Protect the Partrick Wetlands
and our Community


Draconian Restrictions Prove Houses Should not be Approved
 Letter to the Editor

To the Editor and the Conservation and P&Z Commissions:

What is the conservation commission doing? Have they lost touch with reality?. Why are they looking for ways to put houses in such close proximity to the Partrick wetlands that they will institute Draconian restrictions on the owners of these completely unneeded houses to accomplish their task?

Some of these intense, but obviously needed, restrictions to protect the wetlands are; no use of fertilizers, no pesticides, no herbicides, no gardens, no decks, no play grounds, no fences, no rock walls and the list goes on and on. Why create these rules in the first place, when just not allowing the houses would accomplish the same results? Is making sure a developer reap a profit more important than the wetlands or the aquifer?

Why tempt a potential owner with violating these rules, which are obviously unenforceable in the first place. What person do you know, who lives near a wetland, wouldn't spray to kill West Nile mosquitoes or Lyme Disease ticks? What person do you know who wouldn't want a garden and then fertilize it to have nicer tomatoes? Who are these people who will live in the middle of nature, but not be able to have a deck or patio on which to enjoy it?

The conservation commission is inviting problems that they won't be able to control. And in turn the our natural resources will fall victim. If a house can't be built and maintained normally than it proves that it has no place being approved for the Partrick Wetlands.

I urge the commission to rethink their approval process and protect what we have before it is gone.