November 13, 2006
Editorial by Nelson Benton
Salem Evening News

Ipswich selectmen did themselves and their town a disservice last week by voting to put the YMCA housing project on County Road back before voters next spring.

At the very least, opponents of the 48-unit affordable housing complex, which has received all the necessary local approvals, should have been required to make their case before Town Meeting again.

As both former selectman Jim Engel and local attorney Dan Greenough pointed out, the selectmen's vote may not even have legal standing, since it would impose an action taken by last spring's Town Meeting on its successor. Better, they suggested, the petition process be repeated if opponents were still determined to bring their cause to a townwide vote.

And what a sorry cause it is. The YMCA, a nonprofit organization known for its good works, simply seeks to increase the stock of low-cost housing in a community that has become unaffordable to many. It's followed all the rules, enduring 18 months' worth of hearings, in an effort to make Powder House Village a reality.

Yet as they await a court decision on their appeal of the local permitting process, neighbors and other opponents of the project are insisting on a secret-ballot vote which, it should be noted, would have no binding result. All it does is require town officials to ask the YMCA to reconsider its plans.

Remarkably, and to its great credit, the Y has stood firm in backing what it believes is a worthwhile effort to provide more housing in town for those of moderate means. Similarly, members of the Zoning Board of Appeals have defended their vote in favor of the project, which was taken only after much careful deliberation. They, at least, have demonstrated that they cannot be browbeaten into submission.

If only the selectmen had shown similar courage. The board had backed the project in February of 2004. But facing a vocal group of about 50 residents last Monday night, members voted overwhelmingly to comply with their demand that the issue go straight to the ballot next year.

This entire affair has set a very bad precedent. Will the town face citizen petitions and Town Meeting votes every time someone is upset with an action by the ZBA or other town board?

Selectmen should have stood by its appeals board. It would have been the legally and morally right thing to do.

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