New housing development shouldn’t be built

To the editor,

Approving 80 high density, low cost housing units on a space the size of two soccer field, adjacent to the 55-pus active community Mountain Rose Estates is totally unacceptable. City of Palmer Planning and Zoning Commission, missing one fourth of their committee, held a hearing to vote on this project. One of the four members announced at the beginning he would leave early. The chairman did not attend. My neighbors and I were given one notice of the meeting.

Residents of Mountain Rose and Mountain Rose East filled the council chambers to capacity; some stood. The residents presented their well-prepared, heartfelt reasons why this was not a good use for that land.

The Volunteers of America and Valley Residential Services had made their presentation to us a few weeks earlier, but did not invite comment. Again, we only received one notice of this meeting, which was held at the Palmer Depot.

We residents totally agreed about our feelings; this was not right for Palmer. The area had already established itself as recreational, with the ice rink and two soccer fields adjacent, plus the baseball fields to the east. The other established uses of land are the Senior Citizens Center a quarter of a mile away, plus the three senior housing units walking distance to it.

The 63 families in Mountain Rose, and 30 families in Mountain Rose East, had no further say in how their community developed.

I cannot accept the fact that four male Palmer residents, appointed by the city, had this much power. They were not required to submit this issue to the elected city council for approval.

The City of Palmer has been my town for 62 years. Is this all I get?

Helen Woodings

Palmer