“Whataboutism Village” Residential Development Opens After Eleven Years Of Community Input, Planning Approvals, And Administrative Delays
Named after the public approval process that took over a decade for the developer to navigate; critics of the project say the housing is not affordable enough.
NEAR DOWNTOWN– Named in honor of the planning process that caused over a decade of regulatory delays to construct damn near exactly what the Builder had told them they were going to build in the first place, Whataboutism Village is the newest residential development to open in the Upper Valley.
What about the 16 units of new housing was seen as controversial is confusing to experts, given the well-publicized shortage of housing in the Upper Valley that has only gotten worse since the project was first proposed in 2014.
“Given the well known housing crisis in the region, we thought it was critical to get these 12 cottages approved and built in about a decade.”
“What about if there’s too much traffic?” asked one resident of the abutting neighborhood, who said he didn’t want more traffic on the public street through his area.
“What about if there’s not enough traffic?” asked a local shopkeeper, worried that without an increase in visitors to his storefront, he may have to close-up shop.
“What about having more local shops instead of housing?” asked a local citizen who didn’t want more housing in her neighborhood.
“What about if the residents decide to have a holiday party and invite all 10 Lords a Leaping– where are they all going to park?” asked one neighbor who may, or might be invited to the party, or not.
“What about making the rental rate cheaper,” asked one Planning Board member, Ignoring that the rental rate is a result of costs of construction, capital, and maintenance and not a discretionary value merely picked out of a hat Independent of Economics 101.
“What about making the units affordable enough for people we want to live here, but not affordable for the type of people we don’t want to live here?” asked a neighbor, saying the quiet part out loud.
“What about these new homes makes them more expensive than the ones I rent out?” asked one Board member.
“What about this is so hard to understand?” the developer remarked, “the only way anyone could build the units at that price is if you’d let me build them back in 2014 when the project was first proposed.”