King Arthur Flour and Sewer

I've received a wide range of emails on my earlier post to the listserv. They range from accusing me of being naively incendiary to soliciting my help in stopping the sewer extension, to puzzling over whether I'm pro or con the proposed extension.

I don't know enough about the specifics to form a clear opinion. To my mind, the question isn't what I think of this project; it's whether this project is consistent with the planning and permitting goals of the community.

I've said a hundred times that I feel our planning and permitting approach in this town is broken and needs to be reconsidered. This is not a matter of blaming anyone. We're planning and permitting like many of the communities around us. I just think we can do a much better job in a way that engages townspeople more constructively.

I think it is unfair to individual applicants (Housing Vermont and the attempt to locate affordable housing at Agway property; Simpson and the gateway property; Upper Valley Events Center and the old dentists office on Rte 5; now KAF and the sewer extension) that we legislate development parameters without any clear sense of the impacts upon individual land owners. I'm all for scenic preservation, affordable housing, a commercial district and adaptive reuse. I'm bothered that we continue to approach both planning and permitting with this top-down perspective that leads to inconsistent enforcement and ad hoc rezoning to try to mitigate what many might feel are onerous, illogical restrictions on individual land owners.

Should King Arthur Flour get a sewer extension from the Hartford line? If we want to encourage continued growth of their operations here in Norwich, then yes. If we want to encourage further commercial development in the Route 5 South corridor, then we should be looking to help KAF extend the line so it can serve more businesses in that area. If we're concerned that this line will eventually be extended to downtown Norwich, leading to a very different growth pattern, then the answer is probably no, but that should be addressed in our Town Plan and our regulations. The question should always be, what does the community want, collectively, and how can we, as a community achieve those goals?

The Planning Commission is in the process of revising our Town Plan after recently revising our zoning regulations. I've rankled their membership enough over the years to leave off what I think of the current revision effort. I hope townspeople will try to get up to speed and engage in the town plan revision meetings and the details of the KAF application as it becomes more public.