“It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Over the past two and a half years, the workings of elected officials in the Town of Parsonsfield, seemingly tied to Nathan Wadsworth’s subdivision proposal, have surely been a roller coaster. This includes the continued violations of citizen’s rights. Mr. Wadsworth’s subdivision proposal will, once again, be before the Parsonsfield Planning Board Tuesday, October 15, at 7:00 PM at the Parsonsfield Town Hall.
Through this Planning Board process, the Town has made the choice to withhold public documents with the most important being related to the March approval of Mr. Wadsworth’s preliminary plan. These withholdings deprived the right to appeal this approval within the allotted deadline under the law. Despite multiple requests under the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA), which any person has the right to do, a lawyer had to be obtained to request public documents related. We are now headed for the sixth week since the request was made by an attorney, but still, the Town has yet to make any documents requested available.
Another important issue is that one abutter, who has been serving on the Planning Board and has been participating/voting on this proposal for about two years, has recently been elevated to Planning Board Chairman, while another abutter has been prevented from participating as a citizen for seven months. It should be mentioned that two Planning Board members have made an attempt to right the wrongdoings while other officials, including the Selectboard, continue on their illogical journey, despite the facts.
After two and a half years of the applicant still not meeting the Town/State requirements, it will be interesting to see if the Board continues to turn a blind eye by keeping up the smokescreen instead of ensuring the health and safety of the people as they were elected and sworn in to do.
Gerard Clifford,
Parsonsfield, Abutter
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