Slow Growth Petition Comments

"I spent my entire childhood in Chelmsford and have so many great memories. As a young family, my husband and I couldn't initially afford Chelmsford, but worked hard for 5 years and now live in our dream home in a great neighborhood. However the town overall does not have the small town flair that it did when I was young. We all need to work together to address this and continue to make it a generational town." K.T.

“Thank you for your efforts to control the growth of Chelmsford, and for preserving our open space as much as you can.” T.C.

“My parents told me when they built the house in 1961 (46 years this month), the town was only about 15K. Today, the population has more than doubled.” L.R.

“This effort should have been initiated 10 years ago by elected officials; at the very least town reps should have been surveying their constituents on this all important topic.” D.V.

“Chelmsford is way over built!!!!” J.P.

“I read an article titled the 'Lowellization of Chelmsford' a few years ago in the Independent. You should post it at your site.” D.C.  

“I moved here only a few years ago, buying an older house for much less than the "affordable" units that has now been built down the street. I liked exploring the open spaces and seeing wildlife in my own backyard. I was thrilled to see horses walk past my house. The first summer was wonderful, but since then I've been sorely disappointed. It seems that every pretty day is filled with the grinding noise of construction. I think about moving all the time. Truthfully, it was more peaceful living in Lowell. I never understood why Chelmsford was throwing away everything that makes it attractive --- guess I'm not alone in after all.” S.L.

“I have lived in Chelmsford since 1934 went to school here have seen the town getting worse since this so called 40 B has taken over.” P.P.

“Make the developers assign a higher percentage of below-market housing, covenant it, and make it stick. The development next to The Mill in North Chelmsford is, to me, an example of profit at the expense of town character. I know it's 40B, but surely something could have been done to avoid building units that are facing fences.” J.W.

“Why not 100% affordable!” A.M.

“I support slow growth in Chelmsford.” B.G.

“Chelmsford is growing too fast...Homes and condos aren't selling now and new condos are being built. Let's preserve the beautiful land in our town. It is so sad seeing all these new condo developments going up on Rt 110...and a new mall on Rt 110 where Elks is? This would not have passed if I was informed as I should have been over a year ago. Seems someone let it slip past us homeowners that live next to the Elks property. We were not informed until the plans for the storage units came up in 2006. We should have received notification when development plans were first made! We do not need any more traffic on Rt 110! I used to see Deer quite frequently on my property...no more. Please stop this. This was once a simple and beautiful town. Now we are turning into city...no privacy...no land... When I first purchased my home 15 years ago I enjoyed seeing that thought was put into development... I do not want to live in a city! Let's not turn this into another Tewksbury or Arlington or Lowell! Please stop this growth. Preserve what we have! Thank you!” D.K.

“We need a board of selectmen that have the courage to confront and really understand this issue.” J.D.

“I believe this is extremely important to the quality of our lives in this town.” E.M.