This is about half the shoreline on the west side of Rocky Pond that will be suburbanized. Extensive runoff will be inevitable. Power boats, too.
 
 

This beautiful foggy cove is where one can access the pond with a small boat, and where there are a number of small houses and cabins that have been winterized. It is an area of relatively high weed growth and where manicured and well-fed lawns have replaced lovely pine forest floor.

Virtually all the land in the above photo -- and almost all the undeveloped shorefront in all the pictures --was donated by Gertrude Falby to NEFF -- and is not part of the parcel which will be suburbanized. The occupants of the new tract will get to enjoy it from modern homes that will kill the character of much of the pond -- at a high price for everyone! And big time profits for the developer, who paid only about $125,000 a few years ago  in a deal that was not opened to competitive bids or, apparently, subjected to prior environmental agreements!

The photo above shows our canoe entering the only floating bog in New England. It protects herons and many other birds -- and is where the big bass hide! The land across the pond was donated by Gertrude Falby. Just above it are lands protected in an arrangement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and local farmers.

The above two photos show where Rocky Pond is headed. The first is of one of the very old cabins which sit back in the woods and are occupied just a very few weeks out of the  year by people who have maintained the character and landscape with loving care, leasing them across generations -- on land once owned and cared for by Gertrude Falby, who thought it would be protected forever. We have no doubt they will soon be torn down by the developer who got the land from NEFF. The second photo is a new year-round residence built by the developer on land he owns on Rocky Pond. It may be pretty from afar, but it belongs in a California or Long Island strip development, not as a harbinger of things to come on this beautiful pond.

It's been said that local officials welcome this suburbanization by a local builder because he won't build a Hampton Beach or Asbury Park. Indeed, the fact that they seem to have approved every single request for variance on behalf of the builder and are supporting him at the expense of local residents who are protesting encroachment on their property even though there has never been a survey by the town adds up to something that smells fishier than the big bass in the pond. We've been talking to area government officials and there is a general consensus that something may be amiss here. The statistics in this case just don't add up.

In any case, side from begging the issue of Gertrude Falby's intent, we are unpersuaded by the 'save us from Hampton Beach' argument.  The fragility and peace of Rocky Pond will be devastated by any new development of this shoreline, new power boats, lawns, and all that now stands in the future.

This is why we believe all must stop! Now! Write NEFF and tell them to get the land back.