Guest Column: Focus on town budget, not code review

Written by Maureen Maguire
Thursday, 12 August 2010 00:00

I have been reading the ongoing development of the Land Use Task Force with experience and great concern. I have been a member of the Planning Board for the last six years, have degrees in resource economics, wrote my thesis on water distribution systems, and have worked on economic development projects in small towns in California.

Land use has come a long way in the last 20 years, perhaps with the greatest strides most recently. Previous land using thinking was that there was a significant tradeoff between environmental protection and property rights. As expected, there was a great divide with environmentalists on one side and developers on the other. However, most people — and it is true in our town as well — fall somewhere in the middle. We like having open space as proven by the bond initiative overwhelmingly passed in 2001 and the high use of passive recreation. But we also like having the freedom to do what we want with our property. The good news is that we can do both — but it comes with a price. The price, of course, is that it does not come easy, nor does it come in a partisan, one-sided approach.

A successful land use policy must be crafted by a diverse group of environmental scientists, engineers, biologists, planners and lawyers. It is because land use policy needs these perspectives since questions arise regarding transportation, wetlands, stormwater, regulation, and enforcement, to name a few. Optimally, the participants should have good credentials, be non-partisan, have a good working knowledge of the town and come from both sides of the environmentalist/developer aisle. We all know of instances where land use planning has gone awry. The downfalls are traffic bottlenecks in the morning commute intersection of routes 121 and 35, contaminated water supplies as in The Meadows, expensive lawsuits, and eventually higher taxes to pay to clean up these mistakes.

My concern with the current land use task force even in its early stage, is that it consists of six — now five — members, three of whom are lawyers and two are engineers. I know most of them and they seem to fit some of the above-mentioned criteria. But as for the bipartisan nature, it seems that four of the original six gave campaign contributions to the Duffy/DeLucia/Kelly campaign. While I applaud the freedom to donate hard-earned money to politicians, the appearance of being a contributor and then appointed to a committee is too close of a “pay-for-play” scenario for my liking. More importantly, the task force is skewed heavily on the developer-friendly side. What happened to the open space advocates? It seems the deck is stacked already before any recommendations have come forth.

Furthermore, where are the wetland scientists? The town of Lewisboro is unique. That is the reason most of us live here. We have seven freshwater lakes. No other surrounding town boasts this attribute. In fact, some of our residents derive their drinking water from a lake. The rest of us rely on our own wells. When the quality of these wells is compromised, our property values will plummet like a rock — there will be no surer way to guarantee a stagnant home market.

Perhaps of equal concern is the cost of the review. While the town is trying desperately to plug its gaping $500,000 deficit, why are we spending precious money and time with this review now? The chair of the task force, Ed Delaney, has asked the town to provide copies of all town codes and written procedures. Why, when the town has been trying to cut back on staffing are we now asking more of already time-stressed employees? This makes no sense to me. Proponents may say that in the long run, we will be saving homeowners time and money. Yet in the same breath, they talk about establishing costly town wetland maps and opening large swaths of Lewisboro wetlands for development, thereby exposing the town to lawsuits, and more importantly, the long-term costs of a degraded water supply.

Overall, I endorse the review of the Town Code. It is good to take a hard look at the changes that have come about over time and whether or not our laws still make good sense. We should take an inclusive approach that incorporates all perspectives and disciplines. But now is not the time to spend money; now is the time to think creatively about the huge deficit that we will all have to pay for.

Ms. Maguire is a member of the town’s Planning Board.