Rebecca Tolman: Moultonborough residents should deny property purchase

To The Daily Sun, 

As a Moultonborough taxpayer, I urge fellow residents to take a close look at the proposed purchase of the building at 81 Whittier Hwy, and to oppose it.

This is not a question of whether the building has space. It does. The real question is whether this is the right place and the right investment for our town. Based on our own planning documents and common sense, the answer is no.

For years, Moultonborough’s Master Plan has emphasized concentrating municipal investment in village centers, places that are walkable, accessible, and clearly part of the civic heart of town. The CruCon building is not in the Village District, not near Town Hall, and not near other civic services. Instead, it sits in an ambiguous stretch of Route 25 where even longtime residents sometimes aren’t sure whether they’re in Moultonborough or Center Harbor.

Location matters. A municipal building should be easy to find, easy to reach, and intuitively connected to town government. This one isn’t. It is car-dependent, poorly connected, and located on a busy corridor that already struggles with traffic, particularly during peak seasons.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s a great deal.” But we all know a bargain can quickly become expensive when it’s the wrong fit. This proposal is like building a bridge simply because the land on one side is cheap, only to discover it doesn’t actually connect the places people need to go. You can invest millions into improving it, but you can’t change where it leads.

A multi-million-dollar municipal purchase should advance a clear long-term vision, not solve a short-term space issue. I encourage residents to attend the hearings and urge the Selectboard to pause and reconsider. We can, and should, do better with our tax dollars.

Rebecca Tolman

Moultonborough