To the Editor:

Over the years, Milford’s taxpayers have had a vision for Milford that includes the protection of important lands from development and have smartly been big supporters of the Conservation Commission.

I expect voters will again be supportive in 2017, despite the incomprehensible and quite arbitrary decision by the Board of Selectmen to delete the $20,000 Land Conservation Fund Warrant Article from consideration when we vote in March 2017.

As the chair of the Budget Advisory Committee recently noted, it is troubling that the selectmen spent $60,000 in 2016 on non-urgent sports fields on Heron Pond Road at Brox, but now do not want a $20,000 warrant article for land conservation to appear on the ballot.

Kudos to the Conservation Commission for moving forward with a petition warrant article that’s supported not only by the Budget Advisory Committee, but by Milford’s taxpayers who appreciate the value of conserved open space in the face of significant building development that is taking place and consuming Milford’s valuable lands and forests. Once the old forests are gone, they’re gone forever!

While the selectmen are acting irresponsibly toward conservation, the public’s support of a $20,000 contribution to the Conservation Commission’s land fund is smart and forward-

looking and has the better interests of the town in mind.

Paul Cunningham, Ph.D.

Milford