Editor's note: The 2020 deed transferring the Chalet property to the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust explicitly stipulates as a condition of the sale that Ursula Dalem have life tenancy, along with the option to be buried next to her husband on the property.
PUTNEY-An open letter to the Brattleboro Selectboard and Planning Commission and the community:
It's wonderful that The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust is building 70 new homes in West Brattleboro on the former Dalem's Chalet property. Brattleboro is in desperate need of affordable housing. Kudos that the plan includes properties where homeowners can build equity through ownership and not be trapped in the affordable-housing system forever, paying rent and perpetuating exactly what they provide.
I was involved in 100% of the negotiations when the housing trust purchased this property. I have spent three years visiting the property two to five times a week. Here's my humble advice.
1. Make sure the housing trust includes sufficient salaries to pay staff to maintain the property to keep it safe and dignified housing: property maintenance employees, applicant background check system/staff, support staff, etc. I'd be happy to share photos of the huge potholes in driveways, the garbage heaps, and statements from tenants who have lived there since before the housing trust purchased the property when violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution became the norm.
2. Negotiations should be documented and overseen to be sure agreements are adhered to. Every so-called promise made to Ursula Dalem was broken after they convinced an old, fragile woman to sell a very valuable property for a pittance. The housing trust still owes her $300,000-$400,000.
3. Protect a fragile and beautiful landscape. There is a beautiful old historic Vermont home that is a treasure to the Vermont historic landscape. This property belonged to a Vermont judge and was a traditional hillside farm. Don't let them tear it down.
For the 50 years I have been visiting this pristine property on the hillside in West Brattleboro, it has been home to migratory birds visiting the ponds, to deer that come in the fall to eat apples dropped by its old apple trees, to the bears who visit regularly from the hill above, and to moose, too! Protect this corridor, and take it all into consideration.
I'm trying to be positive about the much-needed affordable housing. My concerns are for our community and natural landscape. Please remember in your planning: Oskar Dalem is buried on the property, and the Housing Trust promised Mrs. Dalem could be buried next to her husband.
Ian Diamondstone
Putney
Editor's note: The 2020 deed transferring the Chalet property to the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust explicitly stipulates as a condition of the sale that Ursula Dalem have life tenancy, along with the option to be buried next to her husband on the property.
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