Is Scarborough incomplete?
To the editor,
In Feb. 18 Council Corner column, Town Council Chair Cloutier outlines the priorities of the Town Council for 2022. Despite citing the many municipal, private and natural resources the Town enjoys, he concludes that we need to be “more complete.”
In his view a pool/community center seems to be the key to that completeness. But to get the pool/community center, we need to develop a new town center in the Downs. But the developers say we can only have a new town center if we allow them to build an unlimited number of apartment units in massive, big box buildings. It seems like a dangerous and expensive path to a pool.
As the recent community survey indicated, run away residential growth is the top concern of Scarborough folks. Yet the Council’s apparent priority of a more complete Scarborough totally ignores that sentiment. The attitude seems to be summarized as: sure, we’re going to grow at an alarming rate, but at least we’ll confine that alarming growth to a small part of the Downs.
Of equal concern to taxpayers is the timeline of this rush to a pool/community center, with the Council planning to have it approved later this year. This ignores the huge cost of a new primary school, likely $75 million or more, which will be required in the very near future. Indeed, the School Board currently envisions a bond issue referendum for the new school on the November 2023 ballot. It would be completely irresponsible for the Town Council to approve a nice-to-have pool without considering the massive costs of a must-have new school the very next year.
I hope the Town Council will listen more closely to residents’ concerns about growth. I also hope they will give taxpayers all the relevant tax impact information on the construction of both a pool/community center and a new primary school before decisions are made on either.
Steve Hanly
Scarborough
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