To the Editor:

My name is Tom McDonough and I reside on Northridge Drive in Newtown.

I have lived in Newtown along with my family for the last 23 years.

I share and have major concerns along with many of my neighbors with this project [a proposal to build 12 single-family residential homes at 42 Hawleyville Road] especially with respect to notification as I only found out about this two days prior to the town hall meeting during the Christmas holidays.

I share other concerns with respect to the environmentals that were supposedly completed along with the traffic study. I do not agree with the findings that the added traffic would not be a burden to the neighborhood. I also have safety concerns with the amount of traffic on Hawleyville. Traffic has increased significantly over the last few years especially since the installation of the new Sunoco gas station.

I don’t believe based on the Town Hall Meeting that enough thought was put into all aspects of this proposal as proven by the fact that many questions went unanswered by Mr Dillman from Westchester Modular with respect to the foundations of these homes and a few open-ended answers that were vague at best. I am using this as an example because if we don’t know at this point what foundation is being installed what other items did we overlook?

This in and of itself demonstrates that we need to slow this down so as to be able to have all the answers before proceeding with this project. I believe there should be more environmental studies to confirm that this project is in conformity with all Planning and Zoning regulations. I really feel we need to slow this project down so more research can be completed to ensure compliance on all levels environmental, safety and esthetic.

I truly agree we need affordable housing in Newtown I just do not feel this particular location makes sense on any level and would like to appeal this decision.

I have called and spoke to Rob Sibley and shared these concerns back in December once I did receive notification of same prior to the Town Hall Meeting.

Tom McDonough

Newtown