P&Z  Should Get Its Priorities Straight

To the Editor,

I am writing this letter in support of a friend and neighbor, Karen Finlayson.

Karen runs an exercise and fitness gym for women out of her home. While I am not a client of hers, I have friends who find the personal instruction and private surroundings of Karen’s gym very rewarding.

Karen’s gym was nearly shut down recently due to someone reporting her to the Planning and Zoning Department of Newtown. I feel the Planning and Zoning has taken this matter a bit far. I would like to express my disappointment that they are spending so much time to bother with a business that is there to help women in our community be healthier, and to harass a woman who is working out of her home so she can be there when her children get off the bus.

I think what upsets me the most is Planning and Zoning can give permission to build house after house in this once “open spaced” town, in spite of the negative effect it is having on our children’s space in schools, the police and fire departments, the toll it is taking on our roads and the traffic it is causing on our streets! I wish the Planning and Zoning Department of Newtown would please get its priorities straight!

Please take this into consideration the next time you, the Planning and Zoning Department meet to decide the fate of Karen Finlayson’s gym. A wonderful woman and her family will suffer most.

Thank you

Laurie Badick

2 Honey Lane, Sandy Hook                                        January 10, 2000