Resident against cost and environmental effects of road

To the Editor,

I would like to respond to a recent news article in the Friday, July 27, 2007 edition of the Community Journal titled "Town proposes new access to Crocker." In the article it states, "The Town is working to take the next step in the development of the Crocker Pond Recreation area, which is construction of a new road for the property ... The proposed road, which was engineered under money appropriated in 2005, is before the Commission for review." Did the citizens/residents of Westminster have any idea when we purchased the Crocker Pond area for $1.2 million dollars that, according to my research, we will have to spend probably another million to $2 million to create an additional road that we don't need? The town says they do not know what the gravel road will cost until the Conservation Commission lets the Board of Selectmen know what they want. News articles from 2004 state the Board of Selectmen want to remove gravel from our Crocker Pond Recreation Area which they say would bring the town approximately $375,000 in order to pay for the roadway. What they are not telling you is the hill they propose to remove is a buffer zone from the 25-year mining operation on the other side of the rail road tracks to establish a 350 acre industrial park. You take down this hill and our buffer to 25 years of noise is totally gone.

I will tell you what our Selectmen want to do. They want to fill in 16,000 square feet of wetlands and replicate 25,000 square feet of wetlands to establish more than a mile long gravel road. As an environmentalist, I must tell you the permitting process in of itself will be costly, not to mention the destruction of this amount of wetlands for a road we don't need is unconscionable. The deed states we can pass and repass in perpetuity or forever on the existing roadway.

According to the news article, "The town is deeded the rights to use the bridge in perpetuity but [Selectman Thomas] O'Toole said a 'gentlemen's agreement' was made" that the town would be a second access, which would be used as the main access road ... ." A gentlemen's agreement was made? Westminster is a multi-million dollar business. We are in the 21st century. Maybe a gentlemen's agreement was good 150 years ago, not today. Is this agreement even legal in this day and age? What does our Town Council say about this?

Was it agreed to behind closed doors? Has anyone from the Board of Selectmen walked that area? Seems to me there are more questions than answers.

Crocker Pond is a seasonal recreational area. The entrance is a curved road to a wooden bridge spanning the Whitman River below the dam. It is absolutely beautiful.

If the Selectmen are allowed to go forward with their plan, the entrance to Crocker Pond as we know it now will be closed off and residents will have to travel on a dusty mile long dirt road.

I, as an environmentalist and a taxpayer, cannot condone this outrageous plan. Please contact your Board of Selectmen and let them know what you think at (978) 874-7400.

We voted them in.

Donna M. Brownell WEST (Watchdogs for an Environmentally Safe Town)