White Paper on Open Space
Preservation (October 2005) When communities take decisive
action to permanently protect open space, there is typically
a positive impact on residential property values and quality
of
life. A town with bountiful and assured open space is vastly
more desirable than one that has been smothered by suburban sprawl.
If you read the local newspapers, there are stories nearly every
week that highlight communities that are out of control
due to over-development and sky-high taxes. For those communities,
it is too late but for Putnam County it is not - if we act today.
This White Paper is designed to be a simplifi ed overview of
some
of the reasons we work to preserve Open Space lands as well
as some of the successful methods of doing so. The Putnam Smart
Growth Alliance, as always, welcomes your comments, questions
and suggestions.
Opinion on Patterson Crossing and The Fairways The other major development discussed
was "Patterson Crossing",
a 439,000 square foot retail shopping center including a Costco
and Lowe’s proposed on Route 311 at exit 18 of Interstate
84 in the Towns of Kent and Patterson. We met on several occasions
with the developer, Paul Camarda, on this proposal as well. Unfortunately,
in its present form, we do not believe that ‘Patterson
Crossing’ is ‘smart growth’ and cannot endorse
it as such.
Senior Housing in the
Town of Southeast Over the past several months a rash of applications in Putnam
County included proposals for senior housing with about a thousand
units currently before boards within the county. These proposals
seem to be the Trojan Horses carrying residential development
past the gates of zoning regulations and building moratoriums.
