As you may remember, the Affordable Housing Committee put forth a plan last year to build housing on town owned open spaces including the 66 acres at Oak Hill. As a result of overwhelming public support for retention of open space and for conservation status for Oak Hill in particular, an "Oak Hill Study Committee" was formed, has met for about a year now and has recently voted to recommend that the land be designated as "open space for conservation."

The recommendation, however, is not yet final. Certain members of the committee have pushed hard for housing or other uses. The official recommendation will be made to the Board of Selectmen once all public input is considered.

The committee is holding a public input session this Thursday evening, Nov. 15 starting at 7 PM in Room 204 at the Town Hall. Although the committee is aware that hundreds of residents signed the petition to place the land into conservation status, the immediacy of testimony from "stakeholders" who have self-interested reasons to oppose conservation can swamp the overwhelming public support for conservation status.

So if you have an opinion or concerns that you want the Committee to hear, please attend and provide your comments.

Sincerely,

Roland Van Liew