Inaccuracies Abound in Keefe’s 22 March LTE

First, let me indicate that I am speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the MBTA Task Force.  This is to correct the misleading statements in Jonathan Keefe's Letter to the Editor in the March 22, 2024 edition of the Cricket.  What the MBTA Task Force has been discussing with Gordon College is a transaction which would involve Gordon College placing under permanent conservation 120+ acres of its land in Manchester in exchange for the Town's rezoning of approximately 7-10 acres of land on which multifamily units could be constructed.

Two Town objectives could be achieved as a result:

• Permanent protection of the Town's water supply at Gravelly Pond
• Creation of multifamily units in the Pine Street area of the Limited Commercial District which would reduce need to to create more density in the downtown area.  In addition, if the Town stipulated that a certain percentage of the units had to be affordable, we could potentially add those units to the Subsidized Housing Inventory "(SHI") maintained by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (formerly the Department of Housing and Community Development).  As many folks in Town know, the Town needs to have 10% of its housing inventory on the SHI to avoid future ill-conceived projects like the Shingle Hill 40B project.

While our discussions with Gordon College are preliminary, the above goals are worth pursuing in my judgment.

Denny Hall

Manchester