Board of Aldermen 12-28-2021 Page 5
John Sullivan
Good evening. John Sullivan, 30 Holbrook Drive in Nashua. I'm speaking out tonight urging the Board to reject
Resolution 21-202 and 203. Nashua doesn't have an open space problem. We have a housing problem. Reading the
city's Master Plan under the parks and natural areas goal section, nowhere under the five action items listed does it
recommend the expansion of Greeley Park. In fact, Greeley Park isn't even mentioned in that portion of the plan.
Nashua’s Master Plan advises the following: protect Pennichuck Brook corridor, expand planning for Salmon Brook by
extending conservation land protection - which is in Ward 9. We sold Camp Doucette to a private developer. So | guess
we missed the mark on that. Review park inventory to determine how accessible parks are for all residents, seek funding
and build neighborhood parks in areas of the city and | quote, “that are park deficient”. This part of town certainly is not
park deficient.
Nashua’s 2020 housing study calls for all levels of housing and puts a number out there 5,000 units for the city. Thanks to
the Planning Department, I’ve come upon some numbers. We have 40 units of housing that have either been constructed
or underway, another 800 new units of housing in various stages of construction, and there are about 500 more in very
early stages of approval but there is no guarantees that those will all be built. Add those altogether conservatively, we are
still a long way away from the 5,000 units that we need.
If we move forward on this, then we sit around in five years and still wonder why we have a housing problem. You can
draw a line from the decisions that we make today as to why we still have that problem. We pay to come up with these
studies. Let's follow the guidance and the studies and stay true to it. Thank you.
Lela Spira-Savett
Hello, my name is Lela Spira-Savett. | live at 39 Coburn Avenue. I'm a recent graduate of Nashua High School North and
a first year student at Barnard College. During my last three semesters at North, | served as a researcher for the greater
Nashua Interfaith Housing Justice Group. | learned about housing policy both in the US and in our State and city. In
response to the requests the group got from the city, | created a briefing about affordable housing trust funds that some of
you on the Board have heard me present. | took part in other meetings in the city and statewide addressing the impact of
the pandemic on renters and landlords. As you know, more than 40% of Nashua renters are cost burdened spending
more than 30% of their income on housing and almost a third of those who work here cannot afford to live here. The
existing State and federal programs for affordable housing are beginning but we do not have nearly enough funding
sources right now at the scale of our need.
Inclusionary zoning, which | found in my research to be a widely used and successful way to increase affordable housing,
is one way for city policy, city leaders, and developers to work together in a way that will make more of an impact without
financial burdens on the builder, the landlord, or the city. It is important for some of my peers who will move back to
Nashua after college as well as other young people looking for a place to live as they start their careers to have affordable
options for housing. It is also important for any community striving to be dynamic and diverse to not have the cost of
housing the barrier to living here. | hope tonight you will pass O-21-073 and keep the momentum going for more
affordable housing. Thank you.
Paul Metzgar
Thank you. Paul Metzgar, 25 Columbia Ave., Ward 3 speaking in favor of R-21-202 and R-21-203. First, I'd like to thank
all of you, Board of Aldermen, Mr. Mayor for your service to the city. Even if you don't agree with my position, | respect
you and | appreciate what you do. But why do you do it? Why did you agreed to serve the city? | expected to not
because you enjoy seeing the underbelly of human nature, hearing all the complaints receiving threats so why do it? |
expect that part of it is you feel a need to represent your constituents. Part of it may be that you're drawn to fulfilling your
civic duty to serve the city. Part of it may be that you feel a sense of stewardship. You want to keep the city going down
the right path, fix a few things along the way, and leave it in a better position than you found it for your children and their
children.
It's the sense of stewardship that I'd like to address tonight. Now, | know that anything | say tonight is unlikely to change
the minds of those of you who are opposed to these resolutions but I'm going to try anyway. So regarding the property at
15 Bartlett Ave. if someone wants to take the front part of the property where the house and lawn is subdivided that and
build a few houses, | don't think that any of us, myself included, would be opposed to that. The part I'm concerned about
is the back part of the property - the old growth forest and wetlands. That forest is surrounded on three sides by city
property. Look at a map. The Barker forest is essentially a peninsula that juts into Greeley Park. Yes, technically it abuts
the park but | challenge anyone who looks at a map to tell me with a straight face that that property doesn't look like it's
already part of the park. Cutting down that forest will forever change the look and feel of the west side of Greeley.
