Fairhaven Might Be Missing An Opportunity
Dear Community Members:
I have lived in Fairhaven for nearly a quarter of a century and would like to make a comment regarding the proposed 40B/40R project for 60 housing units on the old “Park Motors” site which sits strategically between the Town Landing on the harbor and Cushman Park.
Fifteen years ago I went to Fairhaven’s Town Planner to discuss the importance of this lot. I discussed how this lot allows a view to the water from Main Street and is strategically situated between Cushman Park and the Town Landing.
I thought it could make a great park area with almost no maintenance/infrastructure cost if the town just bought it with the help of grants from state and local groups. I explained how cheap it would be to maintain with just some grass and picnic tables.
This area of the town is the actual Town Center (as opposed to the State Park and the commercial area on Route 6). Here there are: Rogers town buildings, charming storefronts, houses dating to the 1700s, popular restaurants, fishing boats, the best sunset/fireworks views over the harbor in the town, walkable shopping and where the bicycle path begins.
If anyone is visiting Fairhaven from the North or the West and puts Fairhaven in their GPS, it is up these streets into this part of town that they are directed.
The response was, “We are not interested in that because we think we can get tax revenue from that lot.”
Would any of the other South Coast towns encourage or accept a large complex like this near their historical center and working waterfront? Would Henry Rogers? I think not.
Couldn’t the town help the developer to find a more appropriate location with an appealing buffer (the G Bourne Knowles Lot on Route 6 comes to mind).
I applaud the fact that Fairhaven preserves its industrial working waterfront. But this lot has been an empty, poorly maintained parking lot filled with tractor trailer trucks and cranes for years, right where everyone enters the town for the first time.
Please think about what this area could become and how focal it is and reject an attempt at a large, poorly designed 40B/40R that would be crammed onto that lot. If it is too late to avoid this fate, couldn’t the town find a way to have them make it look better? Does the plan violate height restrictions?
I own a small, boutique bed and breakfast a few blocks away. Over the past 23 years we have sent thousands of people from all over the world out walking around the local streets, eating at restaurants, going to retail stores, touring the town buildings, and attending the local churches. I am afraid that Fairhaven might be missing an opportunity and hope that they make the best use of this lot or at least keep it from being a detriment.
Paul Beauchamp, Delano Homestead Bed & Breakfast, Fairhaven
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