Refuse ‘the inevitability of unbridled sprawl development'

To the editor: Like Susan Naruk, I, too, am concerned about the lack of affordable housing in the Town of Warwick. However, it is absurd to say that the future imposition of a modest real estate transfer tax will eliminate affordable or workforce housing here. The fact is that today “affordable housing” in the Town of Warwick simply doesn’t exist. This isn’t something new. We’ve been watching it disappear for the past five years. Most developers have made conscious decisions to build more expensive homes targeted to a more affluent customer. This despite density incentives for including market rate homes in their developments. And, some even protest to the Planning Board that the 1 “market rate” home in 10 mandated by the Town of Warwick zoning codes is unfair. Owners of existing homes have also capitalized upon the recent housing demand to realize the most from their investments. These two forces have pushed the median home price in our town to more than $400,000 as proudly noted in a recent real estate article in the Advertiser. Maintaining affordability is a difficult and complex issue. To attain it, we will need to find a way to balance our beliefs in the sanctity of profit against the common good of our community. Just as we need to balance development with open space preservation. It will only happen when we as a community refuse to accept the inevitability of unbridled sprawl development and support smart, balanced, forward-looking planning options. The Community Preservation Fund is one tool we can have available to help. I urge you to vote yes on Question #1 supporting the Community Preservation Fund at the top of the ballot. Penny Steyer Warwick