Wilmington Memorial Library

From:
The
Editors
Desk
by Stephen P. Bjork
An ill-conceived plan
The Tewksbury activist group known as U-25 is back in the
headlines. Regrettably, the group is demonstrating a dangerous
pattern - issuing proposals before researching all facets of the
plan.
The group first came onto the scene early in 2006 with plans to
re-allocate the Town's budget for the purpose of increasing the
public schools budget by $1 million. With that additional $1 mil-
lion, the group argued, the school system could hire enough
teachers to reduce classroom sizes below 25 students (hence the
name: U-25). When asked by the Town Crier in February 2006,
however, the group's primary spokesman, Jamie Cutelis, admit-
ted that the group had not endeavored to perform an analysis of
the budget. They simply felt confidant that the money was "in
there somewhere" and that, if properly motivated, could be
located and redistributed by the financial agents of the town.
U-25 was eventually convinced to revise its plan and offer it as
a Proposition 2 1/2 override question.
That override question failed at the ballot.
Recently, U-25 issued its latest plan - the group will sponsor
three articles to the Special Town Meeting in October.
One of those articles will call for a shift of $200,000 from the
Tewksbury Public Library budget over to the town's stabilization
iund. The Town Crier is uncomfortable with such an action.
For starters, $200,000 appears to be an arbitrary figure with,
once again, no analysis behind it and no plausible plan for deal-
ing with the cuts. The group has offered some suggestions for
cost cutting measures (opening an hour later each day, closing
on Sundays, eliminating the assistant director role, etc.), but the
suggestions do not produce savings anywhere near the $200,000
mark, but would result in the loss of the library's accreditation.
Perhaps more importantly, the mere proposition of unceremo-
niously gutting the budget of a public library, put forth by a
group purporting to be in favor of education, leaves a bad taste
in one's mouth - and it certainly sends the wrong message to the
youth of the community. Especially when more than 900 of
Tewksbury's youngsters are currently participating in
Tewksbury Public Library sponsored programs during the sum-
mer months.
I'm not exactly sure when public libraries gained the prover-
bial "red-headed step-child" status within society, but the idea
held by some that libraries have become obsolete as a result of
the Internet couldn't be further from the truth. Statistically
speaking, library visits throughout the country have more than
doubled since the Internet became a household word. The visits
to Tewksbury's library reflect, and exceed, those statistics.
According to Library Director Elisabeth Desmairas, "On each
Monday in July, more than 3,000 items slid across the library's
circulation desk. Breaking those transactions down to any
hourly average, the library's clerks have processed one book
every twenty seconds. In fact, approximately 25,000 books and
other items have been checked out in the month of July, a rate
that would have been unheard of a decade ago."
Public libraries exist in the United States, thankfully, as a way
to even the playing field between the privileged and the non-priv-
ileged- just as public education does. Despite the notion held by
many residing in the comfort of the suburbs, not everyone in
Massachusetts owns a computer. Particularly when one consid-
ers that a number of Tewksbury motels, through state assis-
tance, play host to homeless families, the crucial need for cost-
free access to books, computers, and the Internet, cannot be
understated. Indeed, the free and unhindered access to infor-
mation is just one of the things that sets United States citizens
apart from those living in third world countries.
Yes, the public school system is in dire straits - if all other sta-
tistics and evidence is set aside, the recent accreditation warn-
ing issued to Tewksbury Memorial High School by the New
England Association of Schools and Colleges will attest to that
fact.
But, decimating the library budget is not the answer.
The Town Crier applauds any group of citizens that becomes
involved in the community with the goal of improving it.
However, the only thing more dangerous than pushing forward
without a plan is pushing forward with a plan that is ill-con-
ceived.
Letters to
the editor
Thanks to the legislators
Dear Editor,
The Wilmington Historical
Commission wishes to thank
our legislators for their suc-
cess in acquiring, through
override, $450,000 for the
Butters Farmhouse.
We wish to extend a special
thank you to Rep. James
Miceli for his tireless efforts to
steer this fiscal request
through the House, through
the Conference Committee,
and through an override of the"
Governor's line item veto.
__JVe wish to thank Rep.
Charles Murphy for his contin-
ued support of our acquiring
and preserving the Butters
Farmhouse.
We wish to thank State
Senator Bruce Tarr for his
senatorial support of the
acquisition and preservation
of the Butters Farmhouse and
his efforts in supporting the
over ride and steering it
through the Senate.
The Historical Commission
appreciates the many efforts
of our legislators in fulfilling
the goal of the Commission to
preserve Wilmington's rich
heritage. Due to their support,
the Butters Farmhouse will be
preserved for generations to
come.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Harris
Bill Campbell
Gerry Duggan
Bonny Smith
Kathleen Reynolds
Julie Fennel!
Like every sum-
I mer, driving
'around town I've
noticed a startling increase in building
projects. One project, not yet in the build
stage, will gain more visibility over the
next few weeks and months as the devel-
oper, The Hanover Company, appears
before various boards in town working on
due diligence.
The Lodge at Ames Pond is coming to
Tewksbury, and planning to bring 364
rental units in a three phase building
process. Of those 364 units, plans desig-
nate 25% of the units as affordable with
49% of the units as 1 bedroom, 40% as 2
bedrooms and 11% as 3 bedrooms.
The project, still in relative early stages
of approval, scares the heck out of lots of
residents, particularly parents worried
about the already overburdened school
system. I had to take a closer look at
Tewksbury's 40B situation to sort out
whether or not this enormous rental hous-
ing project makes sense.
Surprisingly, it does.
I'm no fan of Chapter 40B, which effec-
tively hogties communities trying to man-
age growth, when the community possess-
es a housing base less than ten percent of
which is categorized as "affordable."
With 498 units of affordable housing in
Tewksbury, the town stands at about 4.9%.
Surrounding towns fare better than we do
with BuTerica at 6.1%, Chelmsford at
5.8%, Dracut at 5.5%, and Wilmington
near 9%. Andover has already met its
10% commitment.
And yet, residents surely know that the
Town has a "higher percentage of condo-
miniums and apartments than can be
found in most towns nearby," as the
Tewksbury Affordable Housing Plan cites
in the Comprehensive Needs Assessment
portion.
QUumt&fllrtcr
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2006
Fortnight in Review by Jayne W. Miller
So, why the contradiction? Poor plan-
ning seems like the easy, and obvious,
answer. The town has allowed many
smaller sized developments offering few
affordable housing units compared to the
number of units being built. Over the next
1-2 years, according to the Affordable
Housing Plan, the town will see eight pro-
jects built ranging in size from one to 60
units including the first phase of the
Lodge at Ames Hill (again, these are pro-
jections). These eight projects will build
222 units but only give the town 76 units
designated affordable contributing to the
10% required by 40B.
The town needs 77 units in order to have
the right to refuse dubious developments
for one year, a provision available to
towns not yet at the 10% requirement.
When a Zoning Board of Appeals rejects a
developer's project the developer may
appeal that decision to the State Housing
Appeals Committee (HAC). Of the 415
appeals that board heard from 1970 -2002 ,
45% of the cases were withdrawn, dis-
missed or settled, 24% of the cases were
negotiated between the town and the
developer and 31% were decided by the
HAC. Of that 31%, 84% ruled in favor of
the developer and only 16% for the town.
Clearly, towns are at a disadvantage with
developers under the 40B law.
But, back to those eight near term pro-
jects. Almost all of them are ownership,
or condominium, developments requiring
up to 25% of affordable housing units as
part of the development. When building
small 16 unit projects that means only
four count toward Tewksbury's 10%.
The problem is that the projects, and
affordable units, are coming piecemeal.
And it gets worse.
"As Tewksbury continues to approve
market rate homes in conventional subdi-
visions and cluster developments, the
Letters to the editor
town accrues an unmet liability for 40B
units," states the Affordable Housing Plan
mentioned earlier. Current estimates indi-
cate that the town needs an additional 690
affordable units. According to a Northern
Middlesex Council of Governments study
Tewksbury would have to create a whop-
ping 2761 additional homes to obtain 690
units under the 25% allotment.
However, all rental units count toward
the elusive 10% of total housing stock.
Thus, a large development like that
planned for Ames Hill, offers 364 units, a
big dent in that 690 unit goal, and perhaps
presents less stress for our schools.
Renter occupied housing in Tewksbury
averages 2.08 people per household versus
the owner occupied households which
average 2.9 people. Ames' projections on
the saturation level of children that would
move into the Lodge seem grossly under-
estimated with only 49 children in the
entire 364 complex. The developer con-
tends that fifty percent of those children
will be high school aged and the other 50
percent will be elementary and middle
school aged.
That said, the project currently plans for
a three phase managed building process
over three years, with the first year only
opening 34 units. Thus, the pain of a sud-
den influx of students will take a little
longer to feel, and perhaps give the town
more time to repair school budgets and
hire teachers.
Keep an eye out for 40B developments as
you drive around town. Accepting a devel-
opment like the Lodge at Ames Hill, ignor-
ing for the moment the legitimate cries of
"Not In My Backyard" allows Tewksbury
to claim a chunk of that 10% and returns
some autonomy to town going forward in
the near term.
library a luxury In support of the library
Dear Editor:
These facts are well known to
almost all Tewksbury resi-
dents and are undisputed:
• Tewksbury's Public Schools
rank a shameful 198th of 207 in
the state in per pupil spending.
• Our schools rank a disas-
trous 206 of 207 in the state in
student to teacher ratio.
• Class sizes are approaching
or at a terrifying 30 in the
Elementary/Middle Schools
and 40 in the High School.
• The High School is on
WARNING and will LOSE ITS
ACCREDITATION if the class
size, lack of program, and lack
of elective issues are not
addressed.
Almost everyone agrees the
Tewksbury Public Schools
need to hire a significant num-
ber of new teachers to address
the above issues. As always
the issue is money.
U25 has proposed a
Homeowners Tax Cut By-Law
to save each and every
Tewksbury homeowner hun-
dreds of dollars each year; a
pension investment study
committee to see if we can
invest our pension dollars and
get a higher rate of return arid
save us substantial tax dollars
each year, and a cut to the
Library budget.
Why the Library? Simply
because the Library is a
Luxury item. It is not an
essential necessary service.
Police, fire, DPW,
water/sewer, schools are
essential musthave services.
People's lives depend on
police/fire. A child's future
and our economic future
depend on our school system.
This seems harsh to some, but
the reality is, nobody depends
on the library. Because
Tewksbury does not have
unlimited tax dollars we have
to prioritize. We have few
other choices.
Everyone loves the library,
but in this day and age it's an
extra. Nobody is harmed if the
library budget is cut.
Thousands of children suffer
every day when, they are
forced into overcrowded class- •
rooms of 30 to 40 kids. Cutting
the library budget is an incon-
venience- Cutting teachers so
class size is 30 to 40 is a
tragedy. An unaccredited
library is sad. An unaccredit-
ed High School is a criminal
act. U25 thinks the issue is
simple and clear. We hope the
town's people do too.
Very Truly Yours,
U25 - Jamie Cutelis
Tewksbury
Thanks First Baptist
Dear Editor,
The Wilmington Historical
Commission wishes to thank
Bob Figucia and the members
of the First Baptist Church for
their efforts to Preserve the
Butters Farmhouse. Through
their Fourth of July Dunk
Tank, $470 was raised to be
donated to the Preserve the
Butters Farmhouse fund.
Their efforts to help us in our
COMNGIN
OCTOBER...
All your quetions answered...
goal to raise funds to preserve
Wilmington's heritage is
greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Harris
Bill Campbell
Gerry Duggan
Bonny Smith
Kathleen Reynolds
Julie Fennell
...in one place
Don't miss it! Town Crier
Dear Editor,
It appears that the School
Department is once again
over reaching their bound-
aries. Why is the Tewksbury
Library responsible for U25
problems? Attacking the
libraries budget is not the
answer. It makes little sense
to fix one problem by creating
another.
The Tewksbury Public
Library apparently satisfied
the majority at Town Meeting.
The majority authorized a
sound Library budget, not an
extension of the School
Department budget.
Our library is properly man-
aged and should not be target-
ed by other departments with-
out cause. Which Department
will be next?
In the past twenty-five years
the libraries across the Nation
have served the people well
providing the necessary tools
to move our country forward.
The Tewksbury Library
appears to address all of its
problems in a timely responsi-
ble fashion, not allowing prob-
lems to fester.
The School Department has
complained about class sizes
for the past twenty-five years
and longer. Complaining to
the taxpayers is not enough,
action is required. The people
understand that the problems
are not the number of stu-
dents in a class it is the lack
of discipline expected of them.
The opportunity is now to do
something about class sizes
and or restructuring. Money
is an excuse and seldom the
answer; however, too much
money can be the source of
the problems leading to waste-
ful spending and lack of direc-
tion.
Taxpayers can no longer
afford sacred cows it is that
simple. Sharpen your own
pencils and do the right thing.
The School Department must
lead; following has yielded lit-
tle in return for way too much.
The taxpayers sooner or later
must say enough.
Return to the basics. It is
time to address the wasteful
spending by the Department
of Education.
Don Ordway
Tewksbury
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