1963 - Lane Memorial Library

HAMPTON TOWN REPORT 33
Article 17 is
seeking your consideration of the proposal
to
use some of this town owned land for conservation
purposes to supplement the donations received
to date. Article 17 asks you for no money. It
asks you for permission to rescind a vote taken in
1960. Since then we have seen what a dredge can
do to change a harbor and marsh in a short time —
in our neighboring town of Rye. People have said
there: "If we had only known." We've seen what it
can cost to try to build a sewer* through the marsh
in Hampton, a sewer that will serve fewer homes
than originally planned. It has cost money for this
sewer that is not yet completed and sewer gas has
cost two lives. We've seen since 1960 town meeting,
and years before, the value of a salt marsh in serving
as a sponge to soak up excess water, a very valuable
natural resource for this reason alone. It is
for you, the voters to weigh in 1963 the possible
value of keeping some of the Hampton marsh in its
natural state, which makes no demands on your
pocketbook versus giving away 2 million dollars to
develop.
The Conservation Committee wants no one to
later, "If we had only known." Now is the time to
consider as a taxpayer what is
the most economical,
practical use of the Hampton Salt Marshes; development
as real estate under public funds, your
money, or development under private funds as has
been done since the settling of the town, with an
area of 350 acres or more bounded by the Hampton
River set side for its drainage, recreational, scientific,
historic and scenic value to all who visit the New
Hampshire seashore this year or in the years to
come. Progress may mean preserving the marsh as
much as changing this natural resource.
I move the adoption of Article 17 as read.