Save Goose Pond

10/06/2023

04/17/2023

Chatham voters! Be sure to attend the 2023 annual town meeting! Saturday, May 6th at 9:30 a.m. at the Monomoy Middle School, 425 Crowell Rd.

IMPORTANTLY, Article 41 is being put forward by the housing group to adopt MGL Ch 40, sec 15A that would allow a simple majority of town meeting voters to change the use of a town property to housing, whereas now, a 2/3rds vote is required.

Ironically, it only takes a majority to adopt this law. FinCom and others think this is bad business for the town.

This means that the acreage that failed to get the 2/3rds vote to give away Goose Pond Forest for housing development would only need a simple majority next time around.

But of course, this doesn't just have implications for Goose Pond Forest, what about other undeveloped properties the town owns that are not protected by a perpetual conservation restriction. What about Marconi, or any other property owned by the town? The implications of adopting this statute had any meaningful discussion before this article was put on the warrant.

Guess if you don't like a vote and town meeting - you just try to change the rules!

SEE page 67 of the warrant: https://www.chatham-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5374/2023-Annual-Town-Meeting-Warrant-PDF

10/01/2022

If you haven't paid attention to your float, now is the time to do it without hesitation.

There are old floats all over the Cape, on freshwater ponds and in coastal areas. If the blue Styrofoam flotation is exposed, it is more than likely that it is releasing microplastics into the environment that litter our shores, is eaten by wildlife, and contributes to the degradation of our waterways...because it NEVER biodegrades.

10/01/2022

FYI

05/15/2022

Goose Pond Forest is saved for the time being because Article 62, that would have given away over 4 acres for housing development, did not prevail as it needed a 2/3rds vote to pass.

Unfortunately, the vote to preserve all of the 19 acres with a conservation restriction, also requiring a 2/3rds vote, did not prevail either.

05/12/2022

From the Chronicle this week. Read with interest the last paragraph:
"The land, previously rejected as a senior center location and last year for housing, is cited as a potential housing location in the town's housing production plan. If the first article is approved, community input will be sought on how to develop the land. The town is likely to seek a comprehensive permit, which will allow higher density and require a public hearing and approval by the zoning board of appeals, according to Community Development Director Kathleen Donovan.

But backers of article 63 say the entire 19 acres should be preserved as open space. The contiguous coastal pine barren forest includes wetland, vernal pools and is a critical habitat for many species of plants and animals, they say. The land protects groundwater and the trees helps remove carbon from the atmosphere, helping to slow climate change. The town's wild areas are under pressure from development and open space has been lost to water department infrastructure.

“Development of any part of the Goose Pond forest land will significantly diminish the values and function of the forest, and the open space committee believes it serves the town best to be preserved in its natural state,” the committee wrote in its explanation. “Once it's gone, it's gone.”

Both articles require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. If voters approve article 63 after also approving article 62, Town Counsel Patrick Costello wrote in an email to Town Manager Jill Goldsmith, it would mean that the meeting has reconsidered its vote on the first measure, and the last vote would prevail."

Bottom line, be there to MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT!

05/07/2022

Let us not look at our publicly-owned woodland as valueless unless it is "put to use." Developing natural woodlands does not "improve" the land - that's always been a misnomer.

Of the many values of a forest, it plays a critical role in these 3 major cycles:

1) The Water Cycle: Water moves through trees, evaporates into the air that contributes to the formation of clouds and rain, both locally and globally. Water from the precipitation is soaked up by trees.

2) The Carbon Cycle: Carbon is absorbed during photosynthesis and is released during respiration, fire & decomposition. Carbon is also stored in the soils as dead plant and animal matter. A typical growing oak tree will sequester up to 50 pounds of carbon a year.

3) The Oxygen Cycle: Oxygen is produced through photosynthesis.

05/06/2022