To the Editor,
I attended the Manchester’s Planning Board Public Hearing on MBTA Multi-Family Zoning As-of-Right Hearing this past Monday and found it to be somewhat informative. I just couldn’t help but think of Vizzini in the Princess Bride movie when I saw and listened to the town’s planner. I also immediately pictured innocent, gullible smiling Opie from the Andy Griffith Show & Mayberry when I listened to, I guess, the town’s manager and supposed grant “expert.” Anyway, enough nostalgia. At the hearing it became obvious that the Planning Board, Finance Committee and Select Board had spent some time and effort in putting forth their plans to meet the 3A requirements being voted on at the upcoming Town Meeting (11/18/2024). At the hearing, there was Town Counsel and Consultant Emily Innes to try and address the residents’ legal questions. However, apparently some citizens still had serious concerns about street parking, traffic issues, whether existing zoning restrictions in the designated zones would hold up to requested waivers, the financial loss or gain of the future possible but not guaranteed grants, and the actual projected analysis of the cost of 3A. I am not really sure that these concerns were adequately addressed especially when considering the upcoming court’s legal decisions on the Milton case and other related suits. In addition, the Financial Committee did an exhaustive and tedious analysis on the projected costs, benefits and negatives of accepting 3A. It must have taken a great deal of time and effort. Nevertheless, they used the town’s past historic growth pattern as a basis for their calculations. In my very humble opinion, I believe that premise was simply wrong. It is well known that the State is applying a great deal of immediate pressure to all of the 177 MBTA communities to build now. This is obviously on display from all the threats coming from the Governor and Attorney General. The State suing Milton for simply voting against the State’s wishes is even more evidence that the State is going to try to force this building frenzy on all of us whether it is wanted or not. If this pressure is effective, Manchester will be seeing a much rapider increase in family friendly housing units than the Finance Committee could ever even imagine.
On a somewhat different thought, I keep hearing about so many grants being promised to so many towns if they accept 3A. I even heard of some towns getting grant approvals without even submitting the required paperwork. I don’t know if this is true but since I have heard this from a few separate sources, I believe it may be worthy of investigation by a fearless and dedicated news reporter. In any case, where is the State getting all of this money to be offering these numerous and grand grants? If I am not mistaken, I read an older news article stating that the State is approximately $1.5 billion in the red that they are admitting to. I asked Emily Innes, the Consultant at the meeting, how is the state able to offer these grants when they have such a difficult financial situation. She said that no one has asked her that question yet.
Although there were other questions that probably needed addressing, the controlling of these proposed zones is a very important issue. Do you want your local elected Zoning Board or some State bureaucrats in charge? That is the question. Most of the Planning Board believe that the existing zoning requirements and site reviews of some type will be enough to maintain some control by Manchester. However, once a zone is provided & accepted, the State can arbitrarily change the zoning requirements without authorization from Manchester. If Manchester fails to meet the new requirements, they would fall out of compliance. Once out of compliance, the town would be subject to law suits from the State, contractors and developers.
In conclusion, it is obvious that Manchester’s government worked on this issue and the residents should recognize and appreciate their efforts. However, again in my very humble opinion, there are some very serious questions that have still not been addressed adequately and the legal issues surrounding 3A should be settled before any town fully accepts this disputed and controversial “law”.
John T. Kolackovsky
Rockport
