A Letter to the Planning Board

- Private group -
Thu, 10/17/2013 - 6:30am

To the Camden Planning Board: 

We are the 100 Citizens of Camden for Responsible Zoning. You have seen our names in the various advertisements placed in the local papers over the past few weeks, and you know who we are. All of us maintain homes in Camden, each of which is subject to property taxes. 

We are writing to express our concern over the ongoing Fox Hill proposals discussed at the Planning Board meetings. As residents of Camden, we look to the Planning Board to protect the town from being turned into another Malibu by a group of unknown investors whose sole concern is to turn a profit while hiding behind what they describe as an altruistic endeavor. We ask the Board not to help these private investors undo all of the hard work that went into developing Camden’s Zoning Code and Comprehensive Plan. Further, we request that the identities of these secret investors be revealed. 

We are not opposed to having a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in our town; we simply wish that it be placed in those areas already zoned to accommodate this use. As we learned from the New York Times article, it does not take much for a residential district to be transformed into a “hospital zone” once the tenets of proper zoning are breached. Camden has many parcels suitable for this type of use located in the town’s B-2 and B-3 zones; we do not need to sacrifice the character of the town by enlisting residential properties for this use. 

We will continue to exercise our right to publicly and legally oppose this threat to our peaceful, residential community until it is removed. Thank you.

 www.responsiblezoning.com