A Small Price to Pay

The Times Argus reports that a combination of sources, Montpelierites hope, will provide the funding to protect a parcel of land.  What from?

Becoming a hazardous waste site?  A big box retailer?  A polluting factory?  No, none of the above.  It's to protect the land

from extensive residential development

Note the adjective.

A spokesman for the national organization, The Trust for Public Land  that brokered the deal said

the goal of the national nonprofit was to conserve the majority of the land and appropriate a smaller portion on the south end, along Barre Street, for "suitable" development that benefits the community.

Again, note the adjective, although this time it's in quotes.

So that would be "suitable" development, unlike that eyesore,  housing, which benefits only the residents of the houses that would have been built on the land, and who would have been residents of the community.

Unfortunately, since the houses won't be built, the people who would have lived in them won't be part of the community.  They will have to live elsewhere.  (I can see a movie plot taking shape here, kind of like It's a Wonderful Life, which I've seen many times--unlike Sicko.  But in this one, instead of George Bailey never having been born, the plot is what happens if the houses are never built.  But I digress--far too much.)

Don't-build-it-at-any-cost is the mentality that pervades all of Vermont.  So the people who would have lived elsewhere end up living--well--nowhere.  And we wonder why housing prices are high and have been escalating in the state.

The story reports that there are still a few kinks to work out in the project.  Its cost is estimated to be between $2 million and $3 million and

Closing the deal will require a number of financial partners that may include private fundraisers, developers, local conservation organizations, state and federal government, and the city itself, Krussman [from the Trust for Public Land] said.

It looks like they're willing to take money from anyone. 

"Obviously there's some city funding already committed," said Krussman, referring to a 2004 town meeting vote in which residents approved spending $188,000 to acquire some or all of the land.

It's good to know that they've locked up somewhere between 6% and 9% of the total cost.  Raising the balance should be a breeze.