Last week, I attended the Agricultural Conservancy Trust (Ag Trust) presentation of the Little Compton Futures Project. The presentation included informative historical and current land use data, much of it fascinating, that highlighted Little Compton’s wetlands, developed land, and open land along with two development scenarios projected to 2060. 

The Ag Trust’s study contrasted two scenarios which showed our current pattern of two-acre zoning versus an alternative that calls for a proactive planning strategy to focus density around our villages and maintain two-acre zoning, agricultural, and open space elsewhere. My takeaway was that the one-size-fits-all residential zoning that we currently have doesn’t protect open space and isn’t rural zoning, as many of us may have believed all these years. 

Two years ago, the Housing Trust presented the Evaluation of Housing Needs in Little Compton report that provided us with housing census, housing data, and community survey results that clearly illustrated the urgent issue of housing affordability. The presentation concluded with opportunities and suggestions for Town Council and the community to consider. 

The work of the Ag Trust and the Housing Trust in commissioning these studies gives us valuable insights as we examine how our choices today affect the Little Compton of tomorrow.

And, on October 5, the Commons Foundation is hosting a meeting on Community Housing in Little Compton. All of this is good work that provides us with important information.

And then what? Absent a town planner, what comes next? The Ag Trust correctly suggests that their study could inform Little Compton’s upcoming Comprehensive Plan review. But waiting for the next Comprehensive Plan to be published without more immediate action is worrisome. How can we coalesce as a community to move forward and, most importantly, press our town leadership forward?

The housing presentation two years ago should have sparked action from our Town Council leadership, but it did not. Will the work of the Ag Trust suffer the same fate? Decades of neutrality and status-quo mentality have brought us to where we are today — with some of the most expensive housing in the state, over one-third of our housing dedicated to seasonal use, few middle-income priced housing units, businesses closing, and a shrinking school population.

I strongly encourage and hope that the soon-to-be elected Town Council will begin to take action to incorporate planning – both short and long term – so that the community can be involved and our leaders held accountable. We cannot afford to put it off any longer.  Our community’s future is at stake.

Leslie Fox

Little Compton

Editor's note: Join community members on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. in the Little Compton Community Center, 34 Commons, for a town meeting discussing community housing in Little Compton. The meeting will cover topics including residential zoning ordinances, two-acre residential zoning, and the attainable housing ordinance. The meeting is sponsored by the Commons Foundation and will include an update on the group’s progress, plans and future opportunities. A community discussion will follow at 11 a.m.