I am writing this piece to ask the question is Westbrook becoming over developed in certain areas?

It seems to me everywhere you go in Westbrook, you see houses jammed in between other houses. We have seen housing developments in places where there used to be woods and fields. But still our roads and infrastructure seem to remain the same. Now we have another proposal to build condos on Spring Street and a connector road to Stroudwater Street. Is it a good idea? Well, who knows for sure, but one thing that is certain we need more roads to redirect all this extra traffic that has been brought about by the building craze.

We have zones here in Westbrook, but they don’t seem to matter, because they are always being changed anytime someone comes along with some building plan. Our ordinances seem to do little to protect existing neighborhoods from over-development. Anyone that has spare land can just throw up houses without having to worry about existing streets. I know in my neighborhood, there are going to be 12 more houses built on land that is all woods and could not be developed for the last 65 years. The builder has to move an existing house so he can access the property, no doubt changing the street and adding more traffic.

We have seen all the problems paper streets have caused. Just look at the mess on Pierce Street. Our Planning Board is powerless as long as the builder follows the codes and ordinances. The whole process is backwards, the people don’t get to have their say until all the plans are in place. It’s obvious to me the builder needs to work with the neighbors. Now I am not against building, but let’s do it sensibly, responsibly and most of all, let’s do it equitably. We need to change our ordinances, so the builder and the people work together. We should be proactive not reactive.

Richard Nelson

Westbrook

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