The July 8 Town Council discussion on the merits of evaluating growth and density in the Residential B and Residential D growth districts might as well have been a high school sophomore civics class, discussing a hypothetical toy town.

Council Chair Amy Kuhn stated that it’s a “niche issue” and “we don’t even know what we’d do with that data.”

Councilor Jay Trickett seems to believe “we should sit with the problems more.”

And Councilor Ted Asherman, a former accountant, cited anecdotal evidence as proof enough there was no “crisis” in the RB or RD districts.

Frightening stuff considering the council promised to review all of the new growth districts created by the misguided 2016 rezoning and the many hundreds of residents who voiced their opposition to recent growth and density at public forums and in emails, not to mention the 900-plus signatures on a citizen petition to roll back the entire 2016 rezoning.

Equally frightening are these snapshots of potential growth in the RB district based on readily available town data: a 70 percent increase in single-family-home infill development; 1,072 duplex units; 3,216 multi-family units: a whopping 1,000 percent increase in potential residential units. And, lest we forget, not a single impact study has been conducted on schools, the environment, traffic or taxes in relation to the growth and density unleashed by the reckless 2016 rezoning in the RB and RD districts.

While our esteemed council members sleep comfortably in unaffected districts, the quality of life and financial well-being of many other real-life residents are in jeopardy. The Falmouth Town Council needs to wake up and honor the promises that have been made.

Valentine Sheldon

Falmouth

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