Ed Sipples

I would not be in favor of this change. It is a good question, however, and does touch upon our high cost of living problem. I would clarify and pinpoint the problem by identifying two key groups of people:
1) Our SENIORS who are on fixed incomes
2) Our YOUNG town volunteers
We need to do something special to help these two groups and I will address this later.

I am not in favor of an across the board reduction of lot sizes to one acre for a variety of reasons. First, our current zoning regulations regarding building lot size is a "soil based" two acres and makes a lot of sense to me. Regardless of whether you believe one acre or five acres is the right number, it must always be tied to being "soil based." This protects one of our most important natural resources, our WATER. It is intended to allow our individual septic systems to work properly and not adversely affect our environment. Secondly, all the surveys and questionnaires I've ever read, clearly indicate that residents want to maintain KW's RURAL CHARACTER. In fact, when talking one on one to residents, many say they don't want any more growth at all. It's often, "Now that I've moved into KW, I want the drawbridge to be lifted." Although this is not realistic since private property owners in the United States of America have the right to sell their land if they so desire, they should be made to meet the justifiable standards and regulations that protect the greater good of our Town. Also, it is important to note that KW does have true "Affordable Housing" available on Patrick and Warwickshire Drives. The developer, however, only chose to make a total of 5 homes "Affordable Housing." Further, most people don't realize that Duplex Housing is available on four "soil based" acres.

Now, let's talk about making some valid exceptions to allow the two groups mentioned above more reasonably priced livability in town. SENIORS who have lived in town for a sustained period of time and are on low fixed incomes, should not be forced to leave town because they can't afford to stay here anymore. There are ways to ease the burden of tax increases (that other towns have implemented) that need to be explored and brought to KW. Our Board of Finance should be looking into this.

I am in favor of developing "55 AND OVER" housing regulations that will be less than the two acre minimum. Older people do not dramatically affect our tax rates. Our Planning and Zoning people are working on this and I hope finalize regulations soon.

And last but not least, many of our young people are hard pressed to find housing in KW that they can afford. We continually lose our young volunteer fire fighters and ambulance people to other towns and cities. If KW were to ease our current restrictions on ACCESSORY APARTMENTS, perhaps this trend would change. I will leave the details to the P&Z experts and I believe they are now examining this. I am hopeful that in the near future, young volunteers will have a bigger and better selection of affordable places to live in town than ever before.