From:	Michael Behrendt
Sent:	Monday, June 06, 2016 10:51 AM
Subject:	Mill Plaza - email from Diane Freedman

To the Planning Board (and applicant),
FYI, below.

Michael Behrendt
Durham Town Planner
Town of Durham
8 Newmarket Road
Durham, NH  03824
(603) 868-8064
www.ci.durham.nh.us

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-----Original Message-----
From: Freedman, Diane [] 
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2016 12:18 AM
To: Michael Behrendt
Subject: Mill Plaza

Dear Michael,
The property in question is very small and already crowded, with insufficient parking for customers.  
Downtown is a bottleneck created by yield and stop sign placement along with on street parking added 
in recent years.  In such a situation, the redevelopment proposed for Mill Plaza strikes me as NOT in 
keeping with conditional-use requirements and the good of the community and the value it places on 
green space, quiet, convenience, community, aesthetics, consistent character.  Period.

While I would like to see the Hannaford expand in size and aesthetics, offerings, and access (parking), 
there is nothing desireable about more student housing, certainly not in the density and location on the 
lot proposed by the developer (in opposition to the Town's actual preference of minimum size per 
bedroom and even signed agreement with respect to location on northern rather than southern end).  

I do not understand why the Town has not a stronger stance to begin with and more control and vision 
in working with possible developers for the heart of our Town.  The point of a Master Plan and Town 
Planning Department is to my mind to have control over the situation from the get go.  

I sorely wish I could be more complimentary and positive about the redevelopment of our Town to date.  
But I wince and grieve every time I chance to see the new buildings off Madbury Road and Pettee Brook 
Lane, and my blood pressure rises as I try to make my way on a simple errand to the Post Office or 
shopping expedition.  All fondness for the layout, structures, establishments, activities, and circulation 
of our Town has completely drained out of me and my friends and neighbors, who are so despondent 
and hopeless about it that they do not even bother to write. They feel no one will listen or do anything 
in response.  Their numbers are legion.  This is a very sad state of affairs on so many levels.

Diane P. Freedman
author of _Midlife with Thoreau: Poems, Essays, Journals_ (Hiraeth, 2015) Hiraethpress.com Professor 
of English Core Faculty Member in Women's Studies University of New Hampshire Durham, NH 03824 
dpf@unh.edu