To the Editor:
Affordable housing is a smoke cloud masking a massive luxury build. Residents must know the reality of the Kent Green Commons proposal before our town risks irreversible environmental changes.
The developer highlights 16 “affordable” units, but state guidelines tie these to Litchfield County’s $118,000 Area Median Income.
A one-person income maxes out around $60,000, and a family of 4 is capped near $85,000. Locked into a 30-year deed restriction, monthly costs will still sit at a steep $1,500 to $1,800.
Meanwhile, the remaining 64 market-rate units are projected to list between $450,000 and $500,000-plus.(Mr. Millstein would you clarify.) The environmental trade-off is disastrous. The site sits on either side of an open watercourse. Clearing land, moving dirt, and installing rooftops and asphalt parking lots for 80 units will destroy natural absorption. This toxic stormwater runoff will impact our wetlands and jeopardize our shared drinking water.
A far better choice is already sitting vacant: the former Kent Specialty Care Facility. It features 14 beautifully landscaped acres and an existing 63,000-square-foot footprint. The infrastructure is already built, including established roads, driveways, parking lots, lighting, and pre-existing water and sewer hookups.
Let’s ask for state and town dollars to purchase the Kent Specialty Facility. We can then trade it with Mr. Millstein for his 12 acres of farmland with the watercourse running through it. This moves the residential footprint to a safe, infrastructure-ready site while saving our ecosystem. The town can then repurpose the Kent Green Blvd lot for crucial community infrastructure: municipal parking and a town dog park.
Please email Land Use at landuseadmin@townofkentct.gov and demand the Inland Wetlands Commission hold a formal Public Hearing. Protect Our Drinking Water.
Bonnie Sue Bevans
Kent, Conn.