SECOND ANNUAL LITTLETONCOMMON GREEN FORUM!
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Second Annual Littletoncommon.org Forum
Saturday, March 28th 7:00 p.m., Indian Hill Music Center
Preserving Farmland and Promoting Agriculture in these Tough Economic Times
(Click on COMMENTS below for more details.) AND, PLEASE CLINK ON "LINK" TO READ AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT THE ECONOMICS OF PRESERVING LAND.
I have always said that public officials should be reaching out to the public, a diverse public, one that provides perspective from all sides. As part of this effort I, or better yet we, have created a this blog site with the intent of looking at an array of issues facing our Town and town politics. We have now have well over 6,000 visits since the inception of Littletoncommon.org!
Last year, this outreach expanded with our first Green Forum. Our Town Administrator Keith Bergman presented The Climate Project©. The house was packed, connections were made and the exchange of ideas flourished in this combination social and educational event. The event raised the awareness and our commitment to seek environmentally friendly ways to go forward.
I am happy to say that we are doing it again! This year, the forum has been scheduled for Saturday evening, March 28th at 7:00 p.m. at Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton. The topic this year will look at Preserving Local Farmland and Promoting Agriculture even in Tough Economic Times. In attendance will be State Senator Jamie Eldridge, State Representative Jim Arciero, the Commissioner of the Department of Agricultural Resources, Doug Petersen,our Regional Planner of the Department of Agricultural Resources, Chris Chisholm, our Selectmen and many others. There will be brief presentations designed to engage discussion and this will be followed by a light fared "meet and greet" social event.
As you may know, the Board of Selectmen has established a goal of preserving some farmland; this goal has not yet been realized. Farmlands have served as the backbone of Littleton throughout its history, yet we have no plan to include its preservation for the future. I believe that agriculture should be an integrated part of our community planning efforts, part of our economic development strategies and a thread in our community fabric. Obviously, we cannot pour all of our efforts into the preservation of farmlands any more than we can narrowly focus on, let’s say, supporting the future of IBM in our community. (Anybody remember Digital?) However, we should look at keeping our local farm stands, hayfields, dairy cows and other agriculture in production, alive and well. We aren’t able to economically compare farming to that of commercial development and corporate ventures, but then again where would we be without the enjoyment of fresh milk, eggs and produce? The benefits are far-reaching and a dollar value cannot be tagged to this!
Economic development is not just about seeking new tax revenues. This community has made this clear in our zoning bylaws and our master plan. Economic development needs to reflect the broad based needs of the community and the desire of its residents. I am a firm believer in a diverse economic development strategy that ensures we follow our community goals. I am in favor of tasteful development; that which reflects the vision of our whole community, not a town that looks like the younger brother of our easterly connector route.
Where would we be if all our farms were supplanted by office buildings, chain stores and car dealerships? Our future, or more correctly the quality of our future, requires a balanced approach. We don’t need to look far to see what happens to a community or neighborhood character when development after development of strip malls pop up. We need not look far to see our own failures. I hope we will not be looking back and saying our failure to preserve key gateway pieces of agricultural land has changed our community character in a less than desirable way.
It will be impossible to go back.
I am a believer in generating revenue in a way by which we can all be happy to call Littleton home. Please attend this unique forum about our heritage. I look forward to seeing many of you there!
CLICK UNDER COMMENTS BELOW HERE TO SEE MORE DETAILS OF THE EVENT.
posted by Alex McCurdy at
3:19 PM
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