That Plymouth residents are anti-development isn’t surprising. NIMBYism is widespread, especially in suburban areas with older, white homeowners. What’s more surprising is that the opposition to this development is only happening now. We’ve known about plans to develop the area at Hedges Pond for nearly seven years. At that time, as far as I can tell, a majority of Town Meeting members, and the Cedarville Steering Committee, supported the rezoning of a portion of the land for development.
Now that the project is about to be realized, public comment at Select Board meetings over the past few weeks has been dominated by residents who are upset and critical of the plans. Conspiratorial claims about the Plymouth Foundation and fearmongering about “the aquifer” and sandmining make up a good deal of the comments. The only legitimate claims, it seems to me, are from some of our Wampanoag residents who are concerned about the potential destruction to burial grounds or artifacts. But I have little doubt that even if there weren’t these concerns, people would still oppose the development.
Anti-development beliefs are usually strongly held, and I can appreciate some of the reasons for them. But I still think that, for the country generally and Plymouth particularly, this anti-development movement hurts rather than helps. People will tell you that Plymouth is built out, or overbuilt, despite the enormous amount of land we have that is still relatively undeveloped. And people, in the same breath, will complain about the cost of housing, the cost of living, and the cost of services. They don’t seem to realize that building more and welcoming more people (and more people are moving to Plymouth regardless – you can’t stop them) help to offset these costs. Environmentalists will scare you into thinking there won’t be any water left – despite the fact that high-density multifamily housing typically uses less water than single-family homes, and despite the regulations requiring new developments to show sufficient capacity. And some people will tell you that they want to preserve the historical character of Plymouth – a noble task, perhaps, but probably impossible. Change is inevitable.
I’d rather Plymouth provide good-quality, affordable housing to those in need, and have a dynamic and thriving economy, than remain a sleepy town stuck in the past. For those reasons, I generally look with optimism towards new developments, and hope that they succeed in making the lives of the residents better.
– Jeff Millman