Tax Auction Boon Comes With Caveat
The September 28th land auction — what a boon for the town of Fairhaven! They raised nearly $2 million by selling off parcels of land to bring in immediate cash as well as tax revenue for years to come. A smart financial move for sure.
Many of the parcels that sold were wetland. I understand abutting homeowners’ decisions to buy wetland as a means of protecting the space around them. But why anyone else would choose to buy unbuildable wetland, I’m not sure.
Hopefully, the town has the integrity and vision to maintain these parcels as non-buildable and preserve them in their current natural states. By protecting them as they are we preserve two valuable commodities that are shrinking on our planet — open land and water.
Hopefully, the Conservation Commission has the vision to preserve our wetlands. Hopefully, the town and the Conservation Commission won’t allow developers or owners to build on unbuildable land.
That’s an awful lot of hoping. But recent history shows that such irresponsible building has been allowed in our town before.
Once the land is destroyed with development, that space is gone for good.
Let’s protect it while we can.
Julie Hatch, Fairhaven
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