To the Editor:

I remember years ago hearing that the Archdiocese wanted to sell its Castle Hill property. Many of us with the Newtown Forest Association went door to door to collect pledges to keep the property as a preserve. We had little time but we were getting close to gathering the funds needed, and then we heard that Joe Draper bought it. I was unhappy that the NFA did not acquire it but relieved as he personally told me he was going to keep it in his family.

It is a gorgeous property full of wildlife and pollinators overlooking our cherished Main Street and flagpole.

The forested view from our flagpole and the borough will never be the same if this passes. It will be an eyesore as we have seen from pictures shown at the zoning meetings. The names of the models such as The Greenwich, The Westport and The Wilton are not for families in Newtown looking to downsize. Most families from Newtown will not be able to afford to downsize there. This proposed development is for people from places like lower Fairfield County for which it is named. Those who can afford to downsize there will have a large exclusive community in the middle of our quaint little borough.

The traffic problems have not been worked out and the environmental impact is clearly not good.

It is sad that a couple of investors can do this when the vast majority of Newtowners do not want it.

I love and have lived in our beautiful town for more than 30 years but it is slowly becoming less of the bucolic community I once knew.

The zoning board has the opportunity to defeat this. I strongly urge the zoning board to vote in a way that best serves our community and the people it represents, which is to say “no” to the Castle Hill cluster homes.

Diane Wenick

Newtown