Letter To The Editor: No To SLV Development

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To the Editor,

The proposed SLV Development, if allowed by our town officials, would have a dire impact on our town’s fragile infrastructure.  Manchester is a small town with narrow roads already crowded with automobiles, truck and bus traffic.  The addition of 136 apartment units would only increase the congestion and emissions, as well as hamper the movement of emergency service vehicles.

Parking in town is already limited.  Will the town be forced to spend money to build an unsightly multi-level parking garage to accommodate the large, new influx of commuter rail riders and shoppers?  Envision the longer lines in our grocery store, banks and post office.  Our town simply does not have the capacity to handle such a large swell in population.

Realize also that this mammoth construction would be in close proximity to our water supply, posing potential contamination issues.  It would impose an added strain on our water levels in this time of drought and global warming.

Would our current wastewater system accommodate the additional waste from 136 apartments?  How much would it cost the town to extend this service under Route 128 all the way to Shingle Place Hill to satisfy the developer?

Ironically this 136-apartment complex would only produce 35 affordable housing units.  Surely there are saner and more appropriate options to fulfilling our affordable housing requirements. The consequences of this project would be incalculable and irreparable.

If you are opposed to this project, I implore you to voice your protest now, before it

is too late, by emailing the chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the executive assistant to the Select Board, or to the Town Administrator.

Juliet Giannino Chamberlain

Manchester

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