Landowners with two or more acres can be impacted at some time in
the future if they want to subdivide their land; consequently, these
regulations give the town total control over their land.
The town can require a donation of land for future roads, paths,
walkways and recreation without offering the landowner any compensation
for the land.
A landowner with open land will not be allowed to build on it but will be required to maintain the land.
Landowners with woodland would very likely be designated deer yards;
therefore, no building would be allowed on the land but taxes will
still be assessed.
Landowners that did a good job maintaining the land all their lives
expecting to use it for retirement will be penalized and the town does
not receive any benefits from citizen's stocks, bonds, and retirement
funds; therefore, why should the land as a source of retirement be
expected from the citizen who has been a good steward of the land for a
lifetime?
The planning commission and select board have endorsed the regulations
as a great document but they have nothing to lose by them. I urge all
landowners to go to the Waitsfield Town Office and get a copy of the
regulations the planning commission and select board is having you vote
on. Read them thoroughly before going to the vote next week, Tuesday,
October 23, 2007. If these regulations pass, total control of land will
be in the town's hands, not the landowners, with the landowner still
being required to maintain and pay taxes even though the landowner will
have no control over their own land.
Paul Hartshorn
Waitsfield
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