The Harvard Housing Partnership has adopted a strategy of adding 16 new units of affordable housing per year to the town. I agree with many elements of their approach, including their preservation strategies. I disagree strongly, however, with one particular component: The use of town sponsored, high density 40B housing developments.
A group of like-minded residents is initiating a petition asking the Board of Selectmen and the Community Preservation Committee to stop funding such projects. The petition, along with the analysis that led to our conclusion, is available on a Web site. The address is www.stratbridge.com/petition.
We invite all Harvard citizens to examine the site and read our analysis and conclusions, and then sign the petition.
As a town, we have to deal with developer initiated 40B projects. The bottom line is that it makes no sense to fight developer 40Bs with town-sponsored 40Bs. This just compounds all of the problems inherent in high density housing developments, including changing forever the character of the town we love.
ANTHONY J. MAROLDA
Harvard
