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Buy First, Plan Later?

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Buy First, Plan Later?

To the Editor:

Demolish the town-owned houses on Queen Street? First Selectman Herb Rosenthal is exactly right: residents who attended last year’s town meeting and voted to buy the property were told that Newtown was most likely going to turn around and sell the homes (at a profit) along with deed restrictions to prevent over-development.

Nobody ever hinted that the town might simply knock the houses down to avoid having families-gasp!-buy them and send their children to local schools. If the demolition idea had come up, I certainly wouldn’t have voted to spend $1.2 million to buy the property. I doubt many other residents would have voted for the purchase on that basis, either, given all the demands on our town’s budget and the major money decisions we face about Fairfield Hills and a new 5/6 school.

This controversy over what to do with the Queen Street homes shows what can happen when the town moves ahead without a definite plan approved by residents at the same time that we approve the funding. Should we be voting to spend money without knowing exactly what we’re buying? And if the town has such trouble determining what to do with the Queen Street property 12 months after buying it, how long will it take to make decisions about Fairfield Hills if we buy it without first voting on a definite plan?

Sincerely,

Marian Wood

62 Great Ring Road, Sandy Hook          February 6, 2000

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