Just A Town Planner

Thank you for your cogent thoughts on latex allerg...

2009-06-29T15:21:17.053-04:00

Thank you for your cogent thoughts on latex allergy; this is an important and often overlooked issue, and I found your words provocative and insightful.

The organization I work for, the Pacific Northwest Foundation, is devoted to researching alternative modes of healing for a variety of illnesses, including latex allergy. I wanted to share with you a video presentation of a case study we conducted some years ago about a woman with severe latex allergy who, through a variety of methods, was able to diminish her reactivity. The link to the presentation is http://pnf.org/html/anna_s_case.html.

I'd like to thank you so much for your contribution to the subject of latex allergy, and hope you will find the case study above helpful in your continued exploration into the subject.

Just some additional information on the confusion ...

2009-04-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

Just some additional information on the confusion on latex from recycled tires and other ground up rubber products. Below you will find an excerpt from an article that can be found in it's entirety @ www.scraptirenews.com/99oct2.html

Allergy
We consulted a pediatric allergist who informed us that the latex in tires is not the same as the allergy-causing latex in gloves and that any tiny allergy risk was more than offset by the increased safety of this surfacing. He also pointed out that kids have been sitting on tire swings for almost a century with no problem. We also consulted with a landscape architect, who had sent a sample to Children's Mercy Hospital for analysis. It was given a clean bill of health, particularly since it is not prone to grow mold or other slimy stuff. They also said the average playground usage does not provide enough friction for tiny lung injuring particles to be released.

Additionally, there are misstatements of facts in your report. Scrap tires can be land filled. In fact, there are several states that allow this proctice either by mono filling (land filling one material,in this case scrap tires) or land filling shredded tires. Some areas allow the use of shredded tires as daily cover. (end of excerpt)

The problem with scrap tires is that they can not be recycled into new tires in any significant quantity. Therefore, alternative uses must be found for scrap tire recycling. The use as playground mulch and infill in synthetic turf are two examples of this recycling.

There are hundreds of millions of tires in use on motor vehicles today. These tires wear off particles of rubber into our environment during their normal use with no known long term health hazard. Once removed from service, their composition does not change. If they are made up of materials that are hazardous to any portion of the population then we need to stop their production, unless there is no significant hazard here.

Dan, I agree and this is a tough one. My analogy i...

2009-03-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

Dan, I agree and this is a tough one. My analogy is to discussing population, express that it's a problem and you're a racist or similar. Here one speaks out against 40B and are called elitist, anti-affordable housing, you know the drill.

But I've had enough experience in several roles w/ the legislation to know that it has signicant flaws and also pit two good causes: housing and environment, against each other. You can also, notwithstanding the sustainable development principles, erect a midrise apartment on a rural road that has no sidewalks or transit.

Good post...

RayQuite likely. However, since the Lewis Builder...

2009-01-16T20:08:00.000-05:00

Ray

Quite likely. However, since the Lewis Builder's decision in the early 1980's every town in NH has had a responsibility to plan for its share of regional housing, and affordable housing. How they approach it is different in every community. In Newmarket where I lived and served on the Planning Board, we upzoned the center of townd where water, sewer and bus services were located and down-zoned more isolated areas. We had a "higher" level of need than many areas based upon the math as we had UNH next door in Durham and Pease Air Force Base with significant civilian population in the surrounding area. Our "area" for analysis purposes also included the cities of Portsmouth and Dover.

NH also has a land use change tax, if you keep a property open, you pay reduced property taxes. But, you pay a penalty to take it out of "current" use. We used that tax to protect large tracts as well in Newmarket.

Many towns up there have looked at the smaller lots as the solution. A mix of 2 acre lots and 5,000 sf lots. It was also easier to sell cluster zoning in NH than it is here to protect land.

Many of the plans I helped write while in NH went into great detail about the carrying capacity of the land to determine proper locations for density.

Apartments in small towns are not any more justifiable up there than down here under Chapter 40B. Most of the builders are simply pushing for more homes per acre. If you allow for that, then you are reasonable based upon how it all worked in the Seacoast back when we were addressing the fall out from the Lewis Builders cases. Newmarket even included zoning that protected its two mobile home parks from conversion to regular homes. That's probably 15 years ago now since I last lived up there.

Dan

I have a couple of comments.If I read this correct...

2009-01-16T14:53:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of comments.

If I read this correctly, it will require some municipalities, small towns such as Hollis and Amherst, to make areas available for opportunities for buidlings that must be multiple dwelling, 5 units or more, whereas cities like Nashua can use existing areas with apartments as credit toward their workforce housing.

My question is this: will this cause a situation where we see apartment buildings growing up in small towns more dispersed, auto oriented?

Dan, I just stumbled on your blog. It is a great i...

2008-12-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

Dan, I just stumbled on your blog. It is a great idea. Thanks for doing it.

I agree,I spent one year in Barnstable as an Assis...

2008-12-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

I agree,
I spent one year in Barnstable as an Assistant Planner, and helped with the transportation section of one of their Master Plans. I followed the Cape Cod Commission's guidelines for a Master Plan.

The Cape is a unique region, and I understand the state's need to push for economic development, but, the town's should plan for their own unique needs, which is to conserve their beauty, else they will cook the goose with the golden egg.

Example, parking in Hyannis near the Steamship Authority was destroying its unique character. Prople were using cottages and the surrounding land as un-official parking lots to bring in cash. If a cottage burned down, they wouldn't re-build, but would instead use the land as a parking lot.

I sent a letter to the zoning code enforcer along with a map and photos showing the violations just before I left back in 1992. I don't know if they ever resolved the problem.

Business is necessary, but the neighborhoods should not suffer because of it.