I would like to draw attention to the possible rezoning of land parcel #21-0-152 off Turnpike Road in Turners Falls.
This parcel is currently slated to be rezoned to try to fit NE-XT Technologies into a residential community to accommodate business expansion.
Town Planner Maureen Pollock was quoted in July as saying to the Greenfield Recorder “that’s kind of what inspired this zoning amendment change… It’s to accommodate this preferable business to consider this location.”
In other words, this whole process seems as if it is contract zoning. The definition of “contract zoning” is where the practice of local government accommodates corporate interests by rezoning individual parcels of land. The practice of contract zoning can lead to capricious decision-making in the planning of land use and can affect the overall organization of a town, possibly leading to negative impacts in residential areas.
The Planning Board should be trying to preserve the value of existing properties and make minimal environmental impacts. Both of these are unfortunately not in the forefront of the Planning Board’s decision-making process concerning this land parcel. They care not for residential and community concerns, but only how to line the town’s pockets.
Beth Fogle
Turners Falls