The proposed Essex Boat Works(EBW)/Carlson Landing project, submitted by Essex Residents Rick Carlson and Diana Gregory, is in lockstep with Essex’s plan of development. This project meets or exceeds all of the required regulations and requirements in spirit and fact.

Rick and Diana have proven that they care deeply about our town and their property. They’ve invested significantly in both. I implore anyone to walk around the boat works. It hasn’t been neater and nicer in my 54 years living here.

The project is both high quality and appropriate. It will provide myriad positives to the town: jobs, tax revenue, visitors by water and land, much-needed retail stimulus, beauty, historical continuity—the list goes on. From all this, the Connecticut River Museum can only benefit.

Historically, Essex Village has always been mixed use, with manufacturing, maritime, and civic buildings cheek-by-jowl with housing, shops, and farms. The EBW/Carlson Landing project is following in this rich, historic tradition. This irony seems lost on the museum’s myopic position.

That the museum would be able to access Carlson’s property in perpetuity is insulting to anyone who understands private property rights. Its lack of appreciation for these rights doesn’t constitute a hardship for Carlson. I submit an excerpt from the museum’s website: “…the museum expanded its ability to tell the stories of the Connecticut River and its people through the purchase of the historic Samuel Lay House, which adjoins the museum campus.” This statement, presented as fact, is untrue: 40 feet of Carlson’s property separates the museum’s properties.

The staircase, as well as other irrelevant minutiae peddled by the museum, has no bearing whatsoever on the approval or denial of this project.

I implore the Zoning Commission to stay focused and emotionally detached, and to approve this excellent project, as submitted, and without further delay.

Patrick McCauley

Essex