Help educate others about the need for Slow Growth policies
We all care deeply about our community. But continued development is degrading our quality of life and contributing to ongoing budget deficits and cuts in town services. Utilize the information on this page to help others understand why this issue is critically important.
Background
We provide clear and easy to understand information about the financial, environmental and social costs of growth. Please review the following costs of growth and consider sending this information to a friend, neighbor or co-worker:
Instructions for sharing this information:
- Copy our sample letter into an email
- Personalize the letter to express your concerns and request immediate action
- Hit Send!
Sample Letter
Select the text of the letter from the area below, then copy and paste it into your email. Add personal touches by inserting your own sentences or statements after you've pasted it into your email!
Dear BLANK
I am writing to share my thoughts regarding growth in our town and the importance of requiring new development to disclose its true costs to the community.
In order for us to accurately forecast, and in order for residents of Chelmsford to have a full understanding of the impacts of proposed development projects in their community, it is imperative that we get detailed studies about the impacts of all major development proposals. If we don't know the impacts, why would we want to just allow the development to happen?
Chelmsford is struggling enough as it is with increased traffic, budget deficits, losing open space, unecessary building of more housing, struggling but strong schools and budens on public facilities, utilities and services. These are just a few of the reasons why we must have impact studies and a cost-benefit analysis done for all development projects in town.
This idea would provide invaluable assistance to our local officials and to residents in determining our future needs and how best to meet those needs.
Recent studies have all concluded that development places greater demands on towns to provide services to existing residents and new infrastructure to accommodate growth. We will continue to experience deterioration of our town's financial health as a direct result of this ongoing development and we are becoming increasingly unable to provide current levels of service. The choice should be obvious.
Rather than speculating, or worse yet, not even thinking about the impacts of a proposed development project, we need to make informed decisions regarding developments based upon solid data. This is the only responsible action to take as we move forward as a community.
Sincerely,
-Type your name and address here-