Your Voice: Landfills not a good fit for Milton

Les Elder

Milton, as most of you know, is a small town which is surrounded by local streams, rivers, ponds and forests. It is the reason many people have moved here and chosen to stay.

The Master Plan for Milton was adopted in 1983 and revised in 2004. Some of the notable excerpts from this document are, The Vision which states: "The Vision for Milton is to be: A quality residential community with a New England village style town center that preserves and maintains the Town's historic and rural character.
The Town of Milton is fortunate to have an abundance of natural and historic resources. These resources provide for clean air and water, extensive recreational opportunities and a quiet, rural way of life.

The beauty of these resources can replenish the soul.

Milton also has a potential for economic growth. If managed properly, this growth can make our community one of New Hampshire's most desirable. Many residents of Milton along with its elected and appointed officials welcome this economic development.

Our goals for economic growth have been developed as a result of community surveys and citizen forums about the Master Plan and the future of Milton. These goals take into consideration that commercial and light industrial growth is an inevitable part of our future. However, many residents live in Milton because of its rural character and want future growth to occur in such a way as to preserve the natural and historic resources that make up an important part of our quality of life. For some, this means walking out into their back yard at night and being able to see the stars. For some, it means limited traffic in the center of town and for others it means being able to hunt or hike in our woods or fish in our clean waters.

It is clear that urban sprawl and strip malls anywhere in Milton or Milton Mills are not part of our vision for the future. Rather, development that is unobtrusive and respects the desire to maintain the small town environment is welcome. This may mean that economic growth in Milton is extremely selective and focuses on green development.
With this in mind, it seems incomprehensible that we would even consider adding a landfill to an area that was specifically zoned to not accommodate landfills. Milton took specific steps to zone the areas around exit 17 and 18 of the Spaulding Turnpike looking for clean industry with minimal impact.
In fact the latest revision of the Master Plan clearly states as the #1 Goal: "Encourage well-planned industrial and commercial growth in appropriate sections of Milton while maintaining the rural character of the community and protecting natural resources."
There is a special Selectmen meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30th at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss Part D landfills. NH DES will be present.

Please join us with your vision to keep Milton safe and clean and a community where we all can live and raise future generations to enjoy the abundance of natural beauty that has made Milton what it is. Please join our cause at: https://stopmiltonlandfills.com/ (Milton Citizens Against Landfills)

- Les Elder
Milton