I do not understand this "Van Liew believes the town seeks to maximize revenue from selling off open space and wants to conserve it ". Town Meeting has gone out of its way to add open space. A the last meeting alone Town Meeting ok'd buying to additions to our farm land. At this upcoming meeting town meeting has been asked to move Oak Hill from general use to Open Space for Conservation. Most of Selectman candidates I have spoken to want to fast track Oak Hill to Conservation as soon as the work outlined by the Oak Hill Committee has been done. I think town meeting has done a great job of adding new open space and protecting what we have.. None of these open space protections are going to make the town money and that's ok. I do not think town meeting would approve selling ANY open space off .. not now not EVER. I want to thank all the reps for what they have done.

Phil is confused again.

Andy, would you mind disclosing the total number of votes you received on this Patch poll?

Marc, Confused about what? That the report that RVL showed was Jim Murray's Logging plan his tree farm in Maine? That Town meeting has done a good job adding new open space? That if RVL takes down the false allegations he has on his web site I will drop the matter? I stand by these and I am not confused. I would be happy to explain any item that you do not understand.

Phil you are a heckler and a hypocrite along with your selectman pal. Ask your question once. If you don't like the answer, move on, and create your own character judgment. Tired of hearing your malarkey and whining. It amazes me how some are selected for these committees.

On more than one occasion in the past, I've thought that Mr. Van Liew has made some good points. Yesterday I arrived home to find a flier in my door regarding tax rates. It was designed to point out how high Chelmsford's tax rates are to our "surrounding communities". However, it's a bit "skewed", as I certainly don't consider BROOKLINE to be one of our surrounding communities..nor is Somerville, Woburn, or Cambridge. And yet, Tyngsboro was not on his list, nor was Billerica??? What's up with that?..In addition, while our tax rate may well be higher than those in Andover, as his flier points out, what isn't mentioned, is that homes values in Andover are much higher than they are here....so Andover, no matter how you look at it, is still raising MANY more dollars in taxes than we are here, to pay for the same services we must pay for. I don't mind reading information provided it is TRULY informative, and more importantly, reliable and based on fact.. When it is skewed, it makes me wonder about any other information we may receive from this source. If someone wants to make comparisons, shouldn't they be comparing apples to apples, and oranges to oranges?? Isn't that how it's typically done?

Donna your statements are a bit off base and some just incorrect. Sometimes things are simplified so the average resident will understand. I suggest you reach out to Mr. Van Liew if you have questions. Any normal person would rather pay more in property tax because their home is worth more than pay more because of inefficient operations.

WHOSE the heckler Marc???? You seem rather "testy" this morning.....I'm sure many WOULD rather pay more in taxes, but not all of those "many people" can afford the million dollar and up price tag for a home in a town like Andover.....where it would take fewer homes to rake in a LOT more in tax revenue than what we are getting here. And really.....why on EARTH would anyone stay in a town where they feel things are being run "inefficiently"? Cause it doesn't seem as though you are very happy here.........And really..how "simplified" is it if one is comparing a small town like Chelmsford to a rather large city like Cambridge?

Just re-read the transcript and found this but interesting:
“Bob Joyce is the only Planning Board member who voted against multiple special permits for the 9 North Road building that eliminated the best options for Center Fire Station”
Does this mean that Roland wanted the new fire station built on this piece of land instead of a private building? It would just as much take away from his “Open Space” that he is suing us for.

I also forget the reasoning behind killing Chelmsford st/Wilson st corner as a good location. Big lot, FLAT, trucks can exit easily onto Wilson or Chelmsford st. Seems to be a much more logical place than on the side of a cliff next to the town hall which will obviously cost much more money just to reinforce the hill.
Or bulldoze the eyesore that is Marshalls and Stop and Shop and build there next to Harringtons.

How many votes registered Andy? If you have %'s to build the table you have the number of votes.