To The Editor:
I read the front page article on Valley housing (The Valley Reporter, May 7, 2020) with considerable interest. Then I arrived at select board member Jamieson’s statement about how the Waitsfield Planning Commission was treated during a recent presentation concerning hamlet zoning. Interest turned to dismay as I read his inaccurate and needlessly incendiary remarks that the commission’s proposal received no support and that “a couple of select board members started ripping it apart.” Not true.
The planning commission is a group of smart volunteers that devotes itself tirelessly to issues of local zoning. Their responsibilities are daunting as they develop ideas in a manner that not only opens new vistas for the town to consider but also carefully assesses and describes the downside, if any, to those same ideas. On this occasion, selected commission members appeared before the board to provide a briefing of their hamlet work, in particular. Always good to keep the board informed. The presentation was thorough. Questions were posed by members of both the board and the public; answers were provided; a discussion ensued. In the end we all learned something and, I believe, a useful fine tuning of the planning vision occurred. No one ripped anything apart, not through questioning and not by any other means. In fact, when the discussion closed it was clear that the commission’s work would continue and that the information that emerged would be included in future assessments. A good outcome.
I hope everyone will be COVID-19 safe.
Sal Spinosa
Waitsfield, Vermont
