We are hopeful about a plan to construct new housing in Hughesville and Wolf Township.

Shannon Rossman, director of planning and community development for Lycoming County, offered the Sun-Gazette a thorough explanation for an article in Wednesday’s edition for the proposal and the steps it will have to go through to become a reality.

We are confident in the process and in opportunities for the affected communities to have their concerns addressed.

We are even more confident that the concerns can be addressed in ways that do not impede the developers’ property rights to build much-needed housing in eastern Lycoming County.

Throughout the steps to review and approve the plan, we trust our leaders will be able to distinguish between valid concerns from potential neighbors — concerns that can be corrected or mitigated — and petulant, “not-in-my-backyard” efforts, rooted frankly in a contempt for the rights and liberties of Americans, to stop the developer from putting the property they own to what they have identified as its best use. This is especially true as the best use addresses what local leaders have, for years, acknowledged is an important issue.

The plan will help address a critical issue — our region’s shortage of housing — that hinders the growth and prosperity of our communities.

The ability of families to find decent housing that they can afford is critical to encouraging entrepreneurs to invest in creating jobs in Lycoming County and enabling men and women to take those jobs once they are created.

That growth is also critical at expanding our tax base, lest a shrinking number of residents become more responsible for funding our local governments in their entirety — a risk that exacerbates working families to relocate to more economically sound communities and only accelerates the concentration of that burden on the shrinking population.

Between both the practical realities of our region’s need for housing and the underlying principles of property rights and limited government, we hope the project has a smooth path to approval and construction.