The Need for a Master Plan and the Steering Committee
The unabated development and building that is going on in Clinton has created an overtaxing of our towns infrastructure. Our schools, two of which we built a few short years ago are already over their intended capacity. Do our citizens really want to keep allowing full scale building to go on and keep building schools over and over again? You are just now feeling the bite of tax increases that will keep on coming year after year. We need to limit and slow new residential building development to take the time to study the impact that all the recent development has had, and will have in the future. The lack of a comprehensive master plan is not helping the situation. The Master Plan Steering Committee is a good start, but the citizens of Clinton must see the value in this proposition. The initial outlay of cash will pay dividends in our ability to secure future grant monies awarded to the town for infrastructure improvements, purchase of open land and other municipal projects. It would also help devise a plan as to how Clinton will "look and feel" in the years to come. Do we want a bedroom community that just uses Clinton as its place to sleep at night or do we want a town that is more vibrant and community oriented and has a quality of life similar to what was enjoyed in years past.
Here is the first draft of the vision document I wrote as part of our steering committee master plan framework development:
The following PowerPoint presentation illustrates the unfettered development that goes on in Clinton:
Development and Overdevelopment
I wrote this during the summer while thinking about what was going on around me and around town:
A Master Plan has several goals, guiding and controlling growth, encouraging appropriate economic and business development, protecting our natural resources and preserving open space and ensuring that the town continues to be able to provide quality public facilities and services
I believe that land and property owners have the right to do what they want with their property within zoning limits. However, building and any other large developments that would place further strain on our infrastructure need to be slowed until this study is completed, and we know what is needed with regard to the capacity and condition of our infrastructure. This would include Schools, Water supply (Remember, we only get a certain amount "free" from the state) Water Distribution, Roads, Sidewalks, Services Etc. If we don't act now, this WILL come back to bite us.