Defending the Affordable Housing Committee

The following post also appeared as a letter titled, "Chides paper on housing issue", in the Friday, January 30, 2009 edition of the Falmouth Enterprise.

Before the Enterprise accuses the Affordable Housing Committee of being obsessed with 419 Woods Hole Road (the dictionary defines “fixation” as “a preoccupation with one subject, issue, etc.; obsession”), it would do well to review the history of this issue.

In September of 2007, the selectmen challenged opponents of the proposed affordable housing development at 419 Woods Hole Road to develop an alternative. By the time the spring 2008 town meeting rolled around, no alternative had been presented, and so a private resident, Marc Finneran, put petitioner's articles on the warrant.

Town meeting was told to wait – that an alternative was being developed and all the details would be available by the fall town meeting. However, as the deadline for the fall warrant approached, the Committee was given no direction by the selectmen. Rather than wait another six months, they took the initiative and put a petitioner's article on the warrant.

At town meeting, we learned that the alternative – to redevelop the bankrupt Oshman Way property – included so many dependencies and contingencies that it might never get done. Indeed, one such contingency includes the development of a new dormitory for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Does WHOI have that dorm yet?

That article garnered support from a majority of town meeting representatives, but was shy of the 2/3rds required for passage. Afterwards, the Affordable Housing Committee again requested direction, and again heard only crickets chirping. Until Monday, the selectmen had never voted to either support or drop the proposal to build affordable housing at 419 Woods Hole Road.

Now, one year after Mr. Finneran put his article on the warrant and we were told to wait until the fall, it's deja vu all over again. Mr. Finneran again has an article on the warrant, we've been told to wait yet another six months, and the Committee is asking for direction.

As for the Enterprise's assertion that “the Affordable Housing Committee cannot be entrusted with spending CPA funds”, no one ever said that. The suggestion for a new committee was born from the realization that the Affordable Housing Production Plan was a joint effort by the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board, but the Affordable Housing Committee is appointed by, and reports to, the selectmen alone.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and without clear direction from the selectmen, the Affordable Housing Committee took the initiative – first with an article, and then a request for funding. The Enterprise's “out of reach” attitude is out of step with the “can do” spirit of Falmouth, which is exemplified by the Affordable Housing Committee.