To the Editor,
SLV’s application to build a 136-unit apartment complex on Shingle Place Hill originally anticipated on-site sewage treatment. When evidence overwhelmingly indicated that such an approach posed serious threats to Town drinking water quality, the proponent altered the application to use Manchester’s municipal sewage.
Access: the municipal sewage disposal would require pipes under Route 128. Once installed, the Town’s sewage system would be available not just to SLV, but to all the remaining unprotected land on Shingle Place Hill and east of upper School Street.
This land is watershed for the Lincoln Street well. The prospect of even more development has thus raised a special concern. Keeping as much of this watershed as possible in a naturally wooded state is critical to protecting water quality for town residents.
The harmful environmental impacts of land development in watersheds are well known. As forest cover is cleared and land covered with concrete and asphalt, rainfall is less effectively absorbed into groundwater aquifers. Rain water picks up gasoline, motor oil, heavy metals, and other pollutants in runoff from parking lots and roads. This threatens both the quality and quantity of water supplies.
Even without on-site sewage disposal, the SLV project would adversely affect the watershed for the Lincoln Street well. Disturbance of thin soils and bedrock through substantial blasting, removal of acres of trees and extensive regrading are of deep concern.
This is in addition to other harmful environmental and health threats:
Air pollution: The project’s isolation from the town center would require Sanctuary residents to rely heavily on motorized transport. Vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution and its attendant negative impacts on human health. These emissions would impact residents in the village area as well.
Light pollution: Neighboring woodland habitats would suffer, as the project would bring night-time light pollution to an area never-before illuminated. This would not avoid inevitably cause a reduction in biodiversity in adjacent wooded areas. Birds and other woodland animals, most of whom have nocturnal habits, flee brightly lit areas. One of Manchester’s proudest achievements —the large Core Habitat and Critical Natural Landscape areas identified by the Commonwealth’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species in the Manchester-Essex Woods —would almost surely shrink.
Adding to climate change: Then there are the existential threats from a warming climate. Scientists urge us to stop cutting down trees whose stored carbon helps moderate temperature rise. We should take this advice, and find tree-free or less sensitive wooded areas to build on.
Since the late 19th Century public-spirited residents have organized to protect critical environmental resources — we are now doing the same for truly affordable housing. The SLV project would be a major setback to this effort — all for a project that while threatening vital community resources, would fail to meet the community’s real needs.
Sincerely,
Helen D. Bethell
Manchester
