To the Editor:

In response to Mr. Smith's response to my letter in response to his letter (which, hoping for our Editor's continuing indulgence, may be approaching the end of this exciting exchange), the statistics I presented on Open Space had been reviewed by John McMahon, Chairman of the Killingworth Board of Finance, Attorney Michael Wells who is representing the town on the Wettish property, and John Himmelman, President of the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust.

I admit that I've never been paid for time I've contributed to the town over the past 30 years as President and Director of the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust, Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, member and Director of the Killingworth Lions Club, and member of the Killingworth Open Space sub-committee. Nevertheless, I do not think of myself as an amateur. I'm a professional engineer and have carried out extensive statistical analysis for the town in the past on several issues which I've presented to the Board of Selectmen and Planning & Zoning Commission (for free, so I guess that still means I'm an amateur), but my math and statistics have not been challenged in the past.

Numbers aside, the issue seems to be whether or not we want to protect land from being developed, or want to allow unlimited future development. Fortunately, from the land conservationist's point of view, there are only a limited number of large open tracts of land remaining in Killingworth. Maybe that's why Mr. Smith is concerned about one of them slipping away. The fact is that before too long there will be no large tracts of land available for carving up for development.

As I've stated in previous articles and letters, there is a limit to the number of homes that can be built in Killingworth based on our current Planning & Zoning Regulations. There is also a limit to the number of tracts of land that could be purchased by the town for future use. We are approaching that limit.