It is with great sadness that I read the July 29 article written by Jane Meggitt, "Committee mulls 6-acre zoning option." Some link zoning change to reducing taxes. I am a resident of Bronxville, N.Y., (Westchester County) whose family farm and family resides in Upper Freehold Township. Planning on eventually moving down to and running the farm, and raising a family, I now vacillate and seriously question what was once a very strong and positive feeling of your community. And what provoked such feelings? Let me quote directly from the article, "Many felt that going from 3-acre to 6-acre zoning would help slow the school population growth." Huh? What is the subtext here? That the citizens of Upper Freehold Township do not want children, the future of our society, in their community?

I somewhat understand the fear of overdevelopment and increased taxes, but attorney and former [West Windsor] mayor Tom Frascella so rightly pointed out in the article that "there are certain tax spiking events that are already … in place," and, very poignantly, that "[e]ven a complete moratorium on development would not prevent higher taxes."

Well, it seems that increasing the zoning to 6, 10, or 50 acres would be fruitless, and, most importantly, the reasoning behind doing so would be indubitably faulty and downright exclusionary.

I urge the Upper Freehold Township Committee to seriously rethink the 6-or-more-acre zoning option. Doing so would send a very sad, bold, and exclusionary statement — a statement that would prove to cast a very negative shadow on the entire community. And one that would cause good citizens, the citizens that a community would want to attract, to move and pay taxes elsewhere.

Gina S. Ghent

Bronxville, N.Y.