Castle Hill Cluster Homes Approved Against The Will Of The Residents
To the Editor:
I was frustrated and dismayed at the end of the last Borough zoning board meeting when the board voted to approve the Castle Hill cluster home project.
It was very clear after hours and hours of public meetings that the will of the residents of Newtown was to reject this dense development. There were two separate protest petitions which were rejected by the zoning board for VERY questionable reasons. The Chairman delayed the rejection of the first petition for many months such that they decided it was too late to submit a second petition.
One of the obligations of the zoning board is to protect the character of our Borough. Article 1 in the Zoning regulations, “ Designed to lessen congestion in the streets, to prevent overcrowding of land and to avoid undue concentration of population.”
This cluster project will more than double the population of Main Street and the traffic is already a nightmare. The environmental impact on this, the most beautiful piece of property in Newtown, will be immense! Chairman Douglas Nelson and Commissioner Dave Francis had an agenda and they clearly wanted this passed no matter what the feelings of the community were. One could interpret what was discussed by the chairman during the voting was coaxing and coaching his board into voting affirmatively. Again, the only people who benefit from this are the developer George Trudell and the owner Joe Draper.
I think we should think long and hard about who we elect for any Zoning Board in Newtown in the future if we want it to remain the beautiful, historic, bucolic community it is. There will be three openings soon on the Borough board including unfortunately, Claudia Mitchell who was the only one at the meeting who voted against this development. It is imperative that any openings in the future be filled with people who want what is best for the people of Newtown!
Diane Wenick
Newtown
The will of SOME of the residents. Just be cause the mob is loud does not make it right. I still applaud the zoning board for following what is right.
Yeah, nobody likes luxury cluster homes right? They do seem to be hot commodity somehow. I think Yogi said it best: “that place is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore!” I don’t know what to recommend- if you vote GOP you will have people at the state level voting to keep local zoning boards BUT they are also likely support the right of a landowner to legally develop their property. If you vote Dem you’re much more likely to see support for “housing as a right” quickly followed by the abolition of local zoning boards. If that happens, you’ll get 117 luxury cluster homes at the old police station. I don’t see how lawfare is going to benefit anyone in Newtown- your best bet to save any rural character in Newtown will be supporting the NFA.
Mr. Johnson
Mob as defined by Webster: a large, disorderly crowd of people, especially one that is violent or destructive. This is how you refer to your fellow Newtowners and neighbors who have a view of the appropriateness of the upscale cluster housing development that differs from yours. The “mob” we saw at several of the public hearings consisted of volunteer fire fighters, teachers, farmers, concerned citizens of all ages and occupations and retirees like us- in other words – your fellow Newtowners – who are all entitled to their constitutional right of free speech.
Name calling has no place in local public discourse or anywhere in our Nation. We are your neighbors not a mob.
The Borough Zoning Commission does not represent the “residents of Newtown.” It is elected by, and serves, the residents of the Borough. I believe most residents of both the Borough and the town are aware of this, but the letter creates the impression that residence in Newtown confers the right to vote for the BZC (“who we elect”), which may cause confusion.
I see you object to my use of the word mob. May I ask if you attended any of the warehouse discussions over the past few years? The disrespectful behavior—the shouting, the veiled threats, the outright hostility—from some of my neighbors has been disgraceful. Frankly, I’m ashamed to call them my neighbors. When the mob stops acting like a mob, I’ll gladly stop referring to them as a NIMBY mob.