George Tremblay: Protecting Charlestown Is In Bonnie Van Slyke’s DNA
The following letter appeared in local newspapers and is reprinted here with permission of the author George Tremblay. George Tremblay is a past member of the Charlestown Town Council.
All of the candidates endorsed by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) share Bonnie Van Slyke’s passion for protecting the natural resources and beauty of Charlestown. For Bonnie, that passion is in her DNA. Her father, George Bliven, was a leader of the opposition to the installation of a nuclear power plant on the abandoned U.S. Auxiliary Naval Air Facility in Charlestown. In the face of fierce opposition, plans for the nuclear power plant were abandoned and the site is now home to the 227 acres of Charlestown’s Ninigret Park and 376 acres of Federal Wildlife Refuge. A vote for re-election of Bonnie Van Slyke and her CCA colleagues to Charlestown’s Town Council is a vote for thoughtful land-use management to protect and preserve our most valued natural assets and the rural seaside character of Charlestown.
September 18, 2020 @ 4:45 pm
You are right, thoughtful land use is the key: open space to protect our resources and keep our water supply good and our taxes low. It considers the wildlife as well as supporting the recreation of our people. Thoughtful development where is occurs includes resource protection, the character of our town, protecting our small local businesses. Where architectural considerations are not sufficient then screening can preserve the feel of the landscape and viewscape. A conservation minded Planning Commission, as we have, and a thoughtful Town Council, that also considers these things will retain Charlestown’s character going forward. Intense development and inapparopriate loud, or visually intrusive development will change it. When I hear people say they love Charlestown as it is, like the open spaces, the small town feel I feel we are battling to retain this feel in the face of demands for more subdivisions, more large commercial buildings. Keeping development appropriate, preserving our natural resources and protecting neighbors is key to what I and others on the Planning Commission currently are trying to do while supporting small businesses serving residents or visitors.