Amherst is one of the fastest growing communities in the state. It's located in Hillsborough County, the fastest growing county in the state.
Sally Wilkins, chair of the Amherst planning board, says most people are well aware of what's going on.
2:21 I think there's a high level of concern at the moment, there's a lot of development pressure on right now and that raises people awareness that open land is a vanishing commodity.
At the upcoming town meeting in Amherst, voters will decide whether to approve a 5.5 million dollar bond for conservation.
If the initiative passes, it would be the largest amount ever approved for conservation by a town in the entire state.
This is a second chance for the initiative.
Last year it failed by just 16 votes.
Amherst planning board chair Sally Wilkins says for most people in town, the central issue is taxes.
4:50 if you are convinced by the evidence that residential development costs you money then this is an investment in tax avoidance, the only question is how much and who gets to decide how to invest it, if you are not convinced by that argument you will be very reluctant to spend this money on what feel likes a discretionary expenditure on something that would be nice to have, more open space
Long time Amherst resident Gardner Goldsmith does not support the bond issue.
He says proponents of the bond are not being upfront when they make the argument that conservation saves the tax payer money.
Goldsmith argues that if the town really wanted give the tax payers a break, commercial development is a much better deal.
4:00 if you look at their rationale, their supposed rationale, which is to save tax payer money that's not the real rationale, if it was they'd be having a meeting about buying up land for commercial development because that's the best tax saver of anything, clearly what we are talking about is not saving tax payer money but keeping the land looking the way the people want it to look who want to get this bond
The proposal in Amherst is part of recent trend that started in towns in southern New Hampshire where growth pressure is most intense.
As development has moved west so has the interest in conservation spending.
Chris Wells is with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and is tracking conservation initiatives.
Track 3 :58 if you drive down 101 you can really see how the frontier of sprawl is right out here in wilton, 101 turns from suburban 101 to more rural monadnock region 101 right out here, so anything east of there you are seeing intense growth pressure but to the west it isn't as obvious but people feel it coming
That's the case in Marlborough, a tiny town of just over 2,000 in the Monadnock region.
Residents felt pressure from both directions…the growth coming in from the east...as well as the northwest, from their growing neighbor, the city of Keene.
They pushed to get a million dollar bond proposal for general conservation on the ballot at upcoming town meeting.
John Northcott chair of the selectmen in Marlborough says this is the first time the town has asked the public to think about how future development might affect them.
:42 I think Marlborough's attention to conservation has been up until now, it's sort of been on the back burner approach, if there's an issue or a concern it's taken care of, but I don't believe there's a broad consensus or broad approach to conservation
Northcott says he comes from Connecticut where one time farm land is now what he calls "McMansions?." He doesn't think it's too early for the public to start thinking about protecting themselves from developers.
Gina Paight, also a selectman in Marlborough, says she applauds the residents responsible for raising the conservation issue. But she wonders if the million dollar price tag will scare people away
1:32 I think it's a good idea, I really do think it's a good idea, it's probably best for Marlborough's future but I'm just thinking a lot of people will think its too much at once, too much money too high of a possibility to spend at this time, maybe if it's a smaller number they'd be more likely to agree with it
Both Marlborough and Amherst are proposing large general purpose conservation bonds.
As critical land becomes available, the town will have the flexibility to buy them.
The town of Freedom, a small community in the Lakes Region is taking a more traditional approach. It's focused on buying a particular piece of land.
Voters will be asked whether or not they want to spend just 100,000 dollars - the final amount needed to secure a 2.3 million dollar parcel of land known as Trout Pond.
Trout Pond is almost 2,000 acres and is the only large piece of land remaining in Freedom.
Conservation activists say in the last five years, the number of building permits in Freedom went from less than 10 a year to more than 30.
This has town resident and realtor Rick Schwartz worried.
1:50 if the property were to be developed I'm afraid it would overburden the town with additional children in the school system which would add greatly to the tax burden and the way the town is being developed this is one of last tracts of land where people can go hiking fishing hunting run their dogs go snowmobiling its beautiful open land and in my opinion it should be preserved
In fact, people involved with the project say in Freedom, the greatest opposition to Trout Pond comes from the off road vehicle community.
Their concern is that if the Trout Pond project goes through and it becomes a town forest as planned, off road vehicles will be prohibited.
Conservationists in Freedom say, if the land were developed ATV riders wouldn't have access anyway.
Resident Rick Schwartz says he's not the only realtor who sees the value in protecting land.
6:50 I would be in favor of many smaller developments on properties that are not as a large as this one, I would rather see homes built on other parcels and still have the same numbers of home than to take a large beautiful parcel like this, I won't say destroy it, but that's exactly what comes to mind
The approach in Freedom of targeting a specific parcel is generally more successful at town meeting than general purpose bonds.
Dijit Taylor from the Center for Land Conservation Assistance says the case is simply easier to make.
Track 5 :04 they know what they are getting for the money so it's easier to say oh yes, that parcel is worth 12 cent on the thousand or whatever it is
As growth spreads north and west in the state there is some connection between geography and a towns approach to conservation.
In places where growth pressures are new smaller, targeted approaches are preferred.
But where development is a clear and present reality open ended bonds have a special appeal.
For NHPR news, I'm RK
