Since I’ve moved to North Yarmouth, I’ve noticed that there is a change in town. “For sale” signs have gone up on more than 125 acres in the very center of town. I would safely assume that there will probably be a large number of houses built on these properties in the not-too-distant future.

So why would voters want to sell 10 acres of town-owned land surrounding town buildings for even more houses? That’s the plan that will be before us on June 14.

I think we should hold on to the North Yarmouth Memorial School land for town purposes, not housing. It’s the smart thing to do. We can and should rebuild Wescustogo Hall. We can and should rehab the Memorial School gym and stage as soon as possible. And we can and should move our town office over to the NYMS site. We can build a modest and efficient town office building there.

I’ve heard that we’ll soon need the services of a planning consultant, to work with all residents to come up with a plan for our town center. Why can’t we wait until we have a plan that centralizes our town facilities, leaving housing elsewhere? Let’s keep the NYMS site for our future town use. Privatizing the school property is short-sighted, and it won’t help North Yarmouth define itself as the vibrant and small town we know it could be.

I’m not in favor of the plan we’re voting on. I’ll vote no on June 14.

Kim L. Cox
North Yarmouth