To the Editor:

There are many serious problems with Castle Hill Real Estate’s proposal to build an extremely dense housing complex across 52 acres of never-developed, prime forest in the very center of our town.

If this massive project is approved, the bulldozers will go in and the losses will mount. Loss of habitat when the hillside is scoured, graded, and reshaped to accommodate 117 new houses and driveways, sidewalks, and access roads.

Loss of life-giving green shade as hundreds of trees are cut down. Loss of native birds and wildlife displaced when their homes are gone. Loss of protection for wetlands and loss of biodiversity. Loss of historical and archaeological sites waiting to be explored.

Increased traffic congestion will be one more inevitable consequence. Do not be deceived into thinking that vehicular access into and out of this project is somewhere along Castle Hill Road (despite its being identified on town maps as #20 and #60 Castle Hill Road.)

Instead, the sole access point for all cars entering or leaving the Castle Hill Real Estate development will be off Johnnie Cake Lane halfway up the Mt Pleasant Road hill just a short distance north of the flagpole.

We all know what traffic is like during “normal” rush hour with cars and trucks backed up solidly to the top of the hill and beyond. Then there is the all-too-frequent gridlock that occurs in both directions when there is an accident on I-84 or I-95. Imagine the daily impact of adding 100 to 200 more cars to this dreadful mix as people living in those 117 new luxury homes drive in and out of Mt Pleasant Road traveling to and from work just going about their daily routines.

It won’t be pretty. At the least, there will probably have to be a new traffic light allowing them space to cross. For the rest of us, we’ll continue to crawl through town as the line of cars gets longer and longer. We might as well forget ever turning left again at the flagpole!

If any or all of this bothers you, now is the time to speak up. Attend the Borough Zoning Commission public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, at 7 pm, in Newtown Middle School and share your concerns with commission members. They sincerely want to hear your views.

Dottie Evans

Newtown