January 28, 2002

Board of Selectmen
Town Hall
Acton, MA 01720

Dear Selectmen:

I am writing this letter as Corporate Clerk of the Acton Citizens of Environmental Safety. As you know, we were formed many years ago, primarily to monitor the cleanup of the WR Grace site. At that time, no one foresaw the complexity or the tenacity of that situation.

ACES recently met and discussed the proposed Quail Ridge Country Club. The Board was concerned about potential for harm to the environment, given the herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer use, and the large amounts of required irrigation water noted in the Draft Environmental Impact Report.

Acton Citizens for Environmental Safety does not wish to be on record for being against the development of a golf course. ACES does, however, strongly urge the Town to practice due diligence in pursuing alternative and more environmentally-benign methods than those outlined in the Draft Environmental Impact Report. As we have so painfully learned in this community, and ounce of prevention may be worth several pounds, and many years and dollars of cure.

Consider that, for the first several centuries of its existence, the game of golf was played on courses developed around natural, not engineered, obstacles and greens. The average currently existing golf course in Massachusetts receives over a ton of pesticides on an annual basis and requires the most irrigation water when natural levels are lowest. Quail Ridge Country Club, with its proximity to two municipal water supplies, has the potential as currently proposed to do harm (see attached supporting information). Environmentally "green" golf courses have been effectively developed in other towns in Massachusetts, including the Widows Walk Golf Club in Scituate. Please require the developer to take the time to practice good science and find alternatives to the proposed management plan. To do otherwise may prove, in the long run, deleterious to the well-being of our community.

Sincerely,

Carol Holley
Clerk

Attachments

CC: Acton Conservation Commission
Acton Planning Board