Lili Dwight: Deerfield — Finish housekeeping on senior housing

I write to urge my fellow Deerfield residents to vote “yes” on Article 6 at our Special Town Meeting on Oct. 7. This is the final housekeeping step to create senior housing in Deerfield. The vote is not for or against senior housing — we already decided that question. Our vote at last year’s Town Meeting instructed the Select Board to buy property with Community Preservation Act money for the sole purpose of creating subsidized senior housing at the site on North Main Street (formerly St. James Church and rectory). The vote on Oct. 7 is the next step.

This vote decides who bears the cost of building and running this senior housing — a private developer or the town of Deerfield. A “yes” vote empowers the Select Board to sell or lease the land to a developer who will finance and build senior housing, and the town gets revenue from the newly built real estate. A “no” vote means the town must build and then manage senior housing on that site, as required by the Town Meeting vote ast year.

Deerfield taxpayers: Consider how much it would cost for the town to do all this. We can neither afford to build this specialized housing, nor do we have the expertise to operate it. And we badly need senior housing. We know our town supports this project because we’ve voted for it many times in Town Meetings, so let’s tidy up and move forward.

On Oct. 7, I urge Deerfield residents to support Article 6 with a “yes” vote so that senior citizens can look forward to homes in our walkable downtown neighborhood — in housing that we do not have to pay to build, manage and maintain.

Lili Dwight

Chair of the Ad Hoc Senior Housing
Committee, South Deerfield