To the EHOA
To Good To Be True??
The town has announced a very impressive redevelopment plan for the 60
acres of land around Route 4. If these
plans were to really happen it would be great news. It would add more taxpaying property to
reduce the load carried by the rest of us.
It would add more high priced apartments, office space, a hotel and
retail space. It would also add an
elaborate overpass to Route 4 allowing easier access to the eastbound lanes.
Unfortunately, all this will cost money, lots of money. As residents we should be cautious about such
a grand project whose first step involves having taxpayers pay to defend
expensive lawsuits. The existing owners
are fighting the city’s right to condemn these properties. Since most of the property is in fine shape
with warehouses of successful companies, a judge will most likely insist that
the developer pay top dollar for forcing existing businesses to move.
Our neighboring town of
How expensive will all this be?
The land is currently assessed at $36 million. However, many of these properties have not
been reassessed for 10 or 15 years. In
today’s market, these properties will probably cost over $50 million to
acquire. Of the 60 acres, about 18 acres
will be set aside for roads, open space, etc.
On this, the developer will have to install almost a completely new
infrastructure of roads. Sewers, electricity, gas and cable. The developer will also be responsible for
the environmental cleanup unless it is so bad as to qualify for government
funds. Similarly, the developer will
have to pay for the route 4 overpasses unless we qualify for state funding.
At the end of this process of lawsuits and building infrastructure, the
developer will have spent $75 million or more to get 42 acres of vacant land on
which to build. This is almost $2
million per acre, considerably higher than land is generally worth in
Without any guarantees from the developers, we are being asked to go
forward with condemnation proceedings and spend money defending lawsuits. Shouldn’t we negotiate better assurances
before going forward? Shouldn’t we hear
more about other projects of comparable size these developers have done? In short, let’s not let the obvious benefit
of such a development blind us to the risks involved, especially the risks of
starting and never finishing. We don’t
want to find ourselves stuck in a few years with having to subsidize cost
overruns like other grandiose construction projects that were not properly
evaluated at inception.
Paul Raynault
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