The town of South Hadley has nearly completed a 2023 Housing Production Plan that could dramatically affect our town. The work, conducted by hired consultants, has serious deficiencies.

All the interim deliverables — policies, goals, strategies, a housing needs and assessment report, community forums and citizen surveys — ignore what should be the cornerstones of new housing construction, specifically sustainable development that will limit negative environmental impacts, sustainable architecture, energy-optimized homes and ecological landscaping.

On June 22, I went to a poorly attended community forum on the 2023 Housing Production Plan. I listened to a two-hour presentation that ignored sustainable development and sustainable architecture. On Dec. 12, 2022, an initial community forum surveyed people about design elements they favored. Sustainable architecture was not given to participants as a choice.

This is an unconscionable oversight because high on the list of survey responses to the question of what people love about their neighborhoods were these answers: access to nature, greenery, open spaces, rural areas, and walkability. If these deficiencies are not remedied in the final plan and significant housing construction occurs — including apartment buildings, affordable and low-income housing — South Hadley will perpetuate environmental injustice and the nature deficit in low- to moderate-income children. Plus, our town will look and feel like an ugly, congested city.

The work to date on the Housing Production Plan ignores the climate crisis, the human need for nature, and the numerous studies that show humans living in landscapes without trees and other greenery suffer psychological, physical and social harms. It also ignores the harmful effects of toxic building materials, noise pollution and traffic, the role of trees in cooling our increasingly hot neighborhoods, and shrinking biodiversity.

I’m a South Hadley homeowner. I know we need more housing. But let’s face facts — we are living in the 21st century, in a climate crisis. The Housing Production Plan must promote sustainable architecture and ecological landscaping. The plan can’t ignore these vital elements. We should not pretend they’ll magically appear when developers and housing nonprofits submit their proposals to the town’s Planning Board.

Linda Sachs

South Hadley

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