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Message from Jane Aitken, Bedford Activist and founder of bedfordresidents.com.
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This is in response to 3-30-23 editorial "Blocking more affordable housing is a 'moral wrong'," which quotes an official from the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm.
Let me remind Mr. Latona why he is wrong.
What is being pushed is central planning in the form of interference by the state in the business of our towns, as well as the theft of our tax dollars.
Whether your town has zoning or no zoning, you as a resident can vote on it. This type of local control is far better than having 3 people at the state level decide or mandate what towns should allow for housing. While residents can vote for or against zoning, the HAB is a 3-person panel that can override any board and overturn any election, in favor of developers. And that is just what they have been doing.
What most don't understand is, when the government gets involved, it forms dangerous public/private partnerships with wealthy developers, partnerships that really only benefit the latter by awarding them seed money in the form of our tax dollars. They also get 10 years or more of tax-free rent collection! The result is the single-family homeowners end up with higher taxes to make up for it. Even when the projects start paying taxes, they never cover their fair share, according to town officials I’ve queried.
Finally, it is not constitutional for government to manage housing unless you agree with what the Bolsheviks did in 1917 -- they seized single family homes and chopped them up into public units. In states like Oregon and California, single family zoning is being phased out, and outright banned. Our governor is trying to do this incrementally with legislation such as HB 44 (which thankfully failed) and aforementioned illegal regional board such as the HAB.
Tell Sununu to stop the madness and take SB 231 off the table and out of the budget. Stealing from you and I, and destroying NH's advantage in the process, is what is immoral.
Below are links to what has been happening in NH.
Planning/Housing/Development:
Infrastructure/Transportation:
Recreation/Environment:
Planning Events of Interest:
More from Jane:
Latest from the planners plotting newsletter. :) I'll bet you did not know we have an RPC with Canada???
Planning/Housing/Development:
- Northern Border Regional Commission Announces Availability of Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities Grants
- Manchester and Nashua see top ranking for emerging housing markets, report finds
- Dover hires waterfront park contractor for $19.5M: Project expected to begin soon
Infrastructure/Transportation:
- Making Travel More Equitable for People with Disabilities
- At pivotal moment for East-West rail, are there lessons to learn from Downeaster?
- New Hampshire Broadband Mapping Initiative Website and Broadband Dashboard & Web Map Now Available
- Feds open public comment period on Gulf of Maine offshore wind development
Recreation/Environment:
- Climate change is affecting NH’s streams and rivers. Dartmouth researchers are…
More links from bedfordresident.com
Planning/Housing/Development:
-Can land conservation and housing development coexist in the Upper Valley?
- Population Gains Widespread in New Hampshire Counties Due to Migration
- The Role of ADUs in Easing America's Housing Crisis
- Senior Living Operator Harmony Homes Forges Ahead With New Workforce Housing Cottage Concept
- Bedford: Planners urge scaled-back condo plan at Market and Main
- Monadnock Affordable Housing Corp. to begin planning 60 units on former RVCC campus
- NH Housing says state needs more than 23,000 units build to address crisis
- Conway STR enforcement may begin this summer
- Saint Anselm survey reveals strengths, weaknesses of living in New Hampshire, according to young people
- HUD Policy & Practice Brief: Pro-Housing Land Use and Zoning Reforms (April 2023
Infrastructure/Transportation: