Byron Carr, Contoocook, NH

The Residents of Hopkinton voted 82% in favor of spending up to 5 million dollars on preserving important natural resources in Town. Of that $1.9 million has been approved by the residence of the Town to purchase and preserve open space. That is 19 cents per thousand, or, $48.35 per year, or, 9 cents a week on a $250,000 house. Which equals approximately 1/129th of that house’s tax per year. The citizens also found it extremely important to vote on each parcel with a majority vote. This process works! A purchase can, and has been, voted down.

The misconception that we are buying land to prevent kids from moving into Town is unfortunate. That is certainly not the case. It has been stated that one of the benefits of the land being under conservation easement is that it will have almost no expense to the Town compared to if it was developed into residential. Costs would include more than just schools such as EMTs, firemen, police, road repair, salting and plowing. People demand at meetings to know not just what something costs but also it’s long term expenses. That is why the numbers associated with kids is so often espoused and mistaken for the reason and not merely a factor. One other factor is substantial income from forest products from these parcels that will offset some of the purchase price.

If developed these areas would have contributed to increased flooding, lower water quality, degraded natural habitat and corridors. If you check out each parcel the citizens of Hopkinton chose to purchase, you will find it near water, be it wetland, stream or river. Over development in other areas of the State has almost dried up rivers. The State says storm water runoff is our current largest problem with water quality. It obviously costs much less to prevent a problem than to fix it after the fact. How much was spent to clean sewage and pollution from our rivers?

The Open Space Bond is only one of the tools to preserve our quality of life for the coming generations. In the Master Plan it also suggests conservation Zoning Ordinances. The one the Planning Board has worked on for several months, in public, will be a great tool to help preserve some resources. This ordinance allows the developer to create just as many dwelling units but in a more flexible creative approach than we have now. A conventional subdivision can still be submitted if it satisfies the intent of the ordinance. I know there are many that do not want to spend money on open space but feel there is a need for protecting our natural resources. I hope they will support this Conservation Subdivision Ordinance.

Our current generations have spent enormous amounts of time, energy and money cleaning up the messes left by others. I hope we can continue to use all the tools available and be part of a solution not part of a problem.