate plan just an idea.
Think of it, we, as a community eliminate the whole issue of "affordable housing", and B.S. development of our community by predatory developers that only wish to line their pockets with more money and more greed by doing this.
We also take charge of our electric and get away from the overpriced B.S. that comes with CL&P. I think also once word gets out that we have this opportunity people will want to move here thus increasing the tax base and filling up the unused housing we have in the area.
So, how to pay for this, I'm no expert however, I'm sure there is a price, call it X, once we know that we can then take a look at the tax base and if needed perhaps collect a once or twice tax from us residents as well as grants and funds from the state and federal governments. This is not that hard.
Also the bill that will come from when we do use CL&P could be paid for by a separate bill divided up between all of us, i.e. CL&P bills Town Hall for 500 dollars, we then take that 500 dollars divide that up between the resident taxpayers and pay the bill, we have no major factories that will consume mass amounts of electricity so I don't think that is a concern.
In closing this is an idea that could work and benefit us all in so many
ways.
I just cannot grasp the idea that people still want to waste land and resources
they way these developers do, remember they are just greedy investors they
do not want to "help us" trust me, the only thing that comes from
the types of developments these guys create is problems, congestion, more
taxes, more crime, and ever more greed.
I would hope that someone would read this idea and expound on it and start pressing Town Hall to come up with some better ways to use our land than by putting up unneeded buildings.
Thank you.
Tom Jefferson
Posted 19 January 2010