Please attend hearing
To the Editor:

To The Residents of Westminster:

Please mark your calendars for Monday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. Important articles for the upcoming special town meeting in November are going to be discussed at this Planning Board public hearing. These hearings will be held at the Westminster Elementary School gym. The voting on these proposed changes, whether in favor or against, will make a statement as to what the residents/taxpayers of the Town of Westminster want for the future. We are fortunate to have a town planner who is working with the planning board, Open Space Committee and the Industrial Development Commission to make recommendations to the residents and taxpayers about voting to protect certain parcels and allow others to be built upon. However, it is up to you to decide if and when rezoning is appropriate.

These hearings are an opportunity for townspeople to ask questions, interpret the answers and form your own opinions.

After the public hearing this Monday, the voters at the town meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14 will be asked to decide the following:

 Whether to allow land with homes along Route 140 to be rezoned from residential to commercial. Do the current residents of those houses want this?

 Whether to allow commercial development with no building size restrictions in parcels zoned C-1. Right now we do not allow commercial buildings larger than 25,000 square feet in town. This proposed zoning change is a serious matter because it would allow a large retailer, such as Home Depot (requiring 130,000 square feet), to move into our commercially zoned areas. Such a proposal is on the table right now. If this zoning change were passed, where else would buildings of this size be allowed?

 Whether to support the GROSC (golf/residential open space community) bylaw. This is another important issue before the Planning Board. What is best for the town and the environment - to allow a golf course residential community with condos by special permit as an alternative to the conventional or single-family cluster development allowable under current zoning?

Because of the above proposals Westminster is at a crossroads. I'm asking you to come to the public hearing on Monday, Oct. 23, so you may have a voice on the possible changing face of Westminster. Silence is acceptance!

Sincerely, Donna Brownell WEST (Watchdogs for an Environmentally Safe Town)