In the time that has passed since the conservation bond was passed last February, many people have been busy developing procedures and criteria for using the funds.

The following documents have been approved by the Selectmen, and the next step is to hold a public hearing to solicit feedback. If you have suggestions about the purpose, procedures, or selection criteria, please feel free to post a comment to this post.

The public hearing will be conducted by the Conservation Commission at its regular meeting on Tuesday, September 13 at 7pm at Town Hall.

Update 9/22/05: The documents below have been updated with the final versions approved by the selectmen. Now the real work can begin!

• Purpose
• Procedures
• Selection Criteria

Article 4 was approved today by a vote of 761 to 450 (727 votes were needed). The new zoning regulations were also approved, 641 to 458. This is a banner day for conservation in Barrington.

BOSC would like to thank everyone who signed our petitions, donated money, left their warm beds on a Saturday morning to attend a deliberative session, or given us valuable advice to help make this day possible.

Congratulations!

Other Election Results

• The library fund did not pass (525 yes, 681 no)
• The school budget did not pass (495 yes, 691 no)
• Mike Morrison and Ken Grant won the two open selectman seats.

Letter to Foster’s by John Wallace

John points out how Article 4 could make Barrington eligible for matching dollars from other sources:

Many federal, state and private programs exist to help in purchasing easements, but most of these require local matching funds.

Often there is need to act quickly to have these funds available. The $800,000 would be a ready source of the matching funds and so it might prove to be worth as much as $1.6 million.

In a conservation easement the land stays in private hands and the owner can continue to derive income from it such as with forestry or agriculture, but the land can no longer be developed for housing or most commercial applications. The landowner continues to determine whether the public is allowed on the land and whether hunting, snowmobiling, etc. are permitted, just as it is now.

A letter to Foster’s by Faith Wallace.

If we don’t vote for this article we may lose areas which are used for hiking, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. Many of our oldest woods may be cut down and beaver dams disappear.

Why should you vote YES on Article 4?

We have Five Reasons You Should Vote YES, and we also have a longer explanation of how Article 4 will work in practice. In addition, there’s our list of endorsements, which include the Selectmen, and Advisory Budget Committee.

Perhaps most importantly, we have the words of our fellow Barrington residents speaking out in letters to Foster’s.

On March 8th, please vote Yes on Article 4. The polls are open from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and your vote truly does make a difference.

Chuck is a strong supporter of Article 4, and land conservation:

It is no secret that our town and many others in the region have been experiencing tremendous population growth over the last decade. One way we can successfully deal with the consequences of this growth is to acquire land or the development rights, which would otherwise be gobbled up by residential housing developers and add to the burden on the town and school district infrastructures with the resulting growth in population.

I’ve posted the rest of his letter in the extended entry:

Read the rest of this entry »

We wanted to let everyone know that our fundraising drive to raise money for signs was a success. Thank you very much! As you’ve probably noticed, signs are going up across town, and we should have even better coverage than we had last year.

The sign printer was kind enough to make us a set of “4s” to staple over the “3″ on the signs leftover from last year.

Thanks again to everyone who donated.

Great editorial from Foster’s.

The Foster’s editors make an important point. Now that LCHIP has had its funding restored, if Barrington passes Article 4, we’ll be well-positioned to win matching funds from the state. Without the borrowing power of Article 4, we’ll be ineligible.

Letter to Foster’s by Phyllis Hayward.

We post the letter’s here because you can’t link to a single letter on Foster’s site. Read the rest of this entry »

Foster’s reader commentary by Barrington Natural Heritage Committee co-chair Marika Wilde.

A vision held by the NHC is of several unfragmented greenbelts totaling many hundreds of acres and encompassing some of the still remaining water-rich and wildlife areas and farmlands in Barrington. If these areas are not protected now they, too, will disappear forever. That fact is obvious now more than ever.