Housing, open space and Meadowood split candidates; strategic plan proposed to reconcile goals

Candidates at the Oct. 18 Granby Simsbury Chamber forum discussed multiple tensions between housing needs, open‑space preservation and historic‑resource protection and offered competing prescriptions.

Why it matters: State housing requirements, local zoning and conservation priorities interact to shape where homes can be built and which open spaces are preserved. Those choices affect taxes, traffic, school enrollments and town character.

Positions and examples: Eric Wellman, independent candidate, said he would not support building housing on the Meadowood property and cited a previous referendum and a neighborhood petition as evidence of strong voter support for preserving that land. “If I’m elected, I will not support building housing on Meadowood,” he said.

Heather Goetz, Republican candidate and selectman, stressed the need to distinguish types of housing and their different fiscal and service impacts. She warned about the state’s 8‑30g process and developers who “bypass our zoning regulations,” saying seniors on fixed incomes already face affordability pressure. Goetz said open space (about 35% of town land, she said) is both an amenity and an economic driver that should be protected.

Wendy Max Dudas, first selectman and Democratic candidate, urged using existing planning tools — the Plan of Conservation and Development, CHAPAC recommendations and parks and recreation plans — together to craft a strategic approach that can provide housing options while preserving open space and historic sites. Dudas noted the town had voted to pursue listing Meadowood on the National Register of Historic Places.

Policy tradeoffs and next steps: Candidates agreed that answers require tradeoffs and cross‑board coordination. Goetz and Dudas asked for a townwide strategic plan to align housing, conservation, and capital sequencing; Wellman proposed deeper collaboration with the Simsbury Housing Authority to maintain and reinvest in existing affordable housing stock.

Unresolved items: Forum remarks noted the town currently has roughly 7% of its grand list in apartments and that the town has several state and regional plans in place; specifics about where new housing would be built or financing for preservation were not decided at the forum.