Protest: July 2, 6pm city hall
Water concerns, new housing development meeting JULY 2nd:
(Taken from a neighbor elsewhere)
Manchester Water Works has decided to raise money for the City of Manchester by selling land that it bought to protect Lake Massabesic, which provides drinking water for more than 100,000 people. It wants to sell the land to a developer who will construct a 34 home subdivision of expensive homes –Overlook Estates-- that almost no one can afford.
I am an abutter of Overlook States, but my resistance to this project is about far more than NIMBY, although that is probably why the Planning Board will tend to dismiss my concerns. My concern, to put it in brief, is the threat Overlook Estates poses to all of our drinking water, and also to the precedent it sets. Simply to make money, the City of Manchester is selling land from the Lake Massabesic overlay district that it established in 2006 to protect the Lake. Thus, the City of Manchester is raising cash by selling part of the buffer that it set to protect our drinking water. And this is not just any land but land containing a wetlands and a stream, Bald Hill Brook, that flows directly into the Lake. At the zoning board hearing, Patrick Seekamp of Seekamp Environmental Consulting (retained by one of the abutters) testified that “all tributary streams [to the Lake] are incredibly important” and he concluded “this represents a fairly important property with respect to surface water quality flowing into the reservoir. One of the mandates of the Watershed Management Plan that was done for the City [2016] in congruency with DES is to prioritize acquisition of properties within the watershed. Again, this is a property that does not need to be purchased and one that the City currently controls.” He could have added that for the City to sell such watershed property as a fund raiser is an outrage that must be stopped.
Again, at the Zoning Board, an email from the DPW as reviewed, stated in part:
“The reasonableness of …the general management of stormwater, and high erosion potential associated with substantial earthwork. In addition, based on the proposed roadway grade and alignment, the proposed road would likely require heavy salt loading to keep it safe and traversable during winter. Given the Board’s oversight of the Lake Massabesic Protection Overlay District …it may be prudent to consider these concerns prior to taking any action…”
The only testimony as to the safety of the project to our drinking water was the say-so of Water Works Director Philip Croasdale (who has no engineering degree and has a CPA). No expert analysis was presented.
Yet the zoning board voted approval with one member opposed.
The Planning Board has met once on this proposal but given the voluminous objections it made no decision and has called a second meeting on July 2 at 6. Given this delay and given that the Board’s Chair indicated that he saw problems with the proposal, I do not believe that “the train has already left the station,” although a zoning board member made such a statement.
Public Comments are allowed and encouraged. COME TO MANCHESTER CITY HALL TO PROTEST, JULY 2, AT 6 PM.