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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To the editor:

On March 8, the citizens of Barrington will have a chance to vote on a number of important issues. Among the most important, in my opinion, is Warrant Article 4 requesting $800,000 to help preserve open space.

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.

Article 4 would give us, the people of Barrington, a desperately needed tool and the ability to deal with this growing land management dilemma.

Passage of Article 4 will give us the resources to help acquire conservation easements and development rights from the landowners at an agreed upon price that is both fair and a smart thing to do.

Some among us can remember a simpler and more rural time when many of our roads were dirt and not paved. Everyone knew everyone else.

While times change and evolution happens, there are actions which we can take to prevent losing some of the more important benefits that brought us to this community in the first place, such as forests, streams and open stretches with all of the wonders and awe of nature at it’s best. Passing Warrant Article 4 is one of those actions.

Let us face the truth. Many of the people who were born and raised in this lovely town were given land or were smart enough to have purchased land down through the generations. It is their legacy. In many cases it is their retirement fund.

Some of us have 401(k) plans. Others have their land. It is not fair for us to now come along and ask them to relinquish this land without fair market compensation or some agreed arrangement that satisfies both owner and citizen alike. If we wish to preserve what is both good for the economic realities of our community and our ever pressured environment, passage of Article 4 is essential and gives the people of Barrington the chance for both.

Article 4 is not an article that ultimately costs the taxpayers money, quite the opposite. By preserving open space and decreasing the amount of residential development in some areas, we actually save the taxpayers money while preserving the environment. It is a classic but infrequently experienced win-win situation.

Look at it this way. When the average residential tax bill is approximately $5,000, but the cost of educating each child is plus or minus $8,000, each new home with even one child puts an increased burden on the tax base.

I am not advocating that we somehow prevent new families from moving into town or that we not take seriously the obligation we all share of educating our children. What I am advocating is the ability to better mange the realities of modern growth and Article 4 helps us do that.

Please, join me in strongly supporting passage of Warrant Article 4 as a money saving thrifty and environmentally friendly action that we can take now.

Chuck O’Ceallaigh
Barrington

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.

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.

We post the letter’s here because you can’t link to a single letter on Foster’s site.

To the editor: I am writing this letter in support of Barrington’s Warrant Article 4 to raise $800,000 to protect and preserve critical open space in our community. As a senior citizen living on a fixed income in Barrington for over 25 years now, I feel that my perspective, although underappreciated, is not unique. While I understand that all growth cannot be stopped, nor would it be desirable, I do think that it can be controlled so that our children and grandchildren might enjoy some of the beauty that I have come to associate with my hometown. Just this past Sunday, I was fortunate to have many young people visiting me. They spent hours outside sliding and hiking on an area next to my home. Next year they will not be able to play there because the land has been sold to a developer who has obtained town approval to 18 build houses. This is just one small area compared to the other tracks of land that are currently being developed in Barrington. Our rural scenic beauty is disappearing quickly, and at what cost? These fancy new developments end up costing us more in services than they pay in taxes. This I have witnessed through the steady rise in my tax rate over the years. Before it is too late, let us protect some of the remaining green space for all to enjoy while we also better our environment and keep our property taxes down. Phyllis Hayward Barrington

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.