Denny Alsop, a beloved, lifelong citizen of Stockbridge, is carefully considering and may withdraw the petition/Article 18. Stockbridge Updates invited Denny to elucidate this article and sadly he did not — perhaps time was too short. Whatever the reason — Denny gets a mulligan. He has worked so hard and so diligently.

We can only report that our Water Supervisor, Michael Buffoni, Town Administrator, Michael Canales, and Select Board member Partick White took Denny’s concerns seriously and sought expert comment on the speculation that development of 35-37 Interlaken would have a deleterious effect on well water or ground water. This is the answer they received from David Boutt, Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, UMass Amherst specializing in hydrogeology, watershed hydrogeology and ground water recharge and discharge.

Boutt wrote about 35-37 Interlaken: “It has some of the ingredients for karst formation (limestone, but there are no dolines, sinkholes, springs, etc. I have not observed any of these features in my time in the field there. In fact, our review of the drilling completion reports from private wells in the area suggest that the marble is very low permeability and not a productive aquifer showing no signs of karstification. Dave”

If Denny decides NOT to withdraw his petition, hopefully, he will speak to this.