We read that there are 1,000 new housing units now in the works and planned for Greenfield.  It seems like it’s overkill to pile on so many additional units, especially when our infrastructure (roads, water and sewage) all need to be updated. Also, we read that the sewage treatment plant is over capacity, with repeated overflows of millions of gallons released into the rivers. It’s just another reason why we don’t need more housing until after these issues can be addressed and resolved.  It seems like the present and past administrations are kicking the can down the road, and not addressing these issues. 

We have been challenged coping with a population with almost no growth for the past 50 years — in fact a decline. More residents to our town will cost the town more money in schools, police, fire and DPW costs, which will certainly be more than any new property tax that growth will generate.  And we all know there is no new work in town.  

We think people need to be constantly reminded about these issues and facts. One thousand new dwelling units represents a 12% increase in the number of our housing units. We might have been able to absorb that just after World War II, when we had local tool factories operating three shifts around the clock. But those days — and those tool factories — are long gone.

Greenfield has done more than any other town in the county to create housing for those who needed it. But the pressure to grow, by adding “more housing” anywhere and everywhere — from large apartment buildings in our historic district, to condominiums by our river banks, is like a pressure cooker in a community that is digging up its roads everywhere to replace pipes, and building larger shelters to help the unhoused. It’s an explosion of growth that we will see in every neighborhood, and feel in every pocketbook.

We are voting “Yes” on Question 1 as a plea to our elected leaders to more carefully measure this jolt of growth, and quantify how much this expansion will cost us, including those on fixed or retirement incomes.

Charles and Sandra Kosterman

Greenfield