Letters: Housing boom on the Hill

Posted 3/24/21

Chestnut Hill is facing a housing boom with the owners of 30 W. Highland Ave and 100-102 E. Mermaid Lane seemingly wanting to develop more units and/or bigger buildings than their zoning permits.  This is a classic developer strategy to maximize profit by negotiating from a higher starting point than where they expect to end.

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Letters: Housing boom on the Hill

Posted

Chestnut Hill is facing a housing boom with the owners of 30 W. Highland Ave and 100-102 E. Mermaid Lane seemingly wanting to develop more units and/or bigger buildings than their zoning permits.  This is a classic developer strategy to maximize profit by negotiating from a higher starting point than where they expect to end.  We all know zoning contains the rules governing legal land development.  Chestnut Hill’s zoning is up to date and has been in place for some time; this zoning is not news to these owners.

As with a child who wants to spread their toys and dirty clothes all over a house, these owners are focused on themselves and their short-term goals.  They do not like the zoning they acquired with their properties simply because it does not comport with their profit goals.  They claim hardship because the rules do not permit them to make as much profit as they want.

Let’s call it by its name: greed.  This greed, which has been addressed by the Bible and similar documents, is not a hardship; it is a defect of character.  What would supporting such greed say about our community?

John Beckman
Chestnut Hill

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