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Rauscher Farm is priced right for its value
By Laurie Giovannucci/Letter to the Editor
Thu Sep 06, 2007, 01:02 PM EDT
Clinton -Editor's note: the following letter was received after the TImes & Courier's deadline and did not appear in the Sept. 6 print edition.
With all the residential development Clinton has seen to date, property taxes have risen substantially. This is the simple proof that it is in the town’s best interest to save the land on Clamshell Road (Rauscher Farm) as open space.
Residential development is all around us and it will continue, with or without the town’s purchase of this land. There are over 400 approved residential permits and another 300 pending. If Rauscher Farm is developed, it will benefit very few in our community. If the land is preserved as open space, it will benefit everyone, even if it’s simply by virtue of breathing cleaner air.
To those who think we are paying too much because the current assessed value is much lower than the purchase price, please remember that the value of this land to a developer is much greater than its current use as farmland. The two independent appraisals performed in July bear this out. The developer stands to reap a fortune from this purchase and will leave Clinton paying the bills.
Clinton’s upcoming special election will be a historic vote, a golden opportunity. Let’s not look back at this period in Clinton’s history and say, regretfully, ‘We should have.’ I urge you to vote ‘yes’ on Question 1. It is simply the right thing to do.
